It was 8 years ago. Two French women, who arrived in Quebec years apart, fell in love in the city. Camille* and Valérie had no idea that today they would have their very own family.
Starting a family when you can’t get pregnant naturally takes a lot of thought. Do we turn to adoption or insemination? Do we want to conceive the child at home or in a clinic? Who will bear it? A family of how many are we dreaming of?
After four years of love, Valérie and Camille were convinced of one thing: they were ready to embark on the adventure of parenthood. “We quickly put adoption aside because of the cost. We chose insemination, which was a more accessible option,” explains Camille.
They both wanted to experience pregnancy. The result? Seven inseminations, dozens of appointments, eighteen months of pregnancy monitoring and… two babies. The family of four they dreamed of was born.
First inseminations: baby Thomas joins the couple
In 2018, Valérie was 35 years old. She was the one who carried their first child, now a 3-year-old boy. The future mothers had decided on intrauterine insemination in a fertility clinic, planning a few years between the two pregnancies.
Multiple fertility treatments and, a few months later, they were expecting their first baby. “It took me six inseminations to get pregnant,” says Valérie, moved by thinking back to all those months of treatment, challenges, but above all, hope.
Now that the baby was on the way, Camille and Valérie had to choose the obstetrician-gynecologist with whom they would spend the entire pregnancy. They fell in love with Dr. Carole Kamga-Ngande. “She was able to put us at ease from the first meeting. Her approach was very gentle,” recalls Camille.
From the first weeks, once a month, then once a week, the couple sat down in front of her for pregnancy follow-ups. Valérie immediately noticed that Dr. Kamga-Ngande’s check-ups took into account her entire assisted procreation journey.
Opting for reproductive medicine to build a family can be complex and uncomfortable. For Valérie and Camille, Dr. Kamga-Ngande was a real breath of fresh air in this long process.
With a weekly follow-up during the last six weeks of her pregnancy, Valérie admits that the specialist had become a bit like her best friend. “I was trying to have all my appointments with her,” she says.
Throughout the whole process, Dr. Kamga-Ngande made the experience of this first pregnancy by insemination pleasant and memorable. It would soon be Camille’s turn, but, for a few years, little Thomas would have his mothers’ attention all to himself.
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Second pregnancy: moving from a family of three to four
In 2021, when the time to expand the family arrived, Camille was 34 years old. Her fertility treatments were brief, since the very first intrauterine insemination worked.
Nine months later, she would give birth to their daughter, Anaïs. The baby is now 7 months old. In the meantime, Dr. Kamga-Ngande would make sure to carry out all of Camille’s pregnancy follow-ups.
For the couple, there was no doubt that it was her who would accompany them again. “She had set the bar so high! exclaims her wife. She describes a doctor-patient relationship that encourages great peace of mind. “We followed her with our eyes closed,” she adds.
Two pregnancies, one authentic inclusion
Moms talk a lot about the simplicity and spontaneity of the fertologist. For couples outside the heteronormative framework, access to fertility treatments and unbiased pregnancy monitoring can be difficult. Camille and Valérie agree: in the medical world, inclusion sometimes seems forced and unnatural.
It was quite the opposite with Dr. Kamga-Ngande. “It was more than an inclusion. We did not feel any difference during our entire follow-up, says Valérie. She made us feel that our pregnancies by intrauterine insemination were classic pregnancies. »
“Plus, she’s punctual! slips Camille. She has great respect for the patient. With the number of follow-ups specific to a pregnancy by intrauterine insemination, punctuality is not just a detail. “We found that we had been really lucky to choose her,” insists Camille.
The two mothers go even further: “If we had twelve children, we would do the twelve with her! According to them, Dr. Kamga-Ngande was the dream specialist for their two pregnancies by insemination. “It has nothing to do with her, but we will stop at two,” they add, however, laughing.
We feel the admiration of the couple for the co-founder of Miacleo. “She is a doctor with a thousand hats”, they summarize. We can say that she completely transformed the lives of Valérie and Camille, twice rather than once.
* Fictitious names