‘I had weight loss surgery to conceive …only to find out I wasn’t the cause of our infertility’

“Two different GPs brushed me off and didn’t do any tests,” the frustrated NSW woman reveals. “I trusted them that my weight was the issue, and now I’m angry they didn’t realise it takes two people to conceive.”

Josephine Agostino

3 min read

July 14, 2023 - 2:09PM

Sara before and after getting weight-loss surgery. Pictures: Supplied

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When Sara went to her doctor after failing to fall pregnant for more than a year with husband, Andrew, she was crushed at what she heard.

“I went there for something else, but when I happened to ask what could be done to help us try for a baby, they said, ‘If you could just eat better, exercise and lose some weight, you’ll probably find it’ll just happen’,” the Tamworth woman tells Kidspot.

Sara was only 22 years old at the time and had struggled with her weight - which was then 90 kilograms - all her life.

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“I had such shame,” she says emotionally.

“I instantly blamed myself that this could be an easy fix and I wasn’t making it happen."

Sara, who is now 27, spent the following four years trying in vain to conceive through natural methods and having a healthier lifestyle, believing doctors’ advice that there were no other contributing factors.

“I was brushed off constantly by two different GPs over several years,” she says frustratedly.

“No tests or further investigations were done. I trusted medical professionals when they said my weight was the problem, even though my cycle was regular and normal. No one ever explained how excess weight affects fertility.”

Sara before and after getting weight-loss surgery. Pictures: Supplied

"She said the best treatment for obesity was weight loss surgery"

In late 2021, Sara was still struggling with managing her weight, and was found to have insulin resistance and fatty liver disease.

The solution, according to her new GP, was drastic - and still left her no further in understanding why she and Andrew couldn’t conceive.

“She said the best treatment for obesity is weight loss surgery,” she remembers.

“I never considered it before, but I walked out of there thinking that my weight issue was far worse than I ever believed it was. She said there’s no point in trying fertility treatment when my overall health isn’t great.”

In the middle of last year, after much deliberation, Sara underwent gastric sleeve surgery.

Despite losing almost 40 kgs, however, and being below her goal weight at 66 kgs, Sara still failed to see more than one line on her home pregnancy tests once she was given the all clear to start trying again in December.

“We thought this was it for sure, and when it didn’t happen, we did something we hadn’t done before,” she says.

"We angry that medical professionals hadn't suggested this earlier"

Sara booked an appointment with her doctor, while Andrew did the same with his. The result would change their lives forever.

Andrew requested a semen analysis, which returned a below-average reading. A follow-up test weeks later - after Andrew had made a concerted effort to improve his health - showed an even lower count, giving no doubt as to the reason for the couple’s infertility.

“He was really disappointed,” Sara says empathetically.

“We were then both angry that medical professionals hadn’t suggested this so much earlier because it takes two people to conceive.

“Looking back, I wish I had advocated for myself more. But when someone’s telling you that you’re unhealthy and doing the wrong thing, it’s hard to push past that when you already carry so much shame being overweight. While I don’t regret the surgery because I am much healthier now, the fear of not having children is what really drove me to have that done, and the reality was I didn’t really need it for fertility reasons.”

Sara said she was angry at her doctors once she got the news her partner was the reason for their fertility struggles, not her weight. Pictures: Supplied

"It's early days, but we're hopeful"

Six years after they began trying for their first child, Sara and Andrew began IVF in April, and have completed one egg collection and two embryo transfers.

With no donor eggs or sperm needed, the couple are cautiously elated to now be seven weeks pregnant.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, it’s been such a long journey to get to this point and thinking we may never have a baby,” Sara smiles.

“When I told Andrew, he cried - a lot! He was so, so happy. To still have his dream of being able to have his own biological children means a lot to him. We know it’s early days but we are hopeful.”