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updated 6 Jul 2012, 21:15
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Sat, Dec 26, 2009
Mind Your Body, The Straits Times
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Lupus did not stop her from trying to get pregnant

A happy home is one filled with the sound of children's laughter. That is what Madam Low Kwee Yoong, 40, believes in.

The accounts executive, a mother of four, could not be more proud of her noisy brood. She underwent in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) for the second time last year and became pregnant with twin boys Jun Kai and Jun Hong.

She said in Mandarin: "I was happy when I learnt I was pregnant. The pregnancy was a smooth one but I could not relax until the fifth month as many developmental milestones had to be passed first before my gynaecologist, Dr Ann Tan, said they were okay."

Madam Low's first IVF attempt in October 2006 was unsuccessful. She explained: "I wanted Jun Ming to have a companion. The home is so much nicer with more children." Jun Ming, now 12 years old, is her firstborn.

For years, Madam Low and her husband, Mr Tan Khoon Sang, 47, tried unsuccessfully to conceive again. She suspected it was due to her having lupus, an auto-immune disease characterised by acute and chronic inflammation of the body's tissues.

Determined to conceive, she opted for IVF. When that failed, she was devastated: "When the embryos didn't take root, it was like a miscarriage. I bled for four to five days."

A few months later, the couple were blessed with a daughter, Li Yu, conceived naturally. She is now two years and 10 months old.

In September last year, Madam Low decided to give IVF another shot as she still had three viable embryos in storage. Dr Tan had said her chances of getting pregnant would diminish with age.

She decided to go for her second IVF attempt even though her doctor who treats her for lupus disagreed.

She took blood tests every two weeks throughout her pregnancy so that her doctors could monitor her condition closely.

She said: "I felt it was worth it to sacrifice a little for my family. If you want children, you'll do anything to have them."

 

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times.

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