‘Blow to my gut’: Fifi Box opens up about ‘tough’ IVF journey

Fifi Box has shared the moment at a doctor’s appointment that was a “blow” to her gut.

Fifi Box has shared the moment she had to ask a question that “a lot of women in their mid to late 30s, particularly who are single” are faced with: How was she going to have another baby? And was now the elusive “right time”?

The beloved Australian radio presenter has two daughters – Trixie, 10, who she shares with former partner Grant Kenny, and Daisy, three, who was conceived through IVF using a sperm donor.

In a wide-ranging chat aired on the Something To Talk About podcast published by Stellar to mark Mother’s Day, Box discussed her unconventional path to becoming a parent – and how and why she came to the decision to build a family on her own.

Listen to Fifi Box on the Something To Talk About podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, or press play here:

The choice to undergo IVF, the 46-year-old said, “wasn’t a quick” one. But after establishing a successful career and having Trixie, motherhood became “everything” to Box.

“It’s the only thing I really care about … When Trixie was two, and I was 38, 39, I did suddenly go, ‘Hang on a second, I want more children. I’d love that’,” she added.

Fifi Box and her eldest daughter Trixie in February this year. Picture: Sam Tbone/Getty Images for Mary Poppins Australia

With youngest daughter Daisy on a recent holiday. Picture: Instagram

But the “one thing” Box has learned – and wishes she had known – is that women “can’t overcome our body, and particularly our fertility, deteriorating”.

“I now realise that women don’t have the luxury of ‘the right time’ – because the first appointment I had with my IVF doctor, I was thinking, I’ve seen Hollywood actresses have babies [in their] mid 40s, I’ve got years up my sleeve,” she said.

“He showed me the graph and said, ‘You’ve got basically a seven to nine per cent chance of conceiving’. It was like a blow to my gut. ‘Oh, this might not happen. I might not have another child.’ So I went down the path of egg retrieval quite quickly.”

Box shares Trixie with her ex-partner Grant Kenny. Picture: Instagram

Daisy was born after a ‘challenging’ journey with IVF. Picture: Instagram

After two egg retrievals, Box – who has spoken openly about the “challenging” process of IVF in the past – ended up with 30 eggs.

“So I was like, I’ve nailed this. My body! Well done,” she recalled.

“But fast forward to the embryo-making process and [they call to say], ‘Out of those 30, we got two embryos’. And I’m thinking, what did you do to the rest of them? Are you kidding me? Then they give you the factual information: ‘Unfortunately the quality of your eggs, because of your age, is not ideal …’”

When she ultimately announced her pregnancy with Daisy, Box “was very conscious” that her experience with IVF counted as “a success story”.

“Even the fact that it was a seven per cent chance of success and I got my baby,” she said.

“My heart broke. Because going in and out of the clinic, I’d see women in tears. A nurse would come in, get the box of tissues and take them to the next room. I had a little guilt that I’d had such a successful experience when so many other women were suffering. It’s a tough journey.”

Box also challenged the narrative that women need to “meet the right man” before starting a family.

“People say, ‘Oh, you’re this really empowered single mum and this woman who’s gone and got your career’,” she said.

“I’m also a hopeless romantic. And that’s the bit that’s sort of missing from that.

'People say, ‘Oh, you’re this really empowered single mum and this woman who’s gone and got your career’.' Picture: Instagram

“In my 20s, in my early 30s, I did have a few relationships. But I haven’t met ‘the one’. I don’t believe in ‘the one’. I know there are lots of ones. But I certainly hadn’t met somebody I felt was a life partner. I’ve been in love, and I could have gone with that feeling, but it never felt right.”

Even during her experience with IVF, “I was like, there are men I might be interested in, relationships I could be open to”.

“But I also went, ‘You can’t rush into something’. It was an epiphany. I thought, I’ve got the rest of my life to fall in love but I don’t have the rest of my life to have this baby.”

Stellar is out today in The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland) and Sunday Mail (South Australia)

Originally published as ‘Blow to my gut’: Fifi Box opens up about ‘tough’ IVF journey