Infertility: the woes couples on IVF face, and why there’s always hope
Receiving fertility treatment is often a stressful experience, but there are steps that can be taken to assist couples. One mother opens up about her experience in Hong Kong and Australia, and why she is trying for a second child nevertheless
Wilma Janner’s four-and-a-half years of assisted conception culminated in the successful birth of her son in 2016, but the whole experience was a harrowing one for the now 38-year-old.
Janner (not her real name) and her husband had been trying to conceive naturally but failed. “There was nothing medically wrong with us,” she says of the results of a sperm test, and ovulation tracking exams and scans.
The couple chose to undergo assisted conception. Janner was 34 at the time. After four unsuccessful intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles in Hong Kong, the couple opted for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in Hong Kong and Australia, to much heartbreak and devastation.
The first attempt failed. Another attempt led to a pregnancy, but at nine weeks, the doctor couldn’t find a heartbeat. In Australia at the time, she later miscarried.
But this wasn’t the toughest test. Another IVF attempt resulted in an ectopic pregnancy that lead to the loss of a Fallopian tube. She sought counselling in Hong Kong to cope with the aftermath.
Janner says IVF was more affordable in Australia, where patients taking part in the process have free and unlimited access to a psychologist.