AN Albury couple who endured seven failed IVF cycles over almost five years have this week brought home identical twins to meet their older siblings.
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Josh, a carpenter, and Jaclyn Muntz, a secretary with a law firm, feared they would never have children after spending thousands of dollars on fertility treatment.
“We thought for a while we weren’t going to have kids, but we never gave up hope,” Mr Muntz said.
Now they have four children aged four and under.
Isabelle, 4, Victoria, 2, Grace and Elizabeth, both two weeks old, were all conceived from the one batch of eggs taken from Mrs Muntz.
Mrs Muntz, now 32, was 22 when the couple started trying to conceive naturally.
They began treatment at Reproductive Medicine Albury in 2006 and moved to Perth for a year in 2008 to pursue a work opportunity.
During their time in Perth they continued treatment but were unsuccessful.
“When we came back to Albury the (eggs) were shipped across the Nullarbor,” Mr Muntz said.
“The girls are all from that one batch of fertilised embryos from Perth.
“They took 16 out in one batch, fertilised 13 and 12 survived.”
After seven failed IVF attempts over five years, Isabelle was born in 2010.
Mrs Muntz described her first daughter as a miracle but said they had wanted more children.
Two years later they tried their luck again with their remaining embryos and Victoria was born following the first cycle of treatment.
But they didn’t stop there and identical twins were born two weeks ago following a second cycle of treatment.
Mr Muntz said family and friends had asked them if they would consider adoption.
“We had never discussed it as we always wanted to have kids of our own,” he said.
Now with four healthy children conceived through IVF, the couple want to share their story and tell others to never give up hope.
Mr Muntz said if couples could not conceive naturally, there were other options.
“Just be careful because you may get more than you bargained for, like us,” he joked.