For years the subject of infertility has been a taboo in many family settings with the topic usually discussed in hush tones.

In addition to this women have always suffered the brunt of being the only ones accused of being infertile.

But with advanced technology and research it is now evident that not only women suffer from infertility. It affects both men and women.

Susan and Anthony (not their real names), have been married for the past four years. They have just welcomed their first born child. If it was up to them this would have happened probably the first year of their marriage.
But each year they tried they got no positive results.

“Since the day we got married and decided to have a kid of our own, infertility has been a challenge to us, as we tried each year, with no results,” Anthony said.

Each year Susan would pray to God that he would bless her with a child. Going through this ordeal affected the couple mentally and the fact that family members would always ask about when they would have a baby did not help the situation.

“I messed up my whole youth life misusing Postinor 2 or P2 as it is popularly known that I did not know would have an aftermath result,” Susan said.

Susan narrates how her four years were full of cries, as she felt that she was being punished, but lived on hope that her cries would turn to laughter one day.

“During that period we were heartbroken and devastated as we felt that no one would understand what we were going through,” she said.

She embarked on a fertility journey with her doctor where she would go to get her uterus cleaned. She did this every week for four years. This treatment bore fruits resulting to her getting pregnant and welcoming her daughter two weeks ago.

“Nothing is as sickening as having everything in life but not having a child, we thank God that he finally blessed us,” she said.

A Nakuru gynaecologist and a fertility specialist, Dr Justus Malowa says that infertility is a common condition affecting women and men.

He says that one can only be identified as infertile if they fail to get pregnant after one year of trying.

According to Dr. Malowa, infertility affects one in every six couples which makes it about 20 percent of couples getting affected.

“On a daily basis I see about 20 to 25 patients, generally women, who need my services in my private clinic and about 10 from the 25 come to me with infertility issues. And that is just me yet we have a number of gynaecologists around,” Dr Malowa said.

Dr Malowa says that most people affected by infertility shy off from even voicing infertility leave alone seeking psychological assistance, and he therefore urges couples to open up to each other so that the problem can be addressed.

Infertility he says, should not be the end of the world. Despite the type of infertility issues there is treatment.

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How one couple's determination to have a child bore fruit four years later

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