Couple describe IVF trauma after silent miscarriage leaves woman ‘bleeding out’ after seven years trying to conceive

A couple have described their IVF trauma after a silent miscarriage left a 30-year-old would-be mother “bleeding out” following seven years of failed efforts to conceive.

Stevie-Leigh Bourne and her husband, Darren Bourne, 32, have been together since 2016 and they tied the knot in June 2022, but they “always had a suspicion that something wasn’t quite right” after consistent attempts to have a baby without success.

The couple, based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, underwent several tests with their GP where their samples “came back low in everything”, and they had one round of IVF treatment via the NHS in August 2024, but it was sadly unsuccessful.

Putting their hopes on their last remaining frozen embryo, Stevie-Leigh, a primary school teacher, was “over the moon” to find out she was pregnant in December 2024 – but on Christmas Eve, the couple were told their baby was not developing as normal.

Stevie-Leigh decided to let the miscarriage “run its course” but at the end of January, she found herself in “excruciating pain” and suffering extreme bleeding, which required an emergency operation and two blood transfusions and which could have become “very serious” without intervention – leaving the couple “traumatised”.

Looking ahead to the future, the pair have launched a GoFundMe page in the hope the public can help them to pay for private IVF – a cost of between £10,000 and £12,000.

“We had a terrifying experience, it’s left us traumatised and if we had to go through all of it again anytime soon, it would end us.

“The only real life stories you read about IVF are success stories but sometimes, this is the reality of it and no one talks about the pressures it puts on you as a couple.”

Stevie-Leigh and Darren have been together for around seven years and tied the knot in June 2022.

“I’d always had a suspicion that something wasn’t quite right,” Stevie-Leigh said.

“The raw initial samples on both of us came back low in everything – Darren’s sperm count was low and my progesterone levels were quite low.”

“We collected nine eggs from that cycle, six of them fertilised and two of them made it to the stage we needed it to,” Stevie-Leigh explained.

“We froze one and then we had our best-quality one freshly transferred on day five of my cycle.”

“I was a bit nervous but they were really reassuring,” Stevie-Leigh said.

Over the next few days, she said she “just had a feeling things had worked”.

Stevie-Leigh took a pregnancy test six days later on December 2 and it “came back positive straight away”.

“Darren was on a night shift, I woke him up and set everything up in front of the Christmas tree to tell him.

“We were in a little bubble for a bit.”

Bringing the scan forward to five weeks instead, her doctors were concerned she could be having an ectopic pregnancy, but said they were told everything looked normal.

However, another ultrasound scan on Christmas Eve revealed their baby was not developing as expected.

“They couldn’t see the fetal pole, which indicates the baby has started to develop,” Stevie-Leigh said.

Stevie-Leigh had another two ultrasound scans before they were informed on New Years Eve the situation had not improved.

“They think that my body had absorbed the embryo and they diagnosed it as a silent miscarriage,” she said.

Stevie-Leigh said she decided to let the miscarriage “run its course” but over the next few weeks, she ended up in “excruciating pain” with extremely heavy bleeding by January 24.

The couple rushed to the A&E department of Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley before Stevie-Leigh was taken in for emergency surgery to remove any remaining pregnancy tissue.

“I ended up staying overnight and I had two blood transfusions,” she said.

“I lost a pint of blood just in the surgery, and that’s not taking into account the blood I lost before.

Stevie-Leigh has now made a full recovery but said it is unclear why she bled so heavily – with her doctors saying some pregnancy tissue could have attached to one of her blood vessels or tissue trapped at the neck of her womb could have caused heavier bleeding.

“I don’t think I’ve got to the emotional side of losing the baby, I think it will hit me properly in a couple of months’ time,” she added.

As they do not have any frozen embryos left, the couple would need to start the process from the beginning should they decide to try IVF again, with Stevie-Leigh saying they have been quoted between £10,000 and £12,000.

“It’s all you ever think about…we’d say ‘we can’t go on holiday because we need to put money away’,” Stevie-Leigh said.

“We didn’t want to set up the GoFundMe, and I didn’t want to feel like I was asking people to buy me a baby.

“But there’s no way we would be able to do this again anytime soon without help and support.”

To find out more, visit the GoFundMe page for the couple here: gofundme.com/f/a-heartfelt-appeal-for-ivf-support