When I look at my gorgeous little boy, there’s quite often a sense of disbelief that he’s really mine. That he’s really here after so many years of trying and hoping.

Yet when he snuggles into me watching In the Night Garden, or takes my hand to show me something, or puckers up for a kiss, or giggles deliciously playing hide and seek, or points and says ‘mau’ when he sees a cat, or decides to wear his tea rather than eating it or any of the 101 other little everyday toddler things that make up his day, I breathe in his soft golden curls and absolutely know what contentment and motherhood is.

Jim and I had been together for 9 years before we married and started trying for a baby. We didn’t worry when it didn’t happen straightaway– I’d been on the pill for ages and just thought it needed to get out of my system. But then as months turned to years and we started on the rollercoaster of tests and fertility treatment, my hope turned to despair and I closed off from friends who were announcing their own bundles of joy.

Eventually, after three rounds of ICSI using my own eggs in an NHS hospital, I looked elsewhere and discovered Care. At this point I already suspected that we would need donor eggs and Care, after running some more tests, confirmed it. I was 36 and in good health – I was just unlucky.

By that stage, we’d done a lot of thinking about what using donor eggs would mean for us. That any child would not look like me – would I still feel the same bond? What if there were medical issues? Would we tell them their origins?  So when we went for the counselling session with Care, it helped to confirm our decision and that we had thought through the implications properly.

One of the reasons we decided to use Care was due to shorter waiting times and soon, after a false start with one donor, we got an even better match with an egg sharer and we begun treatment after just six months wait. As this was our fourth – and final – go at fertility treatment, I was somehow more relaxed this time. I knew that if it didn’t work out, at least we had tried everything. We ended up with just one viable embryo – our first ever.

A few weeks later, I did the pregnancy test. I tested positive. I did another. Just to check. And then took photos of them both in case I was imagining things and told my husband. Our families were the next to know that very day – they’d been on this journey with us and were thrilled.

A few months later, Charlie was born, looking just like Daddy. The hole in our hearts was fixed at long last.

Our son gives us deep, unadulterated joy every minute of every day. I am beyond grateful to our egg donor for her amazing gift in helping us to become a mum and dad – we had a perfect end to an eight-year voyage thanks to her and to Care and we hope her dreams came true too.