Unexpected baby for lucky couple proves new fertility treatment groundbreaking

Juliet Armstrong-Pringle gave her husband, Keith, a present wrapped in old Christmas paper and told him it was a new pen. “He nearly fell over when he unwrapped it and saw it was a positive pregnancy test,” says Juliet, 35, from Saline, Fife. Juliet, too, could hardly believe she’d fallen pregnant again, having battled so hard to have children. The couple were warned by doctors they might not be able to have a family of their own, and were amazed they were able to have son Innes, now three-and-a-half, and so see another child as an extra blessing.

“It seemed a miracle first time round and now it’s a double miracle that we’re having another child,” says Juliet. “And it’s thanks to modern science that we’ve been able to have a family at all.”

They’d feared they might never be able to have a child when fertility tests revealed support worker Keith, 38, had a zero sperm count. But despite the negative news, Keith has gone on to father one child and now a second is on the way and due in June.

“The baby will be like Innes’s twin as they were created at the same time – but will be born four years apart,” says Juliet, a podiatrist. “This baby was made in 2007, so it’ll be his twin. We’re calling it our ‘frosty baby’ as it’s come from a frozen embryo.”

The couple had been devastated when they’d been originally told they might not be able to have children. Juliet says: “But even then we didn’t give up hope of having a child – even if it meant it wouldn’t have our own genes. We thought we’d find another way to have a child and look into using a sperm donor or adopting a baby.

“We adore kids and knew we had so much love to offer a child, we couldn’t imagine our future without children. It’s what we’d always dreamed of so it was heart-wrenching news. But we didn’t want to give up hope just yet.”

After the news of the sperm count, the couple were referred to the assisted conception unit at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee for investigations, but were warned it could take three years to get an appointment.

Juliet and Keith had begun to piece together a potential reason for the problem – but they still didn’t have a solution. “I knew Keith had scars on his tummy from a double hernia operation he had had as a four-year-old and we began to wonder if that had had something to do with it,” says Juliet. “He said he’d also had an undescended testicle – which started me thinking whether that could have affected his fertility because the sperm might have been at the wrong temperature.

“We saw it as just a health problem – it didn’t affect the way we felt about each other. We still loved each other and we knew that we’d just have to be strong and get through it together. It doesn’t make him less of a man.”

The couple decided they needed to know if there was anything that could be done, so Juliet contacted the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine (GCRM) for tests.

Tests revealed Juliet was fertile – but again, Keith’s sperm count came back as zero, when in a healthy sample there would usually be several million. But doctors at the GCRM told the couple they could operate on Keith to see if they could find any sperm inside his testicles. The more common procedure is to use a needle to extract sperm, but Keith had to undergo a more invasive operation.

Juliet says: “Keith was very brave about it. He knew we both wanted kids so he said he’d have it done and then if it didn’t work we’d look at other options.”

Fertility experts at the GCRM managed to track down a small number of normal, healthy, motile sperm hidden inside a tissue sample taken from Keith’s testicles. They were then able to use the sperm to fertilise Juliet’s eggs through intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment where the woman goes through the same process as IVF, but a single sperm is injected directly into the egg.

In a normal sperm sample there are several million sperm – but retrieving sperm surgically from the testicles results in a much lower number of usually around a few hundred thousand in a sample. But, in Keith’s case, there were less than 100 sperm to work with.

Juliet says: “The embryologist had spent a long time examining tissue and she eventually found a small sample hiding in the tissue – it was a miracle. I don’t think it was where it should have been. But through their hard work and dedication as a team they found this and we were elated.”

Juliet felt so grateful that she’d been given a chance at motherhood that while she was undergoing the treatment, she donated some of her eggs to help another woman become a mum.

“I knew what it felt like to think I might not be able to have a baby – so I decided to donate some of my eggs to help another woman become a mum. I felt if I did something for someone else, it might give us a bit of luck and we’d be able to have a baby. Now it’s worked twice – first with Innes and now we’ve got another baby on the way.”

The couple borrowed money to pay for the treatment that cost around £5,000, but they’ve now paid it off. “It was so worth it, the money is irrelevant,” says Juliet.

The remaining two embryos created in 2007 were defrosted and implanted and the couple had an anxious wait to see if the procedure had worked. Juliet did a couple of home pregnancy tests early but got a negative result, so texted family and friends to let them know it hadn’t worked. “I thought there was less chance of success with a frozen embryo, so I just thought that was it.

But then two days later she was walking past Superdrug at lunchtime and couldn’t stop herself going in to buy two more tests. She did a test and couldn’t believe it when she got a positive result. But she decided to make it a surprise for Keith that night.

“I found some old Christmas paper and said I’d got him a new pen. He nearly dropped to the floor when he saw the positive pregnancy test. We were over the moon. We feel like we’ve won the lottery.”

An early scan confirmed Juliet was carrying one baby. And, at the 20-week scan a couple of weeks ago, the couple stared intently at the image of their unborn child jumping around on screen.

“It was wonderful watching our baby jumping and somersaulting. But then Innes broke the spell by dropping his jelly beans all over the ultrasound room floor!” says Juliet.

“My husband had a dream about the sex of the baby – and he was right – but we’re keeping it a surprise. We feel so lucky as we’ll have the perfect family. It doesn’t matter about the health problems, Keith’s got a child and one on the way and modern medicine has made it all possible.”