“I started treatment when I was 39 years old because I always wanted to start a family,” Manda said. I dated for more than ten years, but I constantly felt under pressure since I still wanted to have kids. I made the decision to use an egg and sperm donor and IVF on my own. I started spending all of my money and salary at fertility clinics. I was referred to a psychotherapist by one of the clinics, who advised me that, at the age of 43, I should accept the reality that I would never have children. Manda has completed two and a half IVF cycles, with the third aborting due to ovarian hyperstimulation, a rare consequence of IVF, according to the NHS. Ovarian hyperstimulation is an over-reaction to excessive hormones.

The mother implanted six embryos and had two pregnancies that lasted eight weeks. She has also had 6 IUI and 7 IUI only attempts, all unsuccessful, even though she is another 8 weeks pregnant. Her last round of fertility in Cape Town SA, Cape Fertility, included a double donor embryo transfer, which resulted in a successful twin pregnancy.

She added: “I struggled with miscarriages and a part of me wanted to give up at times, but I really wanted to have kids of my own. I even thought about adoption, but the waiting list is 7 years long and single women are at the bottom of the list. After witnessing her struggle, a friend recommended Manda to visit Cape Fertility in South Africa.

The clinic not only helped her friend conceive successfully, but it was also considerably less expensive than Manda had to pay in Australia for each treatment. I had to look around and choose a donor. I had to hunt around for a sperm donor before settling on one from Denmark because I was born with blonde hair and blue eyes. I found a gorgeous egg donor from South Africa. Since it was my final shot, I spent £8,100 ($15,000) at the clinic and had two embryos transferred since I desperately wanted at least one of them to be a success. During the procedure, Bridget Jones and I shared a chair. Manda spent some time in South Africa and then made her way back to Australia with her arms crossed whether her pregnancy would be successful.

After experiencing a hematoma between the amniotic sacs, I was quite concerned about miscarrying again at 7 weeks pregnant and decided to get an ultrasound. But when the mother mentioned that there were two kids, my eyes nearly flew out of my head. After a generally successful pregnancy, Manda gave birth to twins by cesarean section in August 2018 at the age of 50. For the first five months of my pregnancy, I was pretty ill and frequently vomited. As an elderly woman, I also needed a lot of injections to get me through. However, both of my girls are completely content and healthy. Given that she is an older mother, Manda now makes every effort to spend as much time as possible with her girls has many perks. I feel like at 54, I’m a bit wiser and don’t do technology the way young parents do today.