IVF success brings joy for Ballarat families

Flynn was born after his dad Matt survived two bouts of testicular cancer.

The couple had been trying for a baby for about 12 months after Mr Ives had surgery to treat the initial cancer, and were referred to Ballarat IVF before he began the radiation therapy needed to treat the second cancer which had recurred in his abdomen.

The radiation therapy needed to treat the cancer usually has extremely negative effects on male fertility, so the couple stored sperm for use after Mr Ives got the all-clear.

Their IVF journey began in October 2020 when they went through the IVF process and ended up getting one embryo, which unfortunately ended in an ectopic pregnancy.

"It was a little disappointing we only got one ... and eventually we found it was an ectopic pregnancy so I had to have medication which was quite potent, and after that I wasn't allowed to try again for three months," Ms Ives said.

"So we had three months of rest and relaxation then started the process again."

Their next embryo transfer failed but a later frozen embryo transfer was successful, though not without drama.

"We had one big scare and no-one could have convinced me that I had not had a miscarriage. We were both very upset about it but we went into the clinic and got checked out and we saw the heartbeat and a wriggle but I still almost didn't believe it."

That heartbeat and wriggle grew in to Flynn who is the apple of his parents' eyes.

"Looking back on it all, it seems so overwhelming and there was so much anxiety about all the unknowns of IVF. Definitely nothing can prepare you for it," Ms Ives said.

"It's like a fingerprint - every one is different. I had a friend going through it at exactly the same time as me and it's great to have someone to talk to and go through it with but our stories and experiences are very different ... but we are so lucky that we have the facility to be able to do it," she said.

Ballarat IVF has the highest IVF success rates per egg retrieval cycle in Victoria.

According to the latest update (based on 2019-2020 data) of the government's Your IVF Success website, 57.6 per cent of complete egg retrieval cycles carried out for women under 35 at Ballarat IVF resulted in a baby. This includes later transfer of resulting embryos.

The national rate was 45.4 per cent.

For women aged 35 to 42, the success rate for Ballarat IVF was 24.3 per cent, compared to 24.6 per cent nationally.

Ballarat IVF director founder and medical director Russell Dalton said they were proud of their results but there were many different factors that impacted on IVF success.

"We have the approach that we look after people carefully making sure we identify all the key issues that may be contributing to them not getting pregnant naturally and optimise everything we can before embarking on the involved and potentially costly treatment of IVF," he said.

The number of women and couples seeking IVF treatment is increasing according to annual reports from the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority.

The number of women under 35 seeking treatment through Ballarat IVF increased from 124 in 2018/19 to 154 in 2019/20, and for women aged 35 to 39 the number increased from 85 to 100.

But the number of women over 40 dropped from 56 to 44.

Of the 298 women treated in 2019/2020 there were 96 babies born compared to 90 the previous year.

Dr Dalton said more women were starting to understand the impact of ageing on fertility, both natural and IVF.

"I think our population are becoming more educated and aware of that," he said. "There's a significant number of older women who really can't do much about it because they either have career pressure or relationship challenges as they get older. These are all things that impact on people's decisions as to when they can have a baby.

"Particularly from a workforce perspective we need ongoing conversation about ways we can provide the opportunity for women to continue in work but also to protect and optimise their chances of fertility."

More women are considering egg freezing for various reasons, whether it's a family history of fertility issues, not having a current relationship, being on a career path that will not allow them to have children in the next number of years, or for medical reasons such as cancer and other conditions that impact fertility.

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Dr Dalton acknowledged the high cost of IVF, and said he was working to help reduce the impact on patients including working through local health services.

"We are in ongoing conversation with local health services, particularly smaller regional ones, where we can actually now take egg collection through the public system saving people who are uninsured a significant amount of money through treatment," he said.

He is also keen to participate in a regional public IVF service to help open up further access in the region for those experiencing fertility issues.

Dr Dalton recently launched ovulation induction app Ovunet Fertility, which uses AI software, is also helping provide information and treatment for patients undergoing ovulation induction.

"When we talk about fertility treatment everyone thinks it's about IVF but the reality is 40 to 50 per cent of people presenting with fertility problems actually have an ovulation problem."

The app provides access to telehealth consultations, tests, medication and other processes if a patient qualified, and costs about two-thirds of the cost of traditional face to face treatment with no costs for specialist consultations.

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