TV Review: My Infertility Journey

My Infertility Journey is a short documentary that follows BBC Mundo journalist Ana Mariá Roura and her husband Sebastien as they go through a round of IVF as part of their efforts to have a child.

The documentary, available on BBC iplayer, opens in silence, as statistics in white on a black screen explain how common infertility is, and, while IVF is the most used technique to address this, how low the success rate is. So, we are warned from the off that what follows is statistically unlikely to be a simple happy story.

After these bleak words, however, the documentary is comparatively gentle in tone. Soft music plays in the background as Ana, an Ecuadorian woman living in the UK, lays out pictures on a white surface that represent milestones in her relationship with husband Sebastien. Sebastien plays only a supporting role in this documentary, there to hold Ana's hand, but it is clear that the crucible in which this story will play out is Ana's body.

IVF, this documentary makes apparent, is hard work. Ana is shown following an extensive medical regime of injections and pills – having to be her 'own nurse'; managing not only the complicated schedule of when and how to administer each element, but then having to deal with the litany of side-effects such a regime is having on her physical and emotional wellbeing.

On the whole, My Infertility Journey walks a careful line between the scientific and emotional elements of going through IVF. It manages to inform while not being overly sentimental, and I came away knowing better the toll the medication regimes can have, along with the facts of the failure rates of IVF. It's not a magic fertility bullet; it's a tool in the medical arsenal. However, the focus of this documentary is definitely geared more towards Ana's experience, so if you're looking for a scientific deep dive on the exact ins and outs of IVF, this isn't the documentary for you. Still, by following along with Ana's story, and the scientific explanations she gives via voice over against black and white medical images, you can piece it together.

It isn't hard to feel for Ana, but her experiences are not going to be representative of the average UK couple considering or attempting IVF. While many will struggle to access IVF on the NHS, or to afford the costly private treatments, money doesn't seem to be of primary concern to Ana and Sebastien. In fact, when she asks her husband how many times they can try to conceive with this method he doesn't talk about what they can afford, but rather the emotional toll: how much they can cope with.

We return with Ana and Sebastien to the clinic and one successfully fertilised embryo is ready to be transferred – yes, only one, this round – and the crucial step is that once Ana leaves the clinic she must wait to see if it will implant.

An element of the documentary I enjoyed was that, alongside the clinical and scientific aspects, there is also an undertone of the folklorish, the mystical, and the magical. At one point in the documentary we see Ana talking with a group of women who have had their children after many rounds of IVF. She tells us some of these other women have told her to eat a pineapple at a certain point in the cycle, so she does. While Ana waits to know if the little embryo had taken root, we see the white surface again, but this time instead of photos of a pineapple, an ultrasound picture, a charm a friend made and a candle populate it. The counter is now an altar, something to transform the despair of waiting into hope.

Finally, we see a pregnancy test developing – but I won't spoil this part.

By the end of the documentary, we return to that white surface for a third time, it's populated with the accoutrements of their fertility journey, and, together, they're clearing it off. Things are sorted into 'junk' and 'memories'. Ana holds up a pair of baby booties and you can't help but think of that old two-line story: for sale, baby shoes… Well, you know how it goes.

Overall, My Infertility Journey offers insight into the practical and emotional elements of how one couple has experienced attempting to conceive with IVF and is therefore worth the watch. I think it is courageous of Ana and Sebastien to share their personal journey, and, despite how deeply personal everyone's IVF experience is, this documentary will be useful not just for educating people about what a round of IVF looks like, but in advising or informing others thinking of starting their own journey.