‘My son wouldn’t be here without IVF’

Nora did not think it would be possible for her to have a baby, until IVF became a proposition.

Nora Badanian cradles her newborn son Elijah Badanian Ireson, who was born on Monday morning weighing 3.37 kilograms. She and her husband Stephen had IVF at the Bourn Hall Clinic in Dubai. Photo courtShow more

DUBAI // Fast asleep in his white babygrow and firmly wrapped in a blanket, Nora Badanian cradles her firstborn in her arms.
Thanks to IVF, Nora, 39, finally has the baby boy she never thought possible.

“We tried the normal way but it just was not happening,” said Nora, on her struggle to conceive.

Last September, after three fruitless years of trying to get pregnant, Nora and her husband, Briton Simon Ireson, decided to get help from fertility experts.

She made an appointment at the newly opened Bourn Hall Clinic Dubai, the UAE arm of the UK clinic where the first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was conceived 35 years ago.

Fertility experts could not determine the exact cause of the couple’s conception problems, but doctors said the issues lay with Nora.

She immediately began a course of IVF and, within weeks, became pregnant.

It was during a follow-up blood test at Bourn Hall in November that doctors found the fertility treatment had been successful.

“I got a phone call two hours later and they told me I was pregnant. I was very, very, very happy,” said Nora, who lives in Dubai.

After a “pretty comfortable pregnancy” she went into labour at 7.30pm on Sunday.

At 2.45am on Monday, Nora’s baby boy, Elijah Badanian Ireson, was born at City Hospital in Dubai Healthcare City, weighing 3.37 kilograms.

When she first laid eyes on him, she “cried and cried and cried”.

“I cried with everything, with happiness, with nerves. I was quite overwhelmed,” said Nora, a Lebanese expatriate.

“Without IVF, I do not think my baby would have been possible. You can never really know but I did not have many options.

“IVF was definitely the right choice for me. I am very grateful to Bourn Hall.

“As any other couple in this situation knows, trying to get pregnant can be a very stressful time. But I was made to feel very calm and relaxed.”

Bruno Rosset, one of the founders of Bourn Hall Clinic Dubai, said the medical team were “absolutely thrilled” for Nora and her family. “We wish them our heartfelt congratulations,” he said.

“This little boy is among the first babies to be born following treatment at Bourn Hall’s Dubai clinic after it opened towards the end of last year, and we look forward to being able to welcome many, many more babies in the near future.”