Influencer Chessie King on her gruelling fertility journey, dealing with trolls and how her struggles made her 'closer than ever' to her husband: 'Everything I saw online about IVF was negative, I wanted to reframe that'

Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more

Soon, successful influencer Chessie King will be welcoming her second child. 

But it hasn't been the easiest journey for the 33-year-old. She endured a gruelling IVF process over 446 days with 86 injections and suffered a devastating miscarriage. 

And the influencer has now spoken exclusively to the Daily Mail - to mark World IVF Day - about her journey to becoming a mother for the second time after welcoming her daughter Auraelia, five, with her husband Mathew in lockdown. 

While Chessie has described the 'emotional' process as taxing on her both physically and mentally, she chose to reframe the often negative narrative towards fertility struggles.

Body positivity campaigner Chessie used Proceive supplements as part of her fertility journey the second time around to support both her and her husband's general wellbeing and health.

She said: 'It's [IVF] a huge toll on your body, physically, mentally, everything. But it was the closest Matt and I have ever been in our relationship in 10 years, and it just kind of felt like we were both doing it together.

'He helped me with the injections the first two days. He's a diabetic, so he just knows how to do them.'

She continued: 'I tried to flip it and flip the narrative and be like, 'How fascinating is this? Instead of being like, 'Oh, wow, this is the worst thing I could ever go through.'' 

'We were just so lucky that we were supported by a clinic that has such a huge success rate in their first rounds.'

Chessie also described how often a lot of what she saw online about IVF was negative and that she wanted to reframe that into something much more hopeful. 

She said: 'I always just share things online hoping that it gives that solace and that comfort, some optimism and hope. Because for me when I was looking at IVF on Instagram, I only saw IVF failures. I didn't really see IVF success, and that is the reality of IVF and fertility. 

'But I was like, I really want to give that hope so that someone watched it and go, okay, like it could happen for me.

'As humans we just absorb negativity so much easier than positivity. I feel, and it sticks with you that negativity. And actually, I wanted to try and like wipe through that.'

She added: 'This is just how I've been in my entire life. I am faced with something, and I think, right, how can I make this the most empowering, positive experience, and learn from it? 

'Because every negative emotion, every negative test that we got, and every loss, I really try to think it's just teaching me something. It's teaching me patience, and now I realize why it took so long because it was always meant to be that process.'

Chessie is pregnant at the same time as her fellow influencer sister Bronte and the star is thrilled to be able to share the experience with her. 

She said: 'I'm six weeks in front of my sister, who is my best friend. So we're all able to do it together. If you had told me that at the beginning it would have made things a lot easier.'

However sharing her IVF journey didn't come without some criticism from the online trolls.

She said: 'Don't get me wrong, I got so many messages being like, 'This is not a real insight into IVF'. We were so lucky that it was after the first round, but for me it was it wasn't just doing that first round of IVF. 

'It's all the time that led up to that when we were trying and obviously went through all the different notions of trying to conceive. You're always going to get it [trolling] if you're as open in speaking about topics as I am. 

'I'm so aware that I'm always going to get voices, and I appreciate that everyone has their own opinions. And I'm not really affected by that.'

Speaking about the importance of Proceive when trying to conceive she said: 'Well Auraelia is five, so I didn't keep any supplements down with her pregnancy, and yeah, I wasn't as prepared. I didn't take the supplements. 

'So this time round, as soon as we started trying to conceive, I was like, right, I know exactly what to take, and Proceive for both of us was our like number one choice. So we both started taking it because I wanted Matt to feel as involved in the trying to conceive process as I did.'

They both started taking the supplements a year and a half before they actually conceived before Chessie moved on to take their pregnancy supplements all the way through to her current third trimester. 

Chessie is planning a serene home birth to welcome her second child after having a C-section with Auraelia.

Of becoming a mother-of-two very soon, she said: 'I'm so excited. It all just makes sense to me now.' 

Chessie announced she was pregnant with her second child last December by sharing a 'euphoric' video on Instagram.

The star shared her first 'bump' snap with her almost 700,000 followers.

She wrote: 'Pure *euphoria* there are no words in any language that will ever be able to explain just how unbelievably grateful we are for IVF/ICSI.

'We've only kept it our secret for 2 weeks meaning I'm still *very* early but we have never done any of this quietly, we've shared every negative that has lead to this positive with you.

'& the whole 'don't tell anyone until 12 weeks' feels outdated & you've all taught us that support matters at every stage but I'm not going to lie, we're still nervous & feel like it's too good to be true [after losing a baby from early miscarriage back in March]

'We feel indescribably lucky & I truly appreciate this may be difficult for you to read. Please know we are wishing for every single one of you still waiting, hoping & hurting.'

Chessie praised the fertility clinic she used as they gave her 'so much hope' but admitted it has cost the couple an 'absurd' amount.  

She continued: 'Avenues have been nothing but extraordinary throughout this journey, when we went to them for our initial consultation we received more answers in the half an hour of being there than we had since last October. 

'It was our third fertility clinic & they have honestly given us so so much hope. We are paying clients [& my goodness does IVF add up, the fertility medication I'm on now until my 12 week scan is absurdly expensive!]'

IVF costs vary widely, but in the UK, a single cycle typically ranges from £3,000 to over £7,000, however there will be extra fees on top for consultations, blood tests, procedures which can bring the total cost to over £10,000. 

Contact Miscarriage UK for support: www.Miscarriageuk.org / [email protected] / 0303 003 6464.