"Steve and I actually met on a Night Bus in London – we just hit it off immediately and not long after we were living together and wanting to start a family."

"We were quite relaxed about me getting pregnant at first – I was only in my early thirties and it felt like we had loads of time ahead of us. I had no reason to think there would be a problem plus  Steve already had a child from his first marriage."

"But as the months went on and then turned into years I knew we had to face up to having a  problem and get  ourselves checked out. It got harder and harder to deal with  as friends started getting pregnant and having families – there was this expectation that we would soon be following suit. I was pleased for my friends when they announced their pregnancies and invited me to christenings – but deep down I  felt it wasn’t fair and wondered why it wasn’t me. I pretended that I was focusing on my career in TV journalism instead – but really all I wanted was a family."

"I was 35 when I eventually got referred for infertility investigations after four years of trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant. Looking back I can’t believe I waited so long, but I suppose it was just easier to give it another couple of months rather than face up to having a problem."

"A year later, after all the usual investigations, we were told there was no obvious cause for our infertility problems. It was good news in some ways – but I realised that we didn’t have time to sit back and wait for pregnancy to happen naturally. At 36 I wasn’t eligible for NHS treatment but knew I couldn’t afford to wait any longer so we decided to use our savings and start IVF."

"The first cycle was very tense and all consuming - I had to inject myself daily and go for scans and blood tests. I hate needles normally but I could see it was a means to an end so just got on with it.  I didn’t tell anyone at work about what we were doing as we didn’t want the pressure of anyone asking about it, so that was a strain too. It felt very busy up to the point of egg collection. Luckily, I didn’t have any serious side effects like ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome with the drugs."

"Steve and I were quite stoic and jokey about the whole experience – but it was just a front - I don’t think we dared let ourselves hope it might work. I rested after egg retrieval but then went back to work and carried on as normal - or tried to, at least."

"The worst part of the treatment cycle was waiting the two weeks after implantation before I could get a pregnancy test. It’s hard to think about anything else and you feel you’re in a bubble and feel totally detached from the outside world."

"We were incredibly lucky that I got pregnant first time though. The pregnancy went relatively smoothly and I tried not to worry and savour the moment. Nathan was born on Christmas Day 2003 – it sounds a cliché but it was the most perfect day ever and we adored him and really enjoyed being parents at last."

"We always knew that we’d like to try for another child though and two years after Nathan was born we had another IVF cycle. This time it failed though and I was devastated.  Even though I already had one child I was still desperate to have a second. I wanted Nathan to have a brother or sister. I realised that at 39 though time was running out and we would have to try again soon."

"Finally at 40, I got pregnant via IVF again and gave birth to our daughter Scarlet, who was just a gorgeous as Nathan. The whole process had cost us over £35,000 – but it was worth every penny and all the emotional anguish we’d been through to have our two beautiful children."

"When you read about IVF the statistics on success rates for women over 35 aren’t that encouraging – but I know so many people for whom IVF has worked in the end so I’d advise anyone experiencing infertility not to give up hope and give IVF a try."