WE BOUGHT OUR BABY ON A CREDIT CARD

Sarah Swann, 44, and her husband spent £60,000 to fulfil their dreams

- TRACEY GAYTON, LOUISE BATY

Logging into my banking app, I transferred money into my savings, just like every payday. It was September 2014, and alongside working full-time in retail, I also worked part-time as a DJ. I loved hyping up crowds at parties and nightclubs. But I was very sensible when it came to finances, and so was my husband Paul, a landscape gardener.

We’d gone without holidays to buy our home together in Hertfordshire in 2009, and while we had a credit card for emergencies, we rarely used it. Now, as we checked our joint savings account, I said, ‘We’re building up a nice nest egg,’ and Paul and I exchanged excited smiles.

Having married in June 2014, after knowing each other since secondary school, we’d decided to start a family. Our savings would be invaluable for buying essentials like a cot, pram and high chair.

But months passed. ‘It will happen soon, don’t worry,’ Paul reassured me in January 2015, as we stared in disappointment at another negative pregnancy test.

FADING HOPES

After two years without success, our GP referred us for fertility tests. With no clear answers, we were put on the waiting list for IVF treatment and three years drifted by before our first appointment at Bourn Hall Clinic, in February 2020, when I was 40.

The first cycle of treatment, which was NHS-funded, required medication and injections to stimulate egg production before multiple eggs were harvested, four of which were used to create and freeze precious embryos.