Dame Valerie Adams has revealed the heartache she went through to conceive her gorgeous daughter Kimoana Josephine.
The sporting legend and her husband Gabriel Price began trying for a baby almost immediately after the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but nothing happened as planned.
Following an unsuccessful course of fertility-enhancing tablets from a specialist, the frustrated pair opted for in-vitro fertilisation, however, the pregnancy didn’t take, leaving Valerie distraught.
“It was horrible – the worst experience ever,” she tells us. “My heart was broken. All we could do was cry.”
At this point, Valerie had an MRI scan, which revealed she suffers from endometriosis, so a different course of treatment was prescribed. This time, the IVF was successful.
“I took about eight pregnancy tests and they were all positive,” recalls the athlete. “I just loved seeing the double lines over and over again.”
IVF was an easy decision for Valerie and Gabriel, who are both of Tongan descent, but they acknowledge it can be a taboo topic in Pacific Island communities.
She says, “My feeling is, it’s still my egg and Gabe’s sperm, and looking at Kimoana now, how could you argue it was anything but a blessing? It’s a bizarre subject, but I’m all for opening up if it helps our people.”
For the full story, see this week’s bumper Christmas issue of Woman’s Day.
