Alex Jones is preparing to reveal all about her journey to pregnancy in a new documentary ‘Alex Jones – Fertility and Me’.
The ‘One Show’ presenter announced on 2 September that she and her husband Charlie Thomson are expecting their first baby. But there was a time when she worried they might be among the one in seven couples who struggle to conceive.
“My main fear was realising too far down the line that it’s actually not working,” she said.
The documentary ‘Alex Jones – Fertility and Me’ will air at 10.45pm on Tuesday 20 September, on BBC One.
The show will follow Jones’ journey as she talks to her mother and sister about their experiences of trying for a baby and undergoes tests to find out how fertile she is.
She learns that both her and Thomson’s ages will impact on their fertility and is told what they can do to maximise their chances of conceiving
Jones also investigates cutting edge techniques giving people new hopes of having children and meets scientists who are working on treatments that could revolutionise fertility treatment in the future.
In Oxford, she meets Professor Tim Child, who is working on a trial of a technique to screen embryos by checking they have the correct number of chromosones.
On average only half the embryos that couples make when the woman is in her mid-thirties will have the correct number of chromosomes. If the number is incorrect the embryo won’t develop into a baby.
In Valencia, Jones is told about a ground-breaking test developed by Dr Carlos Simon and his team, which predicts to within a few hours when embryos should be implanted into the womb during IVF treatment to improve success rates.
And in Sweden she learned about womb transplant surgery pioneered by Mats Brannstrom, which is giving hope to the small number of women who are born without a womb.
“It’s amazing to realise what’s out there now and what’s around the corner, said Jones. “It’s a really exciting time to start a family, no matter how old you are.”
