THIRTY years after the birth of the world's first IVF baby, one in every 33 babies born in Australia is conceived as a result of assisted reproductive technology (ART).
Almost 10,000 babies born in Australia last year were conceived as a result of IVF procedures, bringing the total number of ART-related births in this country to 80,000.
About 2000 of those births were the result of treatments carried out at IVF Australia Southern Sydney, at Kogarah.
Its director, Michael Chapman, said women under 38 who underwent IVF at the clinic could expect a 40 per cent chance of success per cycle.
When IVF started, success rates were only about 5 per cent per cycle, Professor Chapman said. ``Women today, at the age of 40, have the same chance of conceiving as a woman aged 30 did 10 years ago,'' he said.
``IVF now accounts for one in every 33 Australian births that's one child in every classroom.
``Success rates will continue to improve as we learn to select the best embryo for transfer, utilising techniques such as Polscopeand pre-implantation genetic diagnosis.''
Kellie and Mark Sopuch, of Heathcote, owe their family to IVF. The couple suffered years of infertility, a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy before Torin was born after their first round of IVF resulted in 12 embryos.
Determined to have a second child, they had just used up the last of those embryos when Mrs Sopuch learnt she was pregnant with Ayla.
``After Torin, we still had 10 embryos frozen,'' she said.
``When we decided to go for our second we had three attempts.
``Our last attempt was her.''
Mrs Sopuch said she looked forward to sharing the story with the children.
``I cannot wait to tell them that out of the 12 embryos, Torin was the first and Ayla was the last,'' she said.
``I think that is amazing.''
Do you have an IVF story that you'd like to share with online readers?