Opening Up About Infertility: Eight Stories of Courage and love
As we reflect on Infertility Awareness Week, we're honoured to share eight powerful interviews conducted by Teegan Doust. These incredible women have bravely shared their personal journeys with infertility, offering raw insight into the emotional and physical challenges they've faced.
Alex
My husband and I started trying for a baby in 2019, full of hope and excitement. A year passed—nothing. Tests, appointments, waiting. We were sent to a local fertility clinic, but instead of solutions, I was told I wasn’t a candidate for IVF—not because of anything medical, but because I didn’t fit their idea of the “right” body size. It was crushing, but we kept going.
We tried ovulation induction. We tried IUI. Month after month, disappointment. In 2022, we finally saw a specialist who actually listened. I had surgery to remove endometriosis and ovarian drilling, and with a fresh start, we began IVF in Sydney in early 2023.
Round one: 10 eggs, 2 embryos. We transferred both and hoped like hell. For a brief, beautiful moment, I was pregnant. Then, I wasn’t. Another loss, another heartbreak.
We jumped straight into round two—higher meds, human growth hormone, anything to improve our chances. This time, we got 8 eggs and 4 embryos, but IVF took its toll. I woke up from egg retrieval with a hemorrhage in both eyes. Three days later, we transferred an embryo, but I just felt… wrong. OHSS hit hard. My kidneys and liver started shutting down, and I spent six days in the maternity ward—not to celebrate, but to recover from another failed cycle.
We took a break. Then, in December 2023, we transferred one of our frozen embryos. Six days before Christmas, I saw the word I had waited years for: pregnant. This time, it stuck.
And in August 2024, after everything—years of pain, loss, and hope—I finally held my baby in my arms.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
The hardest part of infertility for me was loss—losing time, losing the version of myself that existed before trying to conceive, losing eggs, embryos, and pregnancies. It was the loss of hope, the loss of spirit, and the constant grief that came with each setback.
Kate
My partner and I met in high school, and even in our yearbook, we wrote about our dream of having a family. We got married in our early twenties and started trying to have children right away. For 7 years, we faced disappointment after disappointment, never once getting pregnant. About five years into trying to conceive, I underwent investigative surgery to rule out conditions like endometriosis, only to be diagnosed with low egg counts and “unexplained infertility.”
The journey to start our family placed us in a difficult financial situation. We had to make an agonizing choice: continue pursuing our dream or saving for a house. Because of our age and medical history we were recommended to start IVF straight away. Fortunately after one round of IVF, we had a successful egg collection, and just a few weeks late, a successful embryo transfer.
The IVF process can be confronting from start to finish. You have to have conversations with your partner about what happens to embryos should separation or death occur. You fill your body with so many injections on a strict schedule. You endure multiple uncomfortable internal ultrasounds when your ovaries are the size of apples, and you have to keep going because for some, it’s the only option.
In May 2020, during the height of the pandemic, we welcomed our first baby into our family. Then in June 2023, we were blessed with our second IVF baby.
I expected the trauma of infertility to vanish once I held my baby in my arms. The emotional scars of those lingered, and I experienced significant postnatal depression and anxiety. I realised my intense desire to become a mother led me to place immense pressure on myself to be perfect.
Even now with two beautiful children, every pregnancy announcement fills me with both joy and deep sadness.
The journey to motherhood has been challenging, and while i'm Incredibly grateful for my family, those emotions continue to shape how I experience motherhood. It’s important for me to share my story and support others so no one has to go through infertility alone.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
For me, the hardest part of infertility was coming to terms with my body failing me. I had this innate feeling that I was not able to do the one thing a woman's body was designed to do. It has taken a lot of time and positive self talk to move past feeling a failure.
Teegan
We married in 2020 and had wanted children for a long time. Month after month it was just a constant disappointment of negative tests. We had been trying for 7 months when I just felt something wasn’t right. The GP told us to just continue waiting because we hadn’t been trying for over a year and I wasn’t over 35.
We decided to do a home sperm test. Jack’s sperm count came back low. It honestly surprised us because we both just assumed I would be the concern, male infertility wasn’t on our radar, We were referred to a fertility specialist where more testing was done. We were told men needed 15-20 million sperm to fall pregnant naturally, so we needed to start IVF. This was such an emotional time because it was during lockdown and we had nothing to distract us from thinking of all the worst case scenarios.
We started our IVF round in November 2021. This included multiple hormonal injections every day, blood tests and ultrasounds every 2nd day. It is an overwhelming and emotional experience. I had anxiety throughout the whole process because I am terrified of needles. Jack had to be the one to inject me every night while I was in tears. The egg retrieval caused a lot of pain because I was on the verge of OHSS, I could barely walk for days after the surgery. Luckily, 22 eggs were collected. We had such high hopes because of the amount of eggs, but sadly we only got 2 embryos, which was disappointing.
We had to wait a few months to do a frozen transfer. It was such a surreal experience seeing your baby being inserted into you, but because of COVID Jack was unable to be there with me. Waiting 11 days to find out the results was so difficult. I lasted 9 days until I did a pregnancy test and we were shocked to see a positive result, but over the moon with joy. 9 months later we had our little miracle in our arms, Hudson.
I consider us very lucky that we only had to do one round of IVF, as I know so many others that wait years to start their family. Even though I found this the most emotional and challenging time of my life I am grateful it allowed me the chance to become a mother.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
Besides the actual IVF process, the hardest part for me was the emotions I had to come to terms with. I was facing the fact that I might not get to be a mother, which was my dream. I was watching friends have babies while I just kept feeling lost.
Steph
At the end of 2024 we met our gorgeous boy Harvey who was conceived through IVF.
Following my diagnosis of endometriosis and PCOS we started IVF. In 2024 we started our first IVF cycle. Following our egg collection, we ended up with 6 embryos. We had hoped to do a fresh transfer following our egg collection, however I was diagnosed with ovarian hyperstimulation so we had to wait until the following month.
The following month we did a frozen transfer with our highest graded embryo. The two weeks leading up to the blood test to see whether the transfer was successful is hard to describe. You go through so much prep to get to that point and then you simply just wait.
We were so incredibly lucky that our first transfer was successful. My heart goes out to anyone who is currently in the thick of infertility as until you go through it I think it is hard to understand how all encompassing it is.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
I found the biggest challenge of infertility is how it consumes you. The regular appointments, the blood tests every couple of days, the ultrasounds, the various medications, the bills, the conversations and discussions and the ‘what ifs’.
Nicole
Our first journey to conceive was nothing like I imagined. While I knew getting pregnant right away was unlikely, I initially was not prepared for, or honestly really aware of, the 18-month road that lay ahead. After a few months of trying, and a false sense of hope due to an unusually long cycle, my GP recommended we see a fertility specialist.
Our first step was to undergo ovulation tracking through blood tests and a HiCoSy to better understand what might be causing our struggles. Despite these efforts, no clear reason was found, and I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. There was no explanation for my highly irregular cycle or why, even with tracking, we weren’t getting pregnant.
We moved on to a few medicated cycles, adjusting doses and medications each time, but I showed little to no response each time. Thankfully after each round my specialist was quick to suggest we try something else, which we appreciated, as we were eager to start our family. After three medicated cycles IVF was recommended as the next step.
We did a lot of research and had numerous discussions with the clinic team, thinking we were prepared for this next step. The preparations and egg retrieval went well, but the next day, we received the devastating news: none of our eggs had fertilized. We had zero embryos. I still remember the heartbreak of that call—I was completely unprepared for this outcome. I had never considered the possibility that this could happen. I had prepared for the chance of not all eggs retrieved making it to blastocyst and not getting pregnant with our first embryo transfer, but not this. I almost went to work that day, certain we’d get good news.
Our specialist brought us in right away to discuss the results, and we decided to instead try ICSI as our next round. However, during the waiting period before starting this cycle, we experienced a spontaneous conception, and nine months later, we welcomed our beautiful son. Three years later, we are overjoyed to have just welcomed our second son completing our family.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
The waiting. But not just to see if I was pregnant, but the waiting to see if my body would start to respond to a treatment we were trying, if the next thing would give us some answers, to find out what the next step would be when something was not working, waiting to make plans for next month or even next week because what if I needed to be available for our next blood test date or treatment plan. Life went on hold while we just waited.
Tamar
Diagnosed with PCOS at 19 and endometriosis at 22, I knew infertility was a possibility.
My gynaecologist was positive that all signs pointed to falling pregnant quickly and simply. The next 12 months saw failed cycles that involved oral medications, injections, scans, and blood tests right from the start. My pain was unbearable and I was on multiple medications in order to push through and function day to day.
In that time, the closest we came to pregnancy was a hospital doctor getting our hopes up when she told us I had an elevated pregnancy hormone. It’s hard to forget the moment we both realised this was a false positive due to the injection I had used to trigger ovulation and how devastated we were.
The next step was a fertility specialist who straight up told us we had to do IVF at age 25. It took a couple of cycles to get the right injections/medications to stimulate my ovaries, but we got there and amazingly collected 23 eggs which fertilised into 7 embryos!
Although extremely lucky, I experienced intense amounts of pain from collecting such a high number of eggs. The first period I had post egg collection I ended up back in hospital unable to cope with the significant amount of pain I was in.
Our IVF journey was paused for 3.5 years while I better managed my pain, battled other health issues and worked on our relationship which unfortunately had become impacted from the challenges we had faced.
When it came time to recommence our journey, again, typical injections were doing nothing, meaning I was given a different medication that was a tablet.
I cried at the simplest things during that time until my endometriosis pain peaked and then I cried in agony. I was struggling so bad being on a dose that was 6 times the normal for that medication that I questioned if I could continue.
It was my 30th birthday when we received the call confirming we were pregnant, and my partner’s 30th birthday when we heard our son’s heartbeat for the first time.
Falling pregnant and pregnancy itself was rough, but I would do it all over again if it meant having our boy.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
My journey with infertility often left me feeling isolated and alone, especially when it seemed like those around me were effortlessly growing their families.
You want to celebrate with them wholeheartedly, without casting a shadow of guilt over their joy, but it’s hard when your heart aches for the same thing.
Chelsea
After three losses, including an ectopic pregnancy, I never imagined just how difficult conceiving would become. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in my early 30s, and only after we were having trouble falling pregnant. Our first two babies didn’t come easily—both followed surgeries—but we didn’t need IVF then. However, it took around 18 months each time to conceive. I thought I understood the struggle. Trying for our third baby opened a whole new chapter of pain and resilience.
We started trying for our third not long after number two was born. After no success, our reproductive specialist told us that conceiving naturally would be a miracle. The damage from the endometriosis and the previous ectopic, combined with my age all contributed. That word—miracle—landed heavy. We turned to IVF. I thought I was prepared, but IVF demanded a new kind of strength. The appointments, the needles, the medications, the scans, the egg retrievals, the transfers—it became a second job layered over the emotional weight I was already carrying, a full time job and two young children.
Then came the delays: We moved interstate, and then COVID slowed everything down and i had to go to all appointments alone. I felt like we were running out of time. It was already nearing two years. We suffered another miscarriage along the way. We had so many failed transfers that I lost count.
Heidi was our final embryo. I had decided it would be our last attempt for a while if not indefinitely. I was mentally exhausted. I held my breath through every step—the transfer, the two-week wait, the first blood test, the early scans, nearly losing her at 10 weeks and a rough pregnancy. My three girls are all miracles and 100% worth everything we went through. I am so thankful for the medical advances and the amazing team of reproductive specialists that have allowed me to overcome my fertility challenges and make our family complete.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
The hardest part for me was not the physical procedures—it was the mental and emotional battle. Smiling through well-meaning comments like “At least you already have two,” or “Just relax—it’ll happen.” No one saw the silent grief or the emotional toll of getting my hopes up cycle after cycle and feeling like my body was failing to do the one thing I wanted it to do. It really does start to consume you.
Cassie
When I met my husband, I already had 2 boys so when we started trying for a baby, I didn't think there would be any issues falling pregnant.
We tried for years, falling pregnant a few times & miscarrying each time. It was devastating! Not only was there the emotional toll of losing our babies, each loss required me to have surgery which can cause even more issues with fertility. Each of our pregnancies took about 12 months to conceive but as we could fall pregnant, we didn't realise we had infertility issues. It wasn't until our last loss showed chromosome issues that it was suggested we see a fertility specialist for genetic testing. We had lots of testing done which showed that I had endometriosis & adenomyosis but no genetic issues.
We started out so hopeful and excited. I really thought we would have a baby within the year. The reality of IVF is that there's no guarantee that you will even have a baby and that it can take much longer than you expect. The side effects of the medications were awful; brain fog, daily migraines, insomnia, crazy emotions from the hormones & an increase in endo pain.
We did our first round, got 12 eggs an 7 of them fertilised. We were over the moon!Unfortunately not all of them survived and the ones that did had chromosomal abnormalities which was likely due to egg quality. I researched ways to improve egg quality and spent the next few months taking a ridiculous amount of supplements, hormones and vitamins and I cleared my life of as many chemicals as I could, then we started cycle number two! We got less eggs this time but the quality was much better and we got three healthy, good quality embryos.
Before transfer, I had 3 months of treatment for endo and adeno as these conditions affect fertility, but now my lining wouldn’t thicken. This was the worst part, knowing we had embryos that we might never be able to transfer.
We tried everything, so many hormones and even old wives tales & as we were about to give up, my lining thickened enough to transfer! Thankfully our first transfer was successful and we now have our gorgeous baby boy, who we all adore.
The hardest part of infertility for me:
The hardest part for me is overcoming what we thought was the reason for my infertility, only to discover there were more issues contributing to infertility at each new stage. I was always blaming myself and my body.
