A woman who claims to have spent "a worrying amount of time" trying for a baby has revealed she was finally able to conceive naturally thanks to the help of a £500 at-home fertility kit - and she's now the proud mother of a beautiful baby boy.
Sophie Harper, 31, and her husband Andrew, 32, started to doubt their ability to have children when they spent over a year trying to get Sophie pregnant to no avail.
The couple, from London, was considering trying IVF treatment to help them achieve their dream of starting a family but were concerned by financial costs - as one cycle of treatment can cost up to £5,000.
Sophie sought medical help and went through blood tests with her GP but they were unable to find any reason for her inability to conceive, and so when the new mum stumbled across an at-home fertility kit online, she knew she had to try it.
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The kit, made by ScreenMe provides fertility health testing as well as tailored nutritional and wellness advice to help women improve their reproductive health - and Sophie believes it helped her get to the root of the problem in a way that the NHS was unable to.
She said: "When we took the leap to start trying, we were surprised that it was taking a year, which is longer than the normal timeframe expected to conceive.
"Doctors did some initial blood tests but there was no reason given as to why we couldn’t conceive. We were eating healthily and overall felt well, and I was taking a general pregnancy supplement.
"We were thinking about having IVF but really wanted to first do our part in making sure we had done everything we could to improve our chances, so decided to give it another six months."
Sophie spent £500 on the fertility kit and says it helped her discover ways in which her body's nutrient levels were impacting her ability to conceive and make changes in her everyday life.
Within one month of changing her diet and lifestyle, Sophie fell pregnant naturally, and she and her husband welcomed their son, Kian Faizal, in February.
She continued: "We started the ScreenMe journey with a pre-conception package for couples and after one month I was pregnant.
"ScreenMe offered us a variety of support services, helping us to recognise the areas of our life that were potentially impacting our fertility.
" The NHS could not offer the same level of comprehensive testing that ScreenMe offers, including extensive hormones, nutrients, health markers and gut and vaginal microbiome testing."
The mum added: " Had I not known the state of my gut microbiome and the status of our nutrient levels, health markers and the impacts of our lifestyles on my ability to conceive and grow a healthy baby, I believe that we would still be seeking to find why I can’t conceive and would have gone through treatment, such as IVF, without preparing my body.
"The process was so easy and non-invasive and made our general health better based on solid science. I am giving our baby the best start in life and reducing the likelihood of non-communicable diseases for both baby and me post-birth too."
ScreenMe was set up by Dr Golnoush Golshirazi, a Cambridge University graduate, who had experienced extreme pain before and during menstruation her entire life.
The kit includes tests for ovulation health, egg reserves, PCOS and nutritional deficiencies.
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