A delighted couple have welcomed a beautiful baby boy just in time for Christmas after 13 years of trying to get pregnant, suffering eight miscarriages and a stillbirth
Carissa Morris, 33, and her husband Dave, 32, welcomed their “miracle” Oliver on December 17, 2021.
The Australian couple experienced eight sad miscarriages and the stillbirth of a little child before becoming pregnant in April following one round of ICSI IVF. Oliver was a healthy 6 lbs 7 oz at birth.
Carissa, an engineering planner, said: “We tried for years and years naturally to have a baby, we did originally conceive quite a few times, but we just had multiple miscarriages and never got past six weeks.
“We ultimately underwent testing and discovered that one of my tubes was obstructed, causing the contents to flow back into my uterus like poison.”
“I had my tube removed, and then we found out that we also had male factor fertility issues.”
“There was a problem with my husband’s fertility, and we were informed it was brought on by his line of work because too much heat might impair male fertility.”
“No one ever warned us, no one ever told us that excess heat would cause this.”
“We were then advised to go down the route of ICSI IVF where they insert the sperm directly into the embryo for the best chance of conceiving.”
“We were really lucky; we did a full round of IVF and unfortunately, we didn’t have any embryos make it to freeze.”
“So, we just had our one embryo that we were able to have freshly transferred and two weeks later we found out we were pregnant.”
“When I found out I was pregnant it was probably the best feeling I had ever felt in the world, second to holding him for the first time.”
Carissa says the new family will be spending Christmas Day in hospital as Oliver experienced breathing problems shortly after birth.
She said: “He was three weeks early and was born blue, his oxygen dropped to 20 per cent for nine minutes and he was then immediately intubated.
“He was worked on by nurses and doctors for three hours to stabilise him.”
“Once he was stabilised, they had the NETS team, which is the Neonatal Emergency Transport Service, come in and pop him in their neonatal ambulance.”
“The fact that I could hold him in my arms 30 hours after he left was nothing short of a miracle since before he went, all I could do was touch his chin with my finger.”
“Being able to hold Oliver for the first time was magical,” she added.
“He definitely has everybody wrapped around his finger.”
Carissa and Dave can’t wait to take their baby boy home once he’s strong enough.
“He is currently being fed 45ml per feed through a nasal gastric tube as he doesn’t have a suck reflux currently,” Carissa explained.”
“They feared he had an obstruction in his stomach and may have needed surgery, so they started him with a gastric tube.”
