I was 26 when my gynaecologist told me that my fallopian tubes were blocked and there would be no way I could get pregnant. I was devastated. I had always wanted children. It was 1972; I was living in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, and working as a college lecturer. IVF didn’t exist, and when my husband and I put our names down to adopt a baby, we were told we had very little chance because few babies were available to adopt at the time. Meanwhile, my gynaecologist tried to open my fallopian tubes. It didn’t work.
I refused to accept that I had no options. I read every article I could about fertility treatment. After three years, I heard about a medical breakthrough by gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and physiologist Robert Edwards. It was described as very experimental and new.
I wrote to Patrick about my situation. It took almost a year, and my husband and I had to go through a lot of tests, but eventually Patrick told me I was an ideal candidate for their free, pioneering IVF programme.
Bob explained it all in layperson’s terms – how the egg would be retrieved, put in a petri dish, fertilised with my husband’s sperm and then, at the optimum stage, put back into my womb. While there was a lot of scepticism about the procedure in the press, I didn’t feel scared at the thought of having a “test-tube baby”. I felt delighted. It was my only chance.
‘My longed-for baby was suddenly here. I was overcome with emotion’: Grace MacDonald with baby Alastair. Photograph: Grace MacDonald
I started to live with a sliver of hope. But in February 1977, when my first IVF attempt failed, it broke my heart. I remember crying on the train home. With help from Bob, Patrick and the nurse embryologist Jean Purdy – the most supportive person I’d ever met – I picked myself up. The following May, I started my second attempt. Another woman on the programme, Lesley Brown, was pregnant with Louise by then, which gave hope to all of us. Louise became the first baby to be born by IVF, in 1978.
After the egg was implanted, I believed this time it would work. Two weeks later, when my period didn’t arrive, I felt blessed. I was pregnant with only the second IVF baby in the world.
I went into labour during a snowstorm. Bob and Patrick started driving to Glasgow – the plan was for Patrick to deliver my baby by caesarean section. But because of the storm, it took them hours – and they kept stopping on the way to call and give advice to my gynaecologist.
They didn’t manage to get there in time but, with the help of the gynaecologist, my son Alastair was born on 14 January 1979, weighing 5lb 12oz. He was the first IVF boy in the world. My longed-for baby was suddenly here. I was overcome with emotion. When they handed him to me and I got to hold him, I started to cry.
The funny thing was, he didn’t cry. He just looked at me. It was a look I’ll never forget. I told him I loved him and that it was about time – I’d waited so long for him. My husband was also over the moon, and so were Patrick and Bob when they arrived an hour later.
Alastair is 46 now, a first officer in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and my pride and joy. We both love travelling, and a few years ago, we went around the world together. We slept out under the stars in Australia and climbed the Fox glacier in New Zealand. I feel grateful for every moment I spend with him. He is still the most important person in my life.
I remain very close to four other women from the programme. I will never forget the camaraderie we shared, how each of us understood what the others were going through. We created an unbreakable bond. I remember one saying to me, “If it’s not going to happen for me, you do it for the rest of us.”
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I look back and feel blessed to have gone through it all, because I’ve got Alastair. I am so happy that IVF is accepted as “normal” today, and honoured to have played a small role in this medical breakthrough.
We owe the miracle of Alastair’s existence entirely to Bob, Patrick and Jeanie. There are more than 13 million very wanted babies who have been born by IVF since, and it was their dedication and belief that have made this possible. I was in the right place at the right time – and I will always count myself blessed as a result.
As told to Donna Ferguson
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