At 51, Singaporean news presenter Glenda Chong is about to become a mom! After 10 IVF cycles, a “battery of tests,” and a miscarriage, the Mediacorp news anchor shared on Oct. 5 that she is four months pregnant and expecting her first child, a baby boy, with her husband Justin Chan, 48.
The couple shared the news with CNA Today while opening up about their years-long journey to conceive, Chong revealing that “the minute we got married was when we started trying.” However, they realized that after tying the knot in 2014 when she was 41 and he was 38, they were “late to the game.” After cutting out alcohol and caffeine and exercising to stay fit, the couple “did the whole rigmarole” as they attempted a natural approach to conceiving.
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“When was take your temperature. Are you at the right time? Do the TCM. Do the acupuncture. Check the app. Is this date okay. Sex on demand. It was really tough,” Chong recalled. Chan added that it was “not great for romance.”
After two years of trying to conceive naturally, and after trying intrauterine insemination (IUI), the couple turned to IVF, marking the start of a devastating years-long journey filled with ups and downs.
“To give you some context, in the time that we’ve been trying, one of our gynecologists retired,” Chong said, revealing that they changed doctors “like changing socks.” In total, the couple said they saw six doctors, including two who were overseas, and did approximately seven fresh cycles and three frozen. The process involved countless doctors appointments, blood tests, and injections, with Chan sharing that they “wanted to give it the best chance possible. Because, you know, regret is permanent.”
Chan recalled a “devastating… cycle of hope and then having those hopes evaporated.” At one point, Chong said, a nurse told her that sometimes, “it just doesn’t happen.” Recognizing that they were “not getting any younger,” the couple, who revealed that they once suffered a miscarriage very early on after conception, revealed that their IVF treatment in June was to be their last.
“I remember telling (Justin) … truly, this is the last time for me … if it doesn’t work, then we stop and we start looking at retirement plans, what are we going to do and stuff like that,” Chong said. “We had no expectations, just like, yeah, if it works, it works. Great, you know. If it doesn’t work, so be it.”
Their final IVF cycle worked, and while excited by the news, the couple has decided to take things slowly. They did not share their pregnancy news until recently out of fear that they would “jinx” the outcome, and they haven’t yet “bought baby clothes, prams, milk, nothing. I haven’t thought of anything. And we still don’t want to. I think we’re going to leave everything to the 11th hour because I’m just scared that something might happen.”
Reflecting on their journey, Chan said, “it’s a big part of life. And our hearts just go out to the people in the same situation. We wish them all the best. And hope for the strength to go through this. And hope for the strength to deal with the feeling of disappointment, if it doesn’t.”
