Woman conceived by IVF welcomes her own IVF baby after infertility: ‘The fact I was an IVF baby gave me hope’

A woman who was conceived by IVF in the 1990s has just welcomed her own IVF baby into the world after struggling to conceive for just under five years, battling baby loss, chemical pregnancies and abnormal smear test results.

Lauren Gadsby, 33, and her husband, Jon, welcomed their healthy baby, Hollie, on December 8 2025, after an IVF journey that saw them lose three pregnancies.

Despite the ups and downs of the emotional process, the fact that Lauren herself was an IVF baby gave her hope and “belief that it does work, because I am an example of that”.

Lauren and Jon, who live in Derby, started trying for a baby in 2022, having just got married and feeling ready to start a family of their own. However, after three years without success, medical tests showed they were facing male factor infertility, and it was unlikely they would be able to conceive naturally.

Upon hearing the news, they decided to try IVF, supported by supplements including Impryl® from Fertility Family, which is said to help optimise fertility and support a healthy pregnancy. Since Lauren herself was the product of IVF, they felt confident in the process and were willing to do whatever they needed to have a baby of their own.

“It was very challenging,” Lauren told PA Real Life of the couple’s battle with infertility.

“My husband definitely struggled. I guess he felt a lot of guilt, even though, obviously, he shouldn’t. I think men don’t really talk about it, and because we were told it’s on the male side, I think he was thinking it was all him, and he just felt really guilty.

“It is quite hard on your relationship as well.”

In early 2024, Lauren and Jon were told that they had qualified for IVF on the NHS. While processes differ across the country, where the Gadsbys are based they could access one round of IVF through the NHS, meaning they thankfully did not need to worry about the financial cost of private treatment.

In April 2024, Lauren had her egg collection procedure, and they were fortunate to get “quite a few embryos”.

However, it sadly was not plain sailing for the couple. Their first pregnancy was lost at eight weeks, and then Lauren had two chemical pregnancies – a very early pregnancy loss which usually happens just after the embryo implants, before or around five weeks – and they feared the round of IVF treatment might not work.

During this period of uncertainty, Lauren decided to document her journey on TikTok, sharing her story with the world in the hope that it would help others who were going through the same.

“I started it when I had the first loss,” Lauren said.

“When I lost at eight weeks, I did a video of the journey so far. The whole time I’d been taking little clips and doing little videos but, to be honest, I was hoping that I would end it with, ‘I’m pregnant, and this is the baby’.

“Then, obviously, I went through miscarriage.

“I was like, ‘Well, I’ve got all this footage, and I’ve done all this, I want to put it out there’.”

After uploading her first video, Lauren said she was surprised to find she had “loads of comments, and loads of people messaging me”.

“It made me feel like I wasn’t alone,” she added.

“So then, I just started doing it, and it actually really helped me.

“It gave me something to do as well. Because just through the process, sometimes you feel lonely, and I could ask questions. I think it’s amazing when you can ask the community questions, and you get people giving their experiences.”

Of course, Lauren could also lean on her parents for advice – they had been through IVF, too, so knew some of what she was going through.

“It’s definitely changed a lot since they did it,” Lauren explained.

“They were saying it’s crazy how much it’s advanced. There’s loads that happens now that they didn’t have…

“But the fact that I was an IVF baby did give me that little bit of hope, as well.”

In the middle of baby loss, Lauren had a regular smear test that returned abnormal results. About seven years ago, Lauren was diagnosed with HPV (Human Papillomavirus) following a routine cervical smear, and she needed to return for a smear test annually, rather than every five years.

She had her annual smear in the summer of 2024, shortly after losing her first baby. On the day she learned that she had had a chemical pregnancy, her results were returned and she was told they showed abnormal cells.

While an abnormal smear test result is not a cancer diagnosis, it indicates changes in cervical cells that need monitoring or treatment to prevent future cancer.

“I remember being really upset because, obviously, I’d just found out I’d had a chemical pregnancy as well,” Lauren said.

“It was a lot.”

Lauren was referred for a colposcopy, a magnified exam that takes a detailed look at the cervix and surrounding organs, which confirmed the presence of abnormal cells which required treatment. There and then, doctors were able to perform the LLETZ procedure – large loop excision of the transformation zone – which targets abnormal cells on the cervix using a heated wire loop under local anaesthetic, removing precancerous growths.

Thankfully, the procedure was successful – all of the abnormal cells were removed, and Lauren was told she no longer had HPV, either. However, she was instructed to wait six months before she could continue with IVF.

“In a weird way, I feel like everything happens for a reason, because it got rid of it before I then got pregnant with Hollie,” Lauren said.

“It would have been a bit of a nightmare if I’d found that out while I was pregnant. So, it worked out for the best but, at the time, it was very frustrating to have the delay.”

By April 2025, Lauren was able to continue with IVF and, shortly afterwards, Hollie was conceived.

The couple found it difficult to relax into the pregnancy after experiencing baby loss, and they paid for several private scans to confirm everything was progressing as it should.

By the time they reached 24 weeks, Lauren said she felt she could start buying things for the baby and getting their home ready to welcome their new addition, though she still had anxiety about the possibility of issues down the line.

Lauren and Jon welcomed Hollie into the world on December 8 2025 – 16 days earlier than her due date of Christmas Eve. Lauren was induced after being diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure, and Hollie was born via emergency Caesarean section.

Now, both mum and baby are doing well, and Lauren continues to share her experiences of new motherhood to her 5,000-strong community on TikTok.

“It makes me feel amazing when I post something and then other people say, ‘Oh, I feel like this too’, or ‘I’ve experienced this’,” she said.

“It does make me feel really good, and makes me want to continue – actually helping people, as well as myself.”

“I think it’s important that you don’t feel so alone because, actually, so many people are going through it, and you’ve got no idea,” she added.

“I don’t want these things to be taboo. I think it’s really important that it is spoken about.”