“If it wasn’t for Bill, my son wouldn’t be here”

Monica has a beautiful 5-year-old son Elliott, and says that if it wasn’t for Bill her son wouldn’t be here.

“I had five miscarriages in total which was incredibly upsetting, before finally giving birth to my son. I was told by multiple practitioners, both NHS and private, that no help was available to me because my ovarian reserve was becoming limited at my age (I was 39 at the time), and the egg quality was just not as good. I was told IVF wouldn’t work on me either.  It was explained to me as ‘nature just doing its job and terminating a pregnancy that won’t survive.’ While this sounded logical to me, it was still very distressing to hear.

I first heard about Bill in 2013 after already having experienced two miscarriages. I was looking at different forms of help including some traditional Chinese treatments of acupuncture and herbal remedies.  I successfully managed to conceive twice but lost them both. It was at this point that I started seeing a miscarriage specialist who referred me to Bill.

We started doing comprehensive cycle monitoring which was so helpful. Bill discovered my cycle could be quite irregular – I’d ovulate between day 10 and 18, sometimes twice; sometimes not at all. Bill made me feel very comfortable, and with the incredibly precise scanning was able to help me maximise the chances of conception. Ovulation monitoring really was key as it enabled me to see and understand my body and know what was really happening.

I cannot describe the joy we felt when our pregnancy finally made it through to 12 weeks (especially after a miscarriage threat after just a few weeks). Bill was ecstatic for us too.

Because of my age, I was concerned about Down’s Syndrome, and there are several tests you can do to check. We had the standard Nuchal test which included the measurements of the baby, but also looked at having a blood test which checks the baby’s DNA in the mother’s blood. Bill said we could of course have the further tests, but he ‘hadn’t missed a baby with Down’s Syndrome in over 20 years, which was a relief!

After my 20-week scan with Bill he said to go back into the NHS system as everything was looking so good. Elliott was obviously keen to meet us as he broke my waters at 29 weeks and arrived super early at 31 weeks! He was healthy, though, and has continued to be ever since.

Bill is just so comforting and supportive, not to mention encouraging. He is physically and emotionally gentle, and was such a wonderful support through a very emotional time. He is so good at what he does – his humanity and compassion just shine through. We had a strange journey but I truly believe, if it wasn’t for Bill, my son wouldn’t be here. I am eternally grateful to Bill for that.”