Mum's miracles

A PALM reader told Lynette Cope she would have two children. Her doctors, however, were less optimistic. Without IVF treatment, they said her chance of ever becoming pregnant was less than one per cent.

"It was devastating news," she says. "I just couldn't stop crying. I'd heard about test tube babies, but I didn't know much about the process. IVF was something that happened to other people, not to people like me."

Lynette's gynaecological problems started when she was 14. Her periods were irregular, heavy and painful enough to make her pass out - but doctors insisted there was nothing wrong with her.

"They basically told me to stop being stupid," she says. "They said I was just having heavy periods and should get used to them. I knew there was something wrong though; I could feel it."

She married her mechanic boyfriend, Andrew, when she was 18 and her GP advised trying for a baby as a drastic potential cure-all for her gynaecological complaints. They began trying in January 1994, but 18 months later Lynette was still in intense pain and her pregnancy tests were negative.

She was referred to a specialist at Hull's Princess Royal Hospital. Within minutes of her describing her symptoms, the specialist said he had a good idea what the problem was and insisted on booking her in for a laparoscopy at the earliest opportunity.

"I was scared stiff," says Lynette, of Cherry Drive in Holme-on-Spalding Moor. "I was relieved that someone was taking me seriously, but my mind was running riot. You can't help thinking the worst in those situations, can you?"

The internal examination showed she was suffering from endometriosis - a condition that could have been treated if her doctors had picked up on it earlier - and had a number of large cysts on her ovaries.

"I was very angry," she says. "My doctors could have treated me with hormones when I was a teenager, but now I was being told I had to have an operation and my chances of ever having a baby were virtually non-existent."

An operation to remove the cysts and nine months of intensive hormone therapy followed, but still Lynette and Andrew were no closer to having the baby they so badly wanted. In the end, doctors said IVF was their only hope.

"Andrew was away on a course, so it was the first appointment I had been to on my own," explains Lynette. "Every time I went, they told me about another problem, but I thought things couldn't really get any worse. When they mentioned IVF, I knew they could. I just cried and cried."

She stopped crying, went to her local library and checked out every book she could find on In Vitro Fertilisation treatment.

If it was her only option, she wanted to know everything about it. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that even this option might not be available to her.

"I was still only 23 and you couldn't even get on to the waiting list until you were 25," she says. "I wanted to get on straight away: the waiting list was at least two years long, so I would have been 25 or older when my name came up, but I was told it didn't work that way. I would have to wait for two years to get on the list, then wait at least another two years before treatment could start."

Lynette and Andrew decided they couldn't wait that long, so they cashed in their life insurance and paid £1,700 to go private.

Even then they had to be interviewed by a social worker to ensure they were suitable for the treatment programme.

"I was a mess," says Lynette. "I knew this man held our future in his hands. I really wanted to impress him, but in the end I just told the truth.

"I said I wanted a baby because I wanted something that was part of me and Andrew; I wanted to feel what it was like to be pregnant and to feel the baby kicking; and I wanted someone to love and to teach and to take care of."

In March 1998, the IVF treatment began. This involved daily hormone injections to encourage egg growth and scans in Hull every other day to ensure the hormones weren't also encouraging further cysts. When the eggs were the right size, the couple had to travel to Hull again to have them "harvested".

"I was given an intravenous painkiller and Valium, but it was still incredibly painful," says Lynette, who held a lucky stone given to her by a palm reader - the one who predicted she would have two children - throughout the procedure. "Andrew nearly passed out when they put the drip in, but I got through it."

Fifteen eggs were harvested and, after Andrew performed his part, three were reinstated. They then had an 18-day wait to find out if the procedure had been a success.

"I couldn't work, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't do anything," says Lynette. "Then when I finally took the test, I couldn't bring myself to look at it."

The test proved positive, and nine months and a relatively easy five-hour labour later, the Copes held their baby - a healthy 10lb girl called Alyssa - for the first time.

"I never really believed it would happen," says Lynette. "But there she was. It felt like nothing short of a miracle."

As certain palm readers will tell you, however, sometimes miracles come in pairs.

Just 15 months after Alyssa was born, Lynette found she was pregnant again.

"Surprised isn't the word," she says. "The doctors said maybe my first pregnancy had helped to clear up my problems, but for us Morgan was just as much a miracle as his sister."

Alyssa is now four, Morgan is two and, while she doesn't want anymore children herself, Lynette's maternal instinct is obviously as strong as ever and she is now training to be a play worker.

Last week it emerged that 38-year-old royal Sophie Wessex and her husband Prince Edward have turned to IVF in their bid to have a child.

"We've been through a lot in the last few years," says Lynette. "But I wouldn't change a thing. I don't envy Prince Edward and Sophie at all, but if IVF is their only option, they have to go for it."

IVF fact file:

- Since the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in July 1978, around 68,000 babies have been born in Britain using the In Vitro Fertilisation method

- One in every 80 births in the UK is the product of IVF

- IVF's average success rate is now ruinning at about 22 per cent

- Around one-fifth of IVF babies are twins

- The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) annually publishes a patients' guide to clinics, with success rates and lists of available resources. For more information visit: www.hfea.gov.uk

Updated: 11:08 Thursday, March 13, 2003