Baby dream comes true for 44-year-old helicopter pilot
A 44-year-old first-time mum has said how grateful she was for the chance to preserve her fertility by freezing her embryos and choose the right time to have a baby without having to worry too much about her biological clock thanks to a Bristol fertility clinic.
Joanna Forrester, an offshore helicopter pilot, clearly remembers her mother suggesting she might consider the idea years ago, although it wasn’t until she was living in the USA in her late thirties that she began to think it was perhaps a good suggestion after all.
After four years in the US, which included qualifying at flight school where she met the man who would eventually become her baby’s father, Joanna returned to the UK in 2019 and started to research egg freezing. She chose Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM) based on their track record for successful fertility treatment and some personal recommendations.
Initial investigations indicated that her egg reserve was lower than average for her age, so her BCRM consultant recommended freezing embryos rather than eggs, to maximise the chances of eventual success in having a baby.
Joanna said: “This was tricky because my partner Sindre and I weren’t sure what the future held for us as we had both just moved back from the US, me to the UK and him to Norway.
“But he was incredibly supportive and agreed to donate sperm to fertilise my eggs, and I began the necessary drugs and had two eggs removed on my first cycle.
“Sadly, it wasn’t possible to fertilise either of those eggs.”
Then Covid struck, Joanna’s job vanished, she found herself doing Amazon deliveries, and fertility clinics were obliged to halt treatment for a few months.
When treatment restarted in the summer of 2020, Joanna had a second cycle which resulted in one embryo for freezing, and in September she had a third cycle.
“I was at peak fitness by then,” said Joanna, “because I was doing around 30,000 steps a day on my delivery round as well as walking my Labrador before and after my shift.
“After the third cycle of treatment the BCRM team retrieved six eggs, which resulted in another three fertilised embryos.
“With four frozen embryos now available to us – not a huge number, but not bad - I felt I had done all I could to protect my chances of eventually becoming a mother, and in August 2021 I relocated to take up a new flying job in Aberdeen.”
When the Covid restrictions were in place Sindre was living and working in his native Norway and the couple were unable to see each other for 18 months due to border closures and rules requiring three weeks of quarantine, which was not possible to manage alongside work.
Despite the odds, Joanna and Sindre’s relationship flourished and at the end of 2022 he joined her in Aberdeen.
Once settled, the couple decided it was time to try for a baby, and with no natural conception occurring due to her low ovarian reserve, Joanna contacted BCRM again.
She said: “I was so impressed with the clinic during my earlier treatment that I had no hesitation in returning there from Aberdeen for my IVF treatment.”
While her first embryo transfer didn’t result in pregnancy, the second did, but although the eight-week scan revealed a heartbeat, there was none at the 12-week scan which Joanna said was heartbreaking.
However, in May 2024 she had the third of her four frozen embryos transferred with a successful result and at the end of February 2025, Joanna and Sindre were delighted to welcome daughter Alia into the world.
Once Joanna had checked there was no reason not to travel with a newborn, she flew her down for a surprise visit to meet her maternal grandparents in Surrey, and then over to Stavanger in Norway shortly after to visit her Norwegian grandparents.
“She is proving to be a very sweet, happy baby and so far a chilled traveller,” said Joanna.
“The name Alia was one Sindre and I first heard when living in Hawaii, and loved as we felt it was simple yet pretty, so that was the name we kept coming back to even though it is unusual in the UK and Norway.
“When visiting the hospital for a check-up, they mistakenly had her on their system as 'Alan' which we found entertaining so that might stick as a nickname.
“Becoming a new mama at 44 marks such an exciting new chapter in my life, and we are over the moon to have our beautiful little daughter.
“I wanted to share my story so that other women in my position might be encouraged by what is possible, and I’d like to say a huge thank-you to the amazing team at BCRM who made my dream come true.”
BCRM www.fertilitybristol.com is the longest established fertility clinic in Bristol, helping people from throughout the South West and Wales with fertility treatment for both private and NHS patients. The clinic is involved in innovative research and has one of the best success rates with IVF and other fertility treatments in the UK.
