The journey to motherhood can be a heartbreaking and difficult one for those unable to get pregnant. One foster mum who had been trying to conceive since 2017 broke down in tears of joy when she discovered she was pregnant.
Shae, 26, could barely contain her emotion when she realised her pregnancy test was positive, sobbing with sheer elation and shock. Shae's family and friends also shared her happiness, crying tears of joy and leaping up to hug her with pure emotion.
Shae began trying for her first child in September 2017 when she married her husband Alex, 29. In July, 2018, however, after conceiving for the first time, the couple suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
Ectopic pregnancies occur when the foetus develops inside the fallopian tube. Shae suffered massive internal bleeding as a result and almost lost her life.
She was also diagnosed with endometriosis during the surgery to treat her, as it had caused massive internal scarring. As a result of her sole remaining fallopian tube, endometriosis and history of ectopic pregnancies, doctors recommended a hysterectomy, which would make her infertile.
The couple, from Idaho, refused and continued to try for a baby for another four years. Alex and Shae decided to become foster parents in May of 2022.
Speaking about the difficult period of trying to conceive, Shae said: "We tried for four years after the loss of our baby. Throughout that time I felt like a failure.
"We felt that God told us to foster children, even with everything else we had going on. We had the space in our home and the love in our hearts.
"So in May 2020, amid the pandemic, we started the process of becoming licensed foster parents." Shae subsequently underwent two more surgeries to remove the scarring and started medication to increase her fertility in the summer of 2021.
Six months later, she fell pregnant. Shae, a recruitment coordinator at Fostering Idaho, was overjoyed and immediately drove to Alex's work to tell him.
"When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I needed to see my husband right away. I remember his mouth dropped open and his eyes were so huge, he didn’t believe me - I barely believed me.
"It took him so long to wrap his head around what I was saying. If it wasn’t for that positive test in my hand, we definitely wouldn’t have believed it."
On October 11, the couple gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Carter David, who now lives with them alongside two foster children. "Due to my health conditions I was nervous that I would have a very hard pregnancy.
"But to my surprise, it was an amazing experience. I had not felt that healthy and strong in years, since before I became sick.
"This journey of infertility was long and hard, but it definitely helped shape who my husband and I are as people, and as parents. We wouldn’t change anything.
"Fostering throughout this journey has also shaped who we are and made us better parents. I wouldn’t have had it any other way."
