Yahoo News Fern Britton almost 'couldn't manage any more' IVF before getting pregnant with twins
This Morning and Loose Women legend Fern Britton says her twin boys were 'miraculous' and came at a time when she was ready to give up in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
The broadcaster and author, who was a presenter on This Morning between 1999 and 2009, told Kate Thornton about her journey to the birth of her twin boys born in 1994.
Britton was on her fourth round of IVF with her then-husband TV exec Clive Jones. Talking to Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast, Britton described the process as 'tough, expensive and difficult'.
The 64-year-old said: "Having my twin boys was something miraculous, because they were IVF. It was my fourth go, and I was about to go: 'I can't manage any more'."
WATCH: Fern Britton on family secrets, her struggles with IVF and where she keeps her NTA
She said she got good at doing her own injections as part of the process, at a time in the early 1990s when fertility treatment was still relatively new. Figures show that in 1991 there were around 6,700 IVF cycles in UK clinics, rising to more than 69,000 by 2019.
She added: "Anyone who's been through IVF knows that those drugs and the routine and the enormity of lifting your hopes and dashing yourself — it's extreme, to say the least.
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"And I got good at doing my own injections. Carrying my handbag constantly [full] with needles and things, with a letter from the doctor explaining what they all were. It's very tough. Expensive, tough and difficult. But I was so lucky to have the boys."
She said then when the boys were around three she discovered by another 'miracle' she was pregnant again with her daughter Grace.
But she said her marriage with Jones ended and she had a 'tricky' time until meeting her second husband, chef Phil Vickery.
She told Thornton: "Then unfortunately, my marriage broke up when [Grace] was five months, so that was a tricky one. I had a year of really digging deep.
"But then a year later, I met Phil. And we were married after a year, and then, the last chance saloon. I always say it's late night shopping just before the doors closed [her daughter] Winnie arrived.
"That was exciting. And then we had Winnie, and I was doing This Morning by then."
For support with fertility issues you can contact Fertility Network UK
WATCH: Fern Britton on taking her newborn daughter to work with her on 'This Morning'
