Sheridan’s path to motherhood was strewn with heartbreak. Mɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇs, months of ɪɴᴠᴀsɪᴠᴇ ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛs, and I.V.F left her ᴅᴇᴊᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ and praying for a miracle.
What happened was beyond anything Sheridan and her husband Andrew could have ever dreamt of. They were finally pregnant – with twins. But with only one ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ implanted, how was it possible they were expecting twins?
Andrew and Sheridan had always known they’d try for a baby as soon as they married, so when the NSW couple tied the knot in November 2018, they didn’t waste any time. In March 2019, they were ecstatic to discover that they were expecting.
“we couldn’t believe our luck at being able to fall pregnant naturally quite quickly after we decided to start trying. We entered the stage of excitement and anticipation, eagerly awaiting the first ᴜʟᴛʀᴀsᴏᴜɴᴅ.” Sheridan told Mum’s Grapevine
Her first ᴜʟᴛʀᴀsᴏᴜɴᴅ appointment at 10 weeks. it was not good news, the ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ had stopped developing at around the 6-week mark.
It was now October 2019 and she was feeling very ᴀɴxɪᴏᴜs about how soon I would be able to fall pregnant again. Her OB prescribed letrozole to assist with ovulation which she took for four months however it seemed that whenever she was ovulating her husband was away at work. The timing was becoming a ʙᴀʀʀɪᴇʀ so we decided to look at other alternatives.
So the next step was to proceed to I.V.F. ” In June 2020 we began with the daily ʜᴏʀᴍᴏɴᴇ injections in preparation for the egg collection. Her nurse would examine follicles. The follicles were growing and she had a good amount to harvest, on the day of egg collection she had eight mature eggs collected and six were able to be fertilised.
” Out of eight eggs collected only three ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs were created, and once the ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs are frozen there is no guarantee they will still be ok at the stage of transfer. I prepared myself mentally that we may need another round of I.V.F so that we had a good store of fertilised eggs if the first transfer wasn’t successful.” she said
It was about 10 days after until she had ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ test and the results came back, the process had worked and she was pregnant. “At my eight-week ᴜʟᴛʀᴀsᴏᴜɴᴅ, the technician informed me that I had a blighted ovum and unfortunately the pregnancy was not viable – my second miscarriage.”
After a few months, she felt ready to start trying again and proceed with the transfer of stored frozen ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ. In January 2021, Sheridan and Andrew started the process to transfer their stored, frozen ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ. Ten days later, they were thrilled to discover they were pregnant .
“On my follow-up appointment with Dr Jini the second heartbeat was detected and we were confirmed to be pregnant with twins! We were thrilled, these were our double rainbow babies and I could not believe how blessed we were. The results showed that they were two separate eggs and that the smaller ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ was a spontaneous pregnancy, or a natural pregnancy, as the larger ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ was in line with the dating Genea had provided.
It was possible that we had fallen pregnant naturally as intercourse had taken place within a week of the ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ transfer. We were ecstatic to learn that we were going to have a boy (I.V.F) and a little girl (natural). I had never heard of births similar to our situation with an I.V.F and spontaneous pregnancy occurring before, I personally didn’t think it was possible however it had happened and was discovered to be quite rare. Our situation with an I.V.F and spontaneous pregnancy occurring before, I personally didn’t think it was possible however it had happened and was discovered to be quite rare.” she said
But the pregnancy threw up plenty of challenges. At week 28 the smaller baby’s placenta was showing signs of inadequate ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ flow. She was given two injections of steroids to assist with the baby’s ʟᴜɴɢ ᴅᴇᴠᴇʟᴏᴘᴍᴇɴᴛ ɪɴ ᴄᴀsᴇ I ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪɴᴅᴜᴄᴇᴅ soon. Moving forward twice-weekly ᴜʟᴛʀᴀsᴏᴜɴᴅs were booked, plus the weekly appointment with Dr Jini along with CTG scans.
She was told that if the ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ flow decreased further we needed to prepare ourselves to give birth. So she was to give birth at Gosford Private at 34w5d gestation. The hospital was expecting the babies to need ᴀssɪsᴛᴇᴅ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜɪɴɢ so the equipment was made ready and extra staff on board, instead, both babies came out crying and in perfect health.
Darcy Russell was delivered first at 8.25 am on the 6th September weighing 2090g, Fleur Eloise was delivered at 8.29 am weighing 1190g. Fleur’s birth was also a rare event as it was an en caul birth where she was born in an intact amniotic sac, this little girl just kept amazing us.
