Couple who began IVF final Christmas Day shares wonderful replace 11 years later
Helen and Stephane Delgard were told they may never have children, but they are now celebrating their own Christmas miracle baby after an 11 year battle to conceive
A couple who started IVF last Christmas Day have given birth to a miracle baby boy – after an 11 year long battle to conceive.
Helen Delgard, 34, was told she might never conceive naturally when she met husband Stephane, 42, due a complex medical history. After years of trying, they sort advice from their GP but when Covid struck everything came to halt.
Helen was finally able to take her first IVF medication on Christmas day 2024 – after tests and a surgery to unblock her fallopian tubes.
After a few years of trying they turned to doctors for help. They were referred to Bristol fertility clinic BCRM for help.
The couple fell pregnant with their son in January 2025 and little Noah was born in September via c-section weighing 6ln 10oz. Now 14 weeks old, the couple are celebrating their first Christmas as a family of three.
Delighted Helen said: “The support from the clinic throughout our journey was incredible and we just know that we couldn’t be where we are today without BCRM’s help and support. We thank the whole team and wish them a very merry Christmas.”
Customer account executive Helen and hubby Stephane, from Portishead, started trying for a baby soon after they got together in 2014, when she was 23 and he was 31.
But Helen had a had previously undergone abdominal surgery to remove much of her bowel and had been told she might never conceive naturally.
Stephane said: “We were downhearted. Helen’s brother and sister-in-law gave birth to two babies who looked so much like Helen that it hurt.
“And an insensitive insurance call-handler once asked me – ‘Why do you have a house with four bedrooms if you don’t have children?’ People just don’t think, and throwaway comments like that can be so painful.”
After the pandemic, they underwent tests and Helen needed surgery to unblock her fallopian tubes to optimise her chances of conception.
Helen took her first IVF meds on Christmas Day last year and her egg collection took place in mid-January. She said: “I was really apprehensive, but in the end it was quite a relaxed procedure because the team was so calm and reassuring.
“We had regular updates on every little development. Of the 16 eggs I had removed, 13 matured to the embryo stage, 10 of which developed into ‘top quality’ blastocysts appropriate for implantation.
“The blastocysts were frozen and at the end of January one of those little miracles was transferred back into me and – amazingly – we became pregnant first time.”
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