Samantha Delmege, 33, married Max Delmege, 72, in an extravagant ceremony in September 2015 but two years on the pair are still trying for their dream baby.
So far the Gold Coast couple - who say their age is irrelevant - have spent more than $100,000 on IVF treatment – and whilst Samantha fell pregnant with twins earlier this year, she sadly went on to lose both babies.
Samantha tells New Idea that whilst she recently welcomed an adorable niece and Max a new grandson, their fight to become parents together continues.
Despite her overwhelming grief after the loss of her unborn twins, Samantha went on to put herself through another gruelling round of IVF treatment – her fourth cycle.
‘Max and I were so hopeful of this transfer. It was around our two-year wedding anniversary, straight off the back of the twins and two miscarriages in a row, straight after two operations,’ Samantha writes on her blog.
‘We thought we had already received all the bad news we could get so this was it. Lucky number 12! This journey couldn’t possibly keep punching us in the face!’
But to the couple’s devastation, the IVF was unsuccessful.
‘I’m back to square one!’ Samantha writes.
‘I wish there were more answers as to what is happening with our journey. Why is it taking so long?
‘I’ve now had 12 embryos transferred. My bloods come back as normal. The only real problem they can see is my egg quality but even then they aren’t sure. There has to be something wrong with me.
I had a laparoscopy to check for endometriosis which showed I had a mild amount but not enough to stop a pregnancy from occurring.
‘I’ve been pregnant. Even when I was younger and I wasn’t ready to become a mum then so I terminated.
‘What is wrong with me now?’
Samantha says she now needs time to step away from her ‘addiction’ to IVF.
‘It is consuming our life. It has become who we are. I’m going to take a break. Regroup. Try and fix my horrible face that has acne on it,' she writes.
‘Try and do everything in my will power to get better egg quality… focus on changing my diet to improve my eggs, keep taking vitamins that are costing me a fortune, try and improve my anxiety by focusing on the good, and just not think about having a baby until we start again later.
‘I can’t keep solely focusing on trying to have a baby. I’ve put everything in my life on hold in the hope that next month will be my time. The light in this long tunnel just keeps looking to be further and further away. It is so time consuming, so heartbreaking, so emotionally draining.
‘I know there are other options for us. I wish this country made it easier for adoption and I would definitely consider that.
‘Surrogacy - I don’t need that now, my body can get pregnant and you need to be deemed completely unable to have a child to be able to have a surrogate carry one.’
She went on to say that she and Max are even looking into the possibility of fostering a child.
‘We are still keeping all our options open and are willing to try anything. And for now as I’ve said in the past… I won’t give up believing.’
