WE TRADED A HOUSE FOR A FAMILY

When Amanda Ralls, 34, failed to get pregnant, she went to great lengths to get what she wanted

- Donna Smiley, Beth Kilgallon

Sitting in my doctor’s office, I began to sob as she told me the IUI fertility treatment I’d just had, had failed. It was June 2016, and my husband Nathan, then 30, and I had been trying for a baby for three years without success.

After doctors had discovered I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), they’d suggested we try IUI, where sperm is inserted into a woman’s womb, and we were hopeful that I’d fall pregnant – but now we knew I hadn’t, we were devastated.

I’d always loved children and had wanted to be a mum for as long as I could remember. But it was proving much more difficult than I anticipated and I was struggling. ‘Why does it happen so easily for everyone else?’ I sobbed to Nathan, as we left the hospital.

Soon afterwards, our doctor suggested IVF. We’d already spent £4,400 on IUI and we knew that further fertility treatment would cost even more. With me working as a medical office supervisor, and Nathan as a loss prevention officer, we realised we’d have to save hard to fund IVF treatment.

But we’d been living with my parents Tamara, then 53, and John, 52, at their home in California, USA, since January 2014, as we tried to save for a deposit for a house. So far, we’d saved £20,000 and were adding more every month, but it was money that we needed to get our own place – a family home.