Lifestyle

Single mum who underwent IVF with the help of sperm donor says she ‘couldn’t be happier’


‘I’m the happiest I have ever been, and I am so glad I did it’ (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)

After her first IVF attempt, Danielle Buttle, 31, has become a single mum to a baby boy with the help of a sperm donor she’s never met.

Danielle had always hoped to become a mum and, as she hadn’t found the right man when she turned 30, she decided to go it alone.

After choosing the right donor from a sperm bank, an Argentinian man, Danielle underwent her first round of IVF in November 2020 and was ecstatic to find out she was pregnant by December.

She gave birth to baby boy Robin, who weighed 6lbs 15oz, at Lister Hospital, Stevenage, on 20th August, with her two sisters – Jasmine, 26, and Lianne, 33 – by her side as birthing partners following a smooth pregnancy.

Now, Danielle’s in a ‘blissful bubble’ with Robin and enjoying being a mum – saying she ‘couldn’t be happier’ with her choice to become a single parent.

Danielle, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, said: ‘I had always been obsessed with baby dolls and I’d always pretend to be pregnant in games with my sisters when we were young.

Danielle felt maternal even as a child (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)
Getting donor sperm and IVF cost Danielle £4,000 (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)

‘I was starting to panic in the last few years that I hadn’t found “the one” and I started joking about using a sperm donor and going it alone.

‘But then I actually thought “well, why not?” and looked into it.

‘It was the best decision I ever made.

‘Now I have a gorgeous baby boy and I just can’t stop staring at him.’

Danielle, who runs a dance school, paid £1,000 to pick a donor from the sperm bank and £3,000 on IVF.

‘I’m really indecisive but picking the sperm donor wasn’t as bad as I thought,’ she said.

‘You see pictures of the donor as a child and information about them and the one I picked seemed really sweet.

‘He is 175cm, a slim build, has dark brown hair and brown-green eyes.

‘It’s quite similar to my features but in the end, it was the way he came across as a genuine, caring person in his answers to questions that drew me to him.’

She was told at 38 weeks that she had gestational diabetes (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)
Danielle and Robin leaving the hospital (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)

Danielle enlisted her mum Carol’s help with the injections before she was ready to have her eggs collected in December of last year.

She said: ‘It was really nerve-wracking, then finding out how many eggs I had, but I found out I had five fertilised and three of them made it from that.’

Her embryo transfer was thankfully a successful one, but she had to wait 11 days to find that out.

‘They phoned me and told me I was pregnant, and I couldn’t believe it,’ she said.

‘It was the best Christmas present ever.

‘My pregnancy ran smoothly with the cravings of oranges and ice lollies and I loved feeling my baby kick, roll and stretch in my tummy.’

It wasn’t all completely smooth sailing, however, as at 36 weeks Danielle started to get very thirsty and was told at 38 weeks that she had gestational diabetes.

What a cutie (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)
Danielle said: ‘I don’t get anything done because I just stare at him’ (Picture: Danielle Buttle / SWNS)

She had to have a scan to check on Robin’s size and was told he was only 5lbs and there wasn’t enough amniotic fluid around him.

Danielle had to be induced the next day, and was forced to make a panicked call her sisters to make sure they could be there for the birth.

Luckily both Jasmine and Lianne got there just in time to be her birthing partners.

‘Seeing him for the first time was so surreal,’ Danielle said.

‘My first night was scary, but I’m in such a bubble of being a mum.

‘I don’t get anything done because I just stare at him. I can’t believe he is mine.

‘Robin will always know how he came into this world from very young.

‘I’m the happiest I have ever been, and I am so glad I did it.’

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