By XAVIER SMERDON
LITTLE Cohen McElligott is a very special baby. In fact, he is a history-making baby.
On 23 January he became the first baby born through Melbourne IVF Werribee.
While the title might be prestigious for some, for his parents Misty and Matt, he is special for so many more reasons.
At just 33-years-old Misty was told she would not be able have children naturally and that IVF was the best option for her.
“It was really frustrating because it’s something that you just take for granted,” Misty said.
“We knew that we wanted to have children straight away after we got married so when it wouldn’t happen for us it was very frustrating.
“Frustration turned into stress when we were trying to work out what was going on.”
Misty and Matt were the first patients to be seen on the first day that the Melbourne IVF Werribee clinic opened.
Luckily after just one attempt at IVF Misty found out she was pregnant.
“We were a bit shocked, we weren’t expecting it to happen straight away,” she said.
“We were so excited, we were just waiting for something to go wrong, but luckily now we have a happy and healthy 10 week old baby.”
Misty stressed the fact that she was in the minority and that other couples should not necessarily expect to get pregnant on their first attempt with IVF.
Last month Melbourne IVF Werribee celebrated its first birthday and Dr Chandrika Parmar, a Fertility Specialist at the clinic, said there had been an increase in demand for IVF facilities in the West.
“Over the past 12 months we have seen a growing need for this type of centre in the western suburbs, with an increasing number of people starting their families later in life, consequently needing Assisted Reproductive Technologies to help them conceive,” Dr Parma said.
For more information visit www.mivf.com.au
