Carissa Morris and her husband Dave are looking forward to their first Christmas with their ‘miracle’ 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, Oliver, arriving on December 17, 2021, after 13 years the couple has been trying for a 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦.
Carissa Morris, 33, and her boilermaker husband Dave, 32, who live in Wickham, Western Australia, welcomed their beautiful son Oliver on December 17, 2021.
Carissa has experienced eight ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇs and still𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡s of a daughter as part of a difficult fertility journey. Carissa, a technical planner, said: “We have been trying for years to have a natural 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦. “We conceived quite a few times at first, but we’ve only had multiple ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇs and have never been more than six weeks.”
‘We tried for years and years naturally to have a 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, we did originally conceive quite a few times, but we just had multiple miscarriages and never got past six weeks,’ Carissa said.
In the end, we did tests and found out that one of my fallopian tubes was blocked and ꜰʟᴜɪᴅ was coming back into my ᴜᴛᴇʀᴜs, and it was basically like ᴘᴏɪsᴏɴ. “I had my tubes removed and then we found out that we also had male fertility problems. There is a problem with my husband’s fertility. “Following this discovery, the couple were advised to follow the ICSI IVF route, whereby sᴘᴇʀᴍ is inserted directly into the ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ. Their first round of IVF produced only one ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ for transfer.
But two weeks later, Carissa, from Wickham, Australia, found out she was pregnant. She recalls: “When I found out I was pregnant, it was probably the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my life, the second being holding him. Little Oliver was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 at St John of God Murdoch hospital, weighing a healthy 6lb 7oz. The family will spend Christmas in the hospital because the boy had breathing problems shortly after his 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡. Carissa said: ‘He was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 three weeks early and was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in blue.
His oxygen dropped to 20% in 9 minutes and then he was immediately intubated. ‘He has been worked by nurses and doctors for three hours to stabilize. “Once the boy was stable, they sent the NETS team, the New𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 Ambulance Service, to come and put him in their neonatal ambulance. “Before he left, all I could do was touch his chin with my fingers so the fact that I could hold him in my arms 30 hours later was not a miracle. But despite all those challenges, new parents are overjoyed and can’t wait to bring their son home when he’s strong enough.
Carissa added: “Being able to hold Oliver for the first time was magical. “He is currently being fed 45 ml at a time through a nasogastric tube as he does not have reflux now. “He started a nasogastric tube because they thought he had a blockage in his stomach and possibly sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ. “We’ve had a CT scan and he doesn’t have that, which is great, but as a necessity to make sure he’s not losing weight, he’s going to be tube-fed gastric bypass.” He’s in the NICU.
We’ll celebrate Christmas when he’s discharged from the hospital and we’ll give him all the presents. “We really hoped he’d be out before Christmas but that didn’t happen and we know he’s in the best possible place to get the care he needs. “It’s just been a miracle knowing it worked, it really worked for us.”
