After 10 IVF attempts, Singaporean newscaster Glenda Chong is pregnant at 51

Newscaster Glenda Chong and her lawyer husband, Justin Chan, are expecting their first child after 10 years of trying to conceive. Photo: Glenda Chong/Instagram

After 10 years of trying to conceive, Singaporean newscaster Glenda Chong finally has happy news to share.

At 51, she is four months pregnant with her first child, a baby boy.

The Mediacorp news anchor and her lawyer husband, Justin Chan, announced her pregnancy via video and written interviews published on Oct 5 with news outlet CNA Today.

Her pregnancy came after 10 cycles of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), a reproductive technology that involves stimulating a woman’s body to produce eggs, then extracting them. The eggs are fertilised with a man’s sperm before transferring the fertilised embryos back to the uterus.

IVF success rates vary, but a Ministry of Health spokesman told The Straits Times in 2023 that the success rate of assisted reproductive treatment cycles for women aged 45 and older was less than 3% in 2020 and 2021.

At 51, Chong’s pregnancy is considered high-risk and she is under strict orders not to travel beyond a five-hour radius of Singapore. She also has to see her doctor, Dr Suresh Nair, the medical director at Seed of Life clinic, weekly or fortnightly for check-ups.

The couple were tentative about sharing the news until recently and do not have plans to buy baby items until closer to Chong’s due date, for fear of “jinxing” the outcome of the pregnancy.

The couple, who married in 2014, have always wanted children and began trying to conceive naturally once they tied the knot.

Since she was already 41 then, Chong cut out alcohol and caffeine, and began exercising regularly to improve her health and increase her chances of getting pregnant.

She went through what she called the “rigmarole” of natural conception methods, including monitoring her temperature, and also traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. After two years of trying to no avail, the couple turned to IVF.

The years-long process of IVF saw the couple visit six doctors, including two from overseas. Chong also had a miscarriage that happened so early in conception that she did not feel it.

The IVF journey has been emotionally challenging for both Chong and her husband.

As the years passed and Chong grew older, she went through two cycles of IVF in which she could produce only a single egg, instead of the 20 eggs that could be extracted from her when she first began treatment.

“I was very, very, very sad. I don’t think I was mentally prepared for that one egg. So emotionally, I was just a complete mess,” she said.

Chan, who is in his late 40s, added: “Every time it wasn’t successful, it was a devastating blow... you have to go through this constant cycle of hope and then having those hopes evaporated.”

Their attempts to conceive also led to friction between the couple. At one point, Chan questioned why he was not enough for Chong.

She recalled: “I went, ‘No, you’re more than enough. But I want more of you. I want little you’s running around, I want little us, I want little me running around.’”

Still, she had resigned herself to a life without biological children by her 10th round of IVF, and said she was ready to stop, even if it did not yield results. She went in with no expectations, yet that final round granted her that much-longed-for pregnancy.

She said: “Hope springs eternal, and hope is a huge motivator for me.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network