My complex fertility journey to have a baby after PCOS and endometriosis

Caitríona O’Donnell has endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome and knew she would need help to get pregnant. A new treatment targeting an overactive immune system ultimately led to the birth of her baby

Caitriona O’Donnell and her daughter at home in  Limerick city. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

IT was a hard year in 2024 for Caitríona O’Donnell. She and her husband, Ruairí, began to lose hope that they would ever have a baby.

“We’d been childhood sweethearts since our Leaving Cert year,” says the 34-year-old occupational therapist from Limerick. “We got engaged in 2018 and started trying for a baby in 2019, when we were both 27. We never thought we’d have such a long journey ahead of us. After years of struggling to conceive and two IVF cycles that either failed or ended in miscarriage, by 2024, our hopes were fading.”