Big Miracles: How overcoming endometriosis helped Sam and Jason to become parents
“The IVF journey is really taxing on the females both physically and mentally and the guys can feel helpless at times”
Overcoming endometriosis was the key to Sam and Jason’s family of two.
The couple appeared on Channel 9’s ground-breaking series Big Miracles and they’re on the other side now! They have a lively almost-three-year-old girl, Georgia, and a healthy, huge eight-month-old baby boy, Roman.
Here, they share their inspiring story.
Sam’s journey overcoming endometriosis
I was in my early 20s when I first noticed there was something wrong with my period. My cycle one month just didn’t stop. After two weeks, I saw the doctor. He prescribed the contraceptive pill to regulate my periods and told me to come back when I was ready to have a baby. I didn’t experience the endometriosis symptoms most women do. In fact, the doctor suggested it as PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome). I’d had really bad period pain when I was younger, but by that point it was just the heavy flow.
A few years later, Jason and I met, and we married. I wasn’t thinking about kids, but Jason was. However, we both agreed that was time to start trying, as we were both 29. I did have a thing about trying for a baby after my 30th, but Jason wanted to try earlier. So, we did!
They always say to give it a year before you start panicking, but because I wasn’t super-keen at that point, I wasn’t stressed out. And, of course, nothing happened. We didn’t get pregnant.
I had started seeing a fertility naturopath before we started trying. I had a feeling that I would have problems, but I didn’t imagine we’d be overcoming endometriosis. She helped me go off the pill and regulate my cycle. I was measuring temperatures to ensure I was ovulating, doing all the right things.
After a year, I was really ready to be pregnant. It became increasingly harder, getting a negative test result each month. We tried everything — we tested Jason’s sperm, I had a hycosy, blood tests for both of us, acupuncture, supplements, ultrasounds, and ovulation tracking at IVF Australia. I wanted to try everything before considering IVF, and I really believed we could do it on our own.
Diagnosing endometriosis
My naturopath suggested that it might be endometriosis and she sent me to see a specialist. He was pretty sure it wasn’t because I didn’t have symptoms, and his report said to wait four months.
By this time, I was so anxious, so he agreed to do laparoscopic surgery, to diagnose and begin overcoming endometriosis. In the end, he had to allow for more surgery time because the endometriosis was a lot worse than anticipated.
Following surgery, we tried for another three to six months, without success. After that I was done, Jason was done — we couldn’t do it anymore. We needed more help. By this time, we had been trying for three years.
My naturopath told me about Dr. Raewyn Teirney. She has a lot of patients who have had great success with her. The connection was immediate. She is from New Zealand, and she said hello to Jason in Samoan, and told us to refer to her as Aunty Raewyn. We instantly knew she was right for us, and that we were in the right place.
The IVF journey begins
Dr. Raewyn knew we had done everything we could possibly do to conceive. Plus, she was happy to start the IVF process immediately.
We ended up with three embryos and fell pregnant with Georgia on our first IVF round! When Georgia was about eight months old, we started trying for Roman.
I didn’t want to have endometriosis surgery again, so we wasted no time. We were so happy to have two more embryos to use. Sadly, our first transfer failed, and then we had a miscarriage. The embryo was there on our first scan, but no heartbeat. We had to wait another week and get another scan, but there was no more growth and no heartbeat.
We had to begin another IVF round. Starting from scratch again was hard, and we only had one embryo from that second round. Thankfully, it worked, and it became our beautiful Roman.
Welcome to the world, Roman
Roman is very big, and very beautiful. Looking back, I can see how we both were super anxious through the pregnancy. It felt too good to be true. I didn’t celebrate either pregnancy. I’ve never even had a baby shower. I just thought it was too soon, and I wanted to celebrate when the baby was here. It just felt as though it wasn’t real, even the second time with Roman. We were both extremely cautious, overcoming endometriosis, the rounds of IVF and our miscarriage.
IVF is so hard on the body, and I really didn’t want to go through it again. I was so pleased I didn’t have to. Our one embryo worked! Roman was meant to be in our life. At the time, I was devastated that we only got one embryo.
Obviously now, I’m extremely grateful because it meant that we were done with IVF! Had it not worked on the first round with Roman, I would have felt as though we had to use any remaining embryos. Of course, I would have, but now things have rounded out so nicely.
Sam and Jason’s advice to others on the same journey
Our advice for other couples overcoming endometriosis and IVF journey? Firstly, for men, Jason would advise they talk to their mates. Once he started talking to his friends, we found that a lot of them were actually going through the same thing.
Also, Jason had counselling and therapy, and he would suggest this to everyone. The IVF journey is really taxing on the females both physically and mentally and the guys can feel helpless at times.
For women, if they are told nothing is wrong with them, I would strongly suggest they get a second opinion. Always follow your gut instinct.
And I wouldn’t wait. You’re never going to be 100 percent ready but the best thing you can is start early, if you want to have a family. Also, I just think putting your fertility health first and check everything. It’s so important.
If you feel like you’re not being heard, move on to another specialist. It’s also so important to find your people in your journey.
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