Emma Barnett has opened up about her gruelling IVF journey after her endometriosis diagnosis meant she couldn't conceive naturally.
The former Woman's Hour host, 39, welcomed a son with her husband Jeremy Weil via IVF in 2018, before giving birth to a daughter last January.
"It took two and a half years to have our son via IVF in 2018 and another six attempts to conceive our daughter last year - we had embryos left so we just kept going," Emma said.
The couple endured six rounds of IVF fertility treatment in the lead-up to their daughter's birth, after experiencing a heartbreaking miscarriage in early 2022. Emma suffers from endometriosis - an excruciating condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of it - meaning she could not have children naturally.
"IVF was tough, I'm squeamish about injections," her husband Jeremy added. "There is no way I could put a needle in my body and I could barely watch her doing them, she was black and blue."
Back in March, Emma spoke of the impact of not having a record of her baby loss amid her IVF attempts until recent changes. She revealed she had applied for a baby loss certificate under a new voluntary Government scheme that records deaths before 24 weeks' gestation.
She wrote: "That whole period had become a grief-infused blur. A time where days and dates mattered little."
Emma said she had to look over 'old messages to family and friends' which 'catapulted me back into that stark place'.
"In the fog of misery, I was trying to make what had happened seem real, important and proper," she added.
Speaking further on this experience, Emma noted that 'living in the after was grim and tearful' following her visit to the sonographer but expressed relief at having some form of acknowledgment through the new certificates.
"Beyond medical forms... there was nothing else to show the whole episode happened," she added. The new certificates are not legal documents but provided some comfort as they offered 'some physical proof'.
In an emotional post in January 2023, Emma broke the news she had welcomed her daughter by saying: "She's here. Last week we welcomed a daughter to the world. The embryo that took. The one that stayed."