I received a call from Mrs Sunshine, one of my IVF patient, who informed me that she had delivered her baby a week ago via Caesarean section at 34 weeks due to severe intrauterine growth restriction. Although the baby was small in size, she was doing very well in the neonatal ICU, not requiring ventilation and was discharge after 3 days.

In December 2012, Mrs Sunshine came to see me for fertility assessment and treatment following 2 miscarriages (recurrent miscarriages). She is a slim and graceful lady with a beautiful smile. Along with her is her loving and understanding husband. They lived in Raub Pahang and every appointment required them to drive more more than an hour to get here.

Her previous 2 pregnancies ended at 5-8 weeks respectively with no evidence of fetal heart beat. Blood tests revealed no abnormalities. She decided to have an IUI under my care but unfortunately she did not get pregnant.

At that time, she started a blog called Wishing for a Sunshine: http://wishingforasunshine.blogspot.com/, which I was not aware of initially. In her blog, she carefully recorded her struggles with Fertility Treatment and all the ups & downs along the way. This is the first time, as a Fertility Specialist,  I am able to have a clear insight of the perspective of a patient going through fertility treatment under my care. As a female fertility specialist, I always pride myself to think that I would understand how a woman feel especially in terms of the desire to have a child, but what strikes me is that sometimes, there are still certain personal struggles one faced whilst going through fertility treatment. As a doctor, I can now understand that comforting and reassuring words which I said, could give patients such confidence to move forward in the quest of having a child.

She went on with an IVF under my care and successfully got pregnant and have a few embryos frozen for later use. Although her pregnancy had not been easy, but it all turned out well eventually. 

Months after her IVF, my other patients told me about her blog, which was very widely read by many. These patients unanimously told me how her story had greatly inspired them, motivated them to move on with Fertility Treatment.

Although Mrs Sunshine was wishing for a sunshine in her womb, but in fact, she herself had turned out to be a sunshine giving rays of hope for many threading the same journey.

My congratulations to Mrs Sunshine and a big thank you to her for blessing others in her special way!