A FERTILITY clinic is celebrating helping to change the lives of mums across the borough ahead of Mother’s Day.

Bourn Hall Clinic, in Wickford, welcomed its first baby in April last year, when Leonie McCaughren gave birth to baby Bear.

Leonie and her partner had spent years trying to have a child, when they were referred to the clinic on London Road for NHS-funded IVF.

To Leonie’s shock, the treatment worked first time and she was so excited that she drove to Tesco in her pyjamas to buy more tests, to double check she was actually pregnant.

The couple also have five embryos from their treatment frozen at Bourn Hall, which means if they later want siblings for Bear they will be able to have a frozen embryo transfer cycle without the need to undergo another full cycle of IVF.

Leonie, 31, from South Ockendon, said: “It’s hard to put into words how I felt when Bear was born.

“It was something that we’d wanted for so long, to actually have him arrive was just surreal. I think it took a couple of days for me to actually believe that he was here and not keep thinking it was a dream.

“Bear is almost a year old now and it’s safe to say that being his mum is the best thing that I’ve ever experienced - I never knew that watching a child sleep could be so fascinating and, as he gets older, watching him learn to hold things and crawl and stand is so exciting.

“Every day there’s something new and, whilst I miss him being a tiny baby, seeing him learn and grow is the best part of being his mum.”

Although the clinic opened in May 2018, Bourn Hall will celebrate its first full year of operation this year ahead of its second anniversary, ironically, ahead of Mother’s Day next Sunday.

In that time, the clinic have achieved impressive pregnancy success rates, nearly 20 per cent above the national average.

The clinic has so far treated 106 patients and over half of those are pregnant already or have had a baby.

Charlotte Rawlinson, who suffered for years with painful endometriosis, was just one of those who have benefited from treatment at Bourn Hall, having her daughter Eloise last July with partner Mark Spinks.

The 33-year-old, from Benfleet, said: “I had a feeling the IVF had worked because I felt different. I took the test and couldn’t bear to look at it and so I put it on the side and told Mark to look at it.

“When he told me the test was positive I just burst in to tears, it was the best day ever.

“At one time I never thought I’d get to celebrate Mother’s Day.

“I was convinced it would never happen for me. But here I am, eight months into what I can only describe as the best job in the world. It means absolutely everything to me to finally be able to celebrate Mother’s Day with my perfect little family.”