Influencers and interrelated couple Shane and Hannah Burcaw informed fans that their latest IVF attempt had failed.
The disability advocates, who have been married since 2020 and together since 2016, announced that they planned to undergo IVF in late 2022. Since then, they have been documenting their journey with the procedure for their nearly two million followers on their Squirmy joint program. And the Grubs YouTube channel.
Shane, 32, has spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative neuromuscular condition that usually interferes with normal male reproductive function.
From the beginning, Shane has been candid that his low sperm count, exacerbated by a medication he takes for SMA, has been a major obstacle in the couple’s reproductive efforts.
Shane, 32, and Hannah Burcaw, 28, are content creators who share what it’s like to be in an interrelated relationship with their nearly two million YouTube followers.
In late 2022, the couple revealed that they planned to undergo IVF in hopes of conceiving a child, after two or three years of trying the “natural route.”
“We knew that, it was in the back of our minds, so we did a sperm test about a year ago and found out it was abysmal,” Hannah, 28, explained in an April 2023 video.
“Excuse me, my sperm isn’t abysmal…my sperm is non-existent,” Shane joked.
The problem has plagued the couple even before IVF, when they spent about two or three years trying to conceive “naturally,” as Shane explained in a Questions and answers about your IVF efforts published in March 2023.
Since early 2023, Shane and Hannah had been dealing with the cumbersome and often invasive procedures that IVF requires, from Hannah injecting hormones and undergoing egg collection, to Shane trying to increase his sperm count through various changes to his style. of life.
To make things even more stressful, last year the couple also moved from Hannah’s hometown of Minnesota to Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, her last (and probably “final”) attempt to conceive through IVF ended in disappointment.
“At the beginning of October, Shane’s numbers were high enough that we scheduled an egg warming, which is where they thaw some of my eggs and try to fertilize them with Shane’s sperm,” Hannah explained.
‘And just on the emotional side, we were feeling pretty good at the time. As if the changes we made had improved my numbers. Which we didn’t know if it would work,’ Shane chimed in.
The couple, who run the YouTube channel Squirmy And Grubs, married in 2020 after dating since 2016.
In his typical cheerful manner, Shane described his sperm as “fishy swimmers.”
‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m drowning among swimmers with fish. “I had like 10 now, barely enough, but it seemed worth it, so we were happy,” he added.
After they gave their clinic the go-ahead to try to fertilize Hannah’s eggs, they had to wait a day to find out if the attempt had been successful.
‘The next day, we received a call informing us that none of the eggs had been successfully fertilized. We got seven sperm that were good,” Hannah said.
‘But we are going to keep three or four of them, because we may have missed the fertilization window. Basically, they have to look at it at a very specific time to see the core and then it disappears. They may have just missed it,” he continued.
‘Then they called us two days later and actually two of them were splitting up. And they had the right number of cells. And we were completely shocked. Like we’ve lost all hope,” Hannah admitted.
Unfortunately, none of the embryos were born. ‘Two days later, we received a call. Unfortunately, they both failed,” she said.
But the two maintained a typical glass-half-full attitude toward disappointment,
‘Together we have created cells. Isn’t it great? Hannah joked, touching Shane’s arm.
‘In a way, we are already parents!’ she joked.
Shane has “normal sexual function,” as he emphasized in a fan Q&A about the couple’s intimate relationship dynamics.
The two remained positive after enduring a “difficult emotional period” following their IVF disappointments.
Not long after, using Hannah’s last 15 eggs, the clinic made one last attempt to try to make a viable embryo a reality, and nine were accepted.
‘Nine normal fertilizations seemed to have pretty good odds!’ Shane said.
Unfortunately, a week later, the clinic sent a message to the couple telling them that “neither of them” had survived.
“Even making this video is extremely difficult,” Shane admitted. ‘We don’t want you to think that our joking attitude is that we are careless about this. We’ve been through a difficult emotional period and now we’re on the other side.’
Hannah emphasized: ‘For now, we are done with IVF. The idea of going through that again right now is no, not doing that.”
Shane added: ‘We’re having fun here in Los Angeles. We’re just not going to do IVF for the time being. That’s where we are, you know. If it comes up again in the future, so be it. If not, so be it.
The physical aspects and intimacy dynamics of Shane and Hannah’s relationship have long been a source of fascination for their fans.
In August 2023, Shane explained in a fan Q&A that while he has very limited mobility in his limbs, he enjoys “normal sexual function.”
“I don’t think I ever thought it wouldn’t work,” Hannah added.
‘I just didn’t do it because I knew you had had multiple previous relationships. I knew you had written about this.