Sora Ma reveals difficult process of conceiving through IVF: 'Sometimes it can feel very lonely'

A mother's courage knows no bounds.

Malaysia-born actress Sora Ma announced her pregnancy on Feb 10, but behind the happy news lies a story of her difficult journey to motherhood.

Through two Instagram (IG) reels posted on Tuesday (March 5), the 39-year-old revealed publicly for the first time that she had conceived through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), a process she described as challenging.

"I am an IVF mum," she declared at the beginning of the first reel.

She went on to share that she and her husband — who wed in October 2021 after dating for almost 10 years — had gone for a series of fertility checks between June and July last year. Her husband is not in showbiz.

Sora recounted: "The doctor told us that if we want to conceive naturally, there shouldn't be a problem. But because I am already 39 years old and my husband is close to 50, they gave us some suggestions, which was to get medical help."

The doctor told them that women who undergo artificial insemination before the age of 40 can receive government subsidies, which Sora felt was a feasible idea and decided to go for it.

On why she decided to share her experience, she said: "I feel that, for women who are experiencing this right now, sometimes it can feel very lonely.

"Although I had already prepared myself mentally and physically, during the process, I still broke down and bawled once."

She also paid tribute to all women who are preparing to get pregnant, currently pregnant or have been pregnant before. After having been through the experience, she said she now empathises with and respects them a lot.

"I hope that we can encourage and support each other," she added.

In her second IG reel, Sora was seen to be injecting herself on each side of her stomach on different days.

According to the SingHealth website, the IVF procedure requires a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist injection to stimulate the production of multiple eggs in each ovary, followed by daily injections of gonadotropin to stimulate growth of the follicles in the ovaries. 

To end the process, an injection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is given "for the final maturation of eggs before egg collection".

Sora wrote in a separate IG Story on the same day: "I can't imagine that, as someone who is afraid of needles, I dared to inject myself. I am brave."

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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