Kerry Allen, 29, and her best friend Ali Thomson, 27, were both longing to be parents. The friends got drunk one night and came up with a plan to get Kerry pregnant. Forget expensive IVF treatments – Kerry bought a plastic syringe from Amazon for £3 and a plastic container from her local Morrisons.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the pair had already researched artificial insemination, but soon found out about the costs involved.
They decided to use a DIY method by using the plastic syringe to inject Ali’s sperm. The great thing is that it actually worked – twice.
Friends lose first baby
When they first used their DIY approach to artificial insemination, Kerry fell pregnant very quickly. However, at 19 weeks, doctors told them baby Elijah’s heart was no longer beating. Kerry gave birth to a stillborn baby in May 2017. This didn’t stop them, however, and they decided to give it another go. On 23 May 2018, Kerry gave birth to Lanah, a baby girl, who is now 11 weeks.
Kerry and Ali live together in Berwick-Upon-Tweed in Northumberland.
They first met when Kerry was working at Burger King and Ali was working as a barman. According to Kerry, they just clicked and have been the best of friends ever since. The pair moved in together in 2014 and it was a year later they came up with the idea of artificial insemination. Kerry said she has always wanted to be a mother, but she wasn’t in a relationship with anyone and didn’t really want to be, as she had been hurt before.
With Ali also wanting to be a parent, she decided he would make the ideal dad. She said Ali was funny and kind and she knew he would love to be a parent one day. When they first tried out their DIY method in October 2016, Kerry said she lay in bed after injecting the sperm, keeping her legs up for an hour and a half against the headboard, as she had heard that could help with conception.
She was right.
Second time lucky
As reported by the Metro, Kerry explained that they had both wanted to be parents for so long and when she saw baby Lanah for the first time, she felt totally in love. She said how heartbroken they both were over losing the first baby, feeling as though their dreams of parenthood were over.
Kerry went into labour on 23 May, two days after her due date, and gave birth to Lanah Allen-Thomson while Ali was by her bedside. Lanah weighed 6lb 11 oz and was perfect. She went on to add that when she saw the way Ali looked at baby Lanah, she realised that everything they had done was right.