SINGAPORE: After about 14 years of trying for a child, with seven cycles of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), five miscarriages and a battle with breast cancer, Josephine Foong was down to two last frozen embryos and one final IVF attempt.
If this did not work, she and her husband would give up trying to be parents.
But in March, Foong finally became a mother at the age of 41 – she and her husband, IT manager Winston Yip, welcomed their twin daughters Annette and Anya.
“It was a joy to see them finally,” said Foong.
Unlike some women who became mothers in their 40s, the administrative executive started trying for a child shortly after marriage – she was 25, and Yip, 26.
“I wasn’t dying to have a child, but I saw how my husband loved kids and how he enjoyed being with children. So, I wanted to do something so he could experience fatherhood,” said Foong, adding that she realised how much she herself wanted to be a mother as the years went by.
More babies have been born to women in their 40s in recent years. In 2025, 9.6 babies were born per 1,000 women aged between 40 and 44, up from 8.9 babies in 2015 and 6.2 babies in 2005.
This is according to preliminary age-specific fertility rates for 2025 released by the Department of Statistics in late February.
After a few years of trying and no baby to show for their efforts, Foong found out that she suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder affecting fertility.
Her doctors started her on fertility medication and a cycle of intra-uterine insemination, but to no avail. She then underwent multiple cycles of IVF, but kept miscarrying.
“I was an emotional wreck after the miscarriages. And the doctors didn’t have any answers for (why I had them),” Foong said.
It was also particularly difficult for her to see others around her becoming parents, and the pain of infertility was something she found hard to share.
For four or five years, she avoided attending baby showers – “I am happy for my friends, but sad for myself,” she said.
She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2021. It was a shock to her and also another setback in her quest for motherhood.
But Foong found support from other women who had breast cancer or suffered miscarriages at Fertility Support SG, a non-profit group that organises events and support groups related to fertility.
Over the next three years, Foong stopped trying for a baby due to her cancer treatment, but resumed in 2024 when she received the go-ahead from her doctors.
The first cycle of IVF after her cancer treatment was unsuccessful.
The couple decided to give it one last shot, when they were down to their last two frozen embryos. And so they embarked on their eighth – and last – IVF cycle.
She said: “We had the common understanding that if the last two embryos didn’t work, we would give up. This would be where we ended our (fertility) journey.”
During the early days of pregnancy, she was fraught with fear and anxiety about suffering yet another miscarriage. But her anxiety eased as the pregnancy progressed.
The twins were born preterm at 31 weeks, and they spent over a month in hospital as they needed oxygen support and other forms of care.
Yip said: “I feel overwhelmed as we have twins, but I am not complaining.
“I am very happy and very thankful.” - The Straits Times/ANN
