Amie Stone’s Christmas miracle baby welcomed as WA sees major increase in those seeking fertility treatments

After many years of fertility struggles, Amie Stone has welcomed the best early Christmas present she could have ever wished for. Mum Amie had her Christmas miracle baby, Oakley, on December 7 after struggling with a late miscarriage, seven unsuccessful embryo transfers, and an ectopic pregnancy and tube removal. “After about a year of trying we went and had some tests done and my husband and I came up with no issues so they labelled it as unexplained infertility,” Ms Stone said. “We went through a full cycle of IVF and in January 2021 we had our daughter first go, so we were really lucky with her.” Really wanting a sibling for their daughter Ayla, the couple began the IVF process again at Adora Fertility when Ayla was one but they were met with years of heartbreak. After having three unsuccessful embryo transfers the fourth one took, but Ms Stone miscarried at 11 weeks — followed by another three failed embryo transfers. Another IVF round later, Ms Stone fell pregnant but it was ectopic — when a fertilised egg attaches and grows outside of the uterus — leading to her needing surgery to remove one of her Fallopian tubes. “It was New Year’s Day of this year having tube removal surgery, and the ectopic pregnancy removed, and then we did a collection again with only one embryo making it,” Ms Stone said. “We were at our wits’ end at this point and you feel the ‘mum guilt’ because we were lucky to have a child but we really did want more than one. It was our eighth transfer in two years and Oakley was it. He was the last embryo and here he is our little Christmas present.” WA fertility clinics are seeing an increase in patients. Adora Fertility had a 29 per cent increase in patients at its WA clinics over the past 12 months while City Fertility saw a 16 per cent uptake. City Fertility national medical director Roger Hart said the increase comes as the country sees a decline in fertility. “One in every 18 Australians now is born from IVF. We are becoming less fertile,” he said. “Pretty much every bloke’s sperm count will be less than his dad’s. “Breast cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer is going up and sperm counts are going down so these are all hormonal-related conditions which are negatively impacting our fertility.” Adora Fertility doctor Ragunath Maha said a large amount of her patients were dealing with polycystic ovary syndrome. “A lot of the time this is the most common problem and a lot of these patients are young as well,” she said. “A smaller amount of women come in with tubal problems, and last but not least is male infertility, we are seeing quite a lot of that.” Egg freezing as well as sperm donor treatments are among the treatments becoming increasingly more common in WA. More than one in three embryo implantations were in single females or female-female couples, according to the latest Assisted Reproductive Technology in Australia and New Zealand report. “I see at least one to two egg-freezing patients every week as I think now, women especially, are more empowered and aware of all their options,” Dr Maha said. “I have mostly single women come in for egg freezing or women in a relationship that aren’t sure about their partner yet.” City Fertility national medical director Roger Hart held a similar sentiment and also highlighted an increase in same-sex couples undergoing treatment. “Certainly we have noticed a substantial increase in same-sex couples undergoing donor sperm treatment and single women undergoing this,” he said. “It is very common now for women to consider having a baby alone and accessing a sperm donor. On a regular basis, I’m also seeing women who are seeking to freeze their eggs.”