Bruce and Eileen Bellemore couldn't believe it when they found out Eileen was pregnant. It only took one cycle of IVF.
Bruce Bellemore: I said, 'How many are we talking about?' Eileen said, 'Three.' That's when the blood rushed out of my head and I had to sit down. So that was great. That was fantastic.
Doctor David Keefe says, on average, women in their thirties, like Eileen, have a 30 to 50% chance of becoming pregnant with IVF.
Dr. David Keefe: The big challenge is in the egg factoring fertility, in fixing the eggs if that can be done and at least diagnosing egg problems when they emerge.
Jennifer Matthews: Doctor Keefe uses a new type of microscope to determine the best egg. It's called a polscope. It uses polarized light to see the spindle inside the egg.
Dr. David Keefe: It then allows only the light that is twisted by the spindle to come through, so the spindle lights up as if it's a sign in Times Square.
Jennifer Matthews: The spindles are the threads that tether the chromosomes. In some eggs, the chromosomes can tangle and separate causing future complications. Here's what an egg looks like through a regular microscope. Now here it is through the polscope.
Dr. David Keefe: It's the first time we can see inside the egg to image the most important structure inside the egg.
Jennifer Matthews: As for the Bellemores, it seems as if the doctors did select the very best eggs.
Eileen Bellemore: We are lucky. We really do feel very blessed.
Jennifer Matthews: And if actions speak louder than words, Brendan speaks for all of them when he says life is pretty good. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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