An Unbelievable Infertility Success Birth Story {Isla Hope} | Cape Town Birth Photographer

Its still surprising to me, and it might be to you. Many of my followers and then prospective clients have lived through years of infertility or loss. Its surprising to me the sheer volume of couples living with this reality. Its more common than any of us think. Its surprising to me that they follow birth stories, and (through the sting) celebrate these new baby arrivals. That’s a remarkable amount of maturity. I just want to say, I see you and if ever your day comes, I would love to document your birth story.

Sarah really wanted to share her story with the world, both in celebration and if it was at all helpful to another person. It was recently published in Your Pregnancy Magazine and now I’m publishing it here for you to read or share. Its remarkable the long fight and the surprising discovery she made along the way.

I share this story with caution. I don’t want to be one more person in your life that says something careless and ridiculous like, “Just have a glass of wine and relax, then it will happen or put an essential oil on!” I know you have tried just about everything. You might be exhausted from trying.

This is not a prescription for what works. It is simply her story. It takes vulnerability to share it publically.

Here it is with the imagery of the day they finally met their long-hoped for, long-awaited, long-loved daughter.

I’ll let Sarah take it from here:

Find a partner, get married, have a baby! Easy right? Not so much! After 9 IUI’s, 6 IVF’s, 5 donated embryos and a sperm donor we were down and just about out!

We used to sit in the fertility clinic waiting room and joke about potential baby names that would befit the journey that we had been through. Names like Persevere and Nevergiveup were at the top of our list!

 

After many failed attempts, countless injections and zero hope left we heard of an Immunologist (Professor Patrick Bouic, Marysol interjects, we thought you might ask so we asked his permission to share his name 😉 who examines your digestive system and menstrual blood and through this determines what could be causing failed implantation of embryos. At the time it seemed like a far-fetched idea but we were clutching at straws.

 

After some testing, he was convinced that chronic inflammation in my gut was the potential cause of my infertility!  He prescribed some natural medication and told me to come back the following month. Well…. We never needed to go back because in that two-week wait between taking his medication and waiting to go back I fell pregnant… NATURALLY! The excitement and happiness that filled our hearts that day and over the next few months I will always treasure!

 

It was so hard to believe I was pregnant. I did not allow myself to get too excited as I was so anxious that something was going to go wrong. 9 exciting months passed and it was d day! The day we had been waiting and dreaming of for so long. We were incredibly nervous as we so desperately wanted everything to be perfect! We got to the hospital at 9:00 and had to wait anxiously until 13:00 for our time.The hours seemed like days! I’m generally quite an anxious person and don’t enjoy hospitals much so my heart was racing and I became quite emotional when I was wheeled into theatre, I so desperately wanted my little girl to be okay!

 

I remember lying on the table and feeling my baby kicking as if to say don’t worry mom I’m alive and well and I can’t wait to meet you! The whole procedure seemed to go quite well, my tummy muscles held her quite tightly and so forceps had to be used to get her out.

 

 

My C-section was definitely not what I expected, I thought I was taking the easy way out.  I have had friends who have had children whose C-sections seem like a non event. They left hospital and felt fine. I seemed to battle more with mine. Perhaps because it was a more forceful birth as Isla was so trapped behind my muscles or maybe I have a low pain threshold. There was a constant stinging on the right hand side of my cut for 2 weeks. I only managed to stand for about 5 minutes before having to rest in order to relieve the pain. 10 months later and I wouldn’t say I feel 100%. If I wake up in the morning with a full bladder I am still quite uncomfortable.   I was surprised at how many people were in the delivery room. There is a person in the room whose only responsibility is to catch the baby. It’s a full house in there!

 

 

My gynae then lifted this beautiful baby girl up and I couldn’t believe my eyes… She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen! When her eyes met mine I couldn’t help fighting back my tears! I was so grateful… I got to hold her for a while they stitched me up! My husband and I often say to one another that we STILL can’t believe that I fell pregnant and that she’s HERE and maybe when she’s ten we’ll get over it. It definitely only hit us when she was born. I’ll never forget her fast breathing against my cheek, it was so overwhelming. We named her Isla Hope as a reminder of the hope she has instilled in us throughout this trying process. Despite Isla not being the result of treatments, in the end, we would be more than happy to do the same again, for the pure reason that our little miracle is worth it in every way.

 

 

My husband came across Marysol’s website and told me about it. I had never heard of a birth photographer before. The raw emotion which she captivates is so incredible. We decided it would never be something that we would regret and we didn’t want to forget the most magical day of our lives. We had a wonderful experience. Having Marysol there on the day was so calming. When your baby is born, the child is the most important thing and the mother wanting information, that can wait, isn’t a priority. Marysol kept me in the loop of what was happening. She was an angel by my side. The photos are incredible, I look at at them often and can’t wait to show Isla one day. I think a lot of people don’t want the stress of a photographer on top of everything else, but for me our photographer was a blessing in more ways than one.