A 44-year-old mother is pregnant with her fourth baby from the same set of frozen embryos and is due to give birth 13 years after having her first child through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Tanis Larson and her 47-year-old husband Dave welcomed baby boy Kai, now 12, in 2011, before having two more IVF babies: Cruz, 10, and Clay, eight.
After having three IVF babies, the Canada-based couple naturally had two children – Suzy, five, and Summer, three – and then kept the two remaining embryos frozen.
And when the couple received a call from their doctor asking if they wanted to use the two remaining embryos left on ice for more than a decade, Tanis and Dave jumped at the chance and are now expecting their sixth child – and their fourth boy. in a set of IVF quadruplets.
Tanis Larson, 44, is pregnant with her sixth child as she is expecting her fourth IVF baby this year
Tanis Larson and her husband Dave, 47, welcomed baby boy Kai, now 12, in 2011, then had two more IVF babies: Cruz, 10, and Clay, eight.
After having three babies through IVF, the Canada-based couple naturally had two children – Suzy, five, and Summer, three – and then kept the two remaining embryos frozen.
Tanis is expected to give birth to the baby boy later this year.
The four boys are considered quadruplets because they were conceived on the same day – and at the same time – via IVF, from the same batch of embryos.
Once the little one is born, Tanis and Dave will have six children – because she had two daughters naturally, against all odds, after Clay’s birth.
The housewife noted that each pregnancy was a surprise for the couple.
She said: “Every time we found out I was pregnant it was an even bigger shock. We were going to be happy with one child, so having five and six on the way is amazing.
“Last year we chose to go back and use the last two embryos, but because they were 13 years old, we only had a 20 percent chance of them accepting them.”
“I feel like my husband and I are always open to things and have a ‘let’s do it’ attitude.
The parents, who always wanted to have at least three children, had been trying to conceive for two years before turning to IVF.
As of November 1, 2010, Tanis had 13 healthy embryos to use.
“As my husband and I were both in our 30s…we thought it would be best to start the process as early as possible. We decided to do just one ride and now we have four kids,” she said.
Kai was born in August 2011 at 9:38 p.m., weighing 7 lbs 4 oz at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Canada.
The mom of six loved being pregnant and was excited to experience motherhood.
And when the couple received a call from their doctor asking if they wanted to use the leftover embryos left on ice for more than a decade, Tanis and Dave jumped at the chance.
All four boys are considered quadruplets because they were conceived on the same day – and at the same time – via IVF from the same batch of embryos.
She added: “It was just an amazing feeling to find out we were pregnant. It was inexplicable, we couldn’t believe it. We had tried for so long that we couldn’t believe it had worked at the same time.
They returned to the IVF clinic when Kai was 13 months old for round two.
Tanis said: “We knew we had so many embryos, so we wanted to use them and we wanted to have three children.
“They decided that because they were frozen, they would use two embryos, which would give us a better chance of getting one.”
And it worked, Cruz, 10 years old, was born in January 2014.
A little over a year later, Tanis returned to the clinic and became pregnant with Clay, who was born in May 2016.
The mom noted that having three boys was a “complete dream.”
They moved into a newly renovated four-bedroom house and were “so happy.”
The mom noted that having three boys was a “complete dream”
The pregnancy came as a complete shock to the couple, who said they thought they were done with children.
The week they moved into the new house, Tanis discovered she had become pregnant naturally with her daughter, Suzy, who was born in January 2019.
The pregnancy came as a complete shock to the couple, who said they thought they were done with children.
Tanis said: “We… thought we were done. We knew we had a few embryos left that we might have been able to salvage, but for us, our family was complete.
“It was the most incredible feeling: I was 39 and all of a sudden we got pregnant on our own.”
Tanis was even more surprised when she became pregnant with her fifth child in the summer of 2020 during the pandemic.
“Our doctor told us not to get Dave fixed because it was a miracle we got pregnant naturally,” she said.
“So we decided not to do it and I found out I was pregnant. Dave said to me, “You can’t be serious, it’s not going to happen now, we have this house and two extra kids.”
“Each time, he was more and more shocked, my poor husband.
Their fifth baby, Summer, was born in May 2021.
In 2023, Tanis received a call from her doctor at the IVF clinic who told her she had two embryos left that she could use or throw away.
Tanis was even more surprised when she became pregnant with her fifth child in the summer of 2020 during the pandemic
Tanis and Dave decided to go ahead with the transfer and are expecting their sixth child – and fourth thanks to IVF – in May 2024.
Tanis and Dave decided to proceed with the transfer and are expecting their sixth child – and fourth thanks to IVF – in May 2024.
She noted that she hoped her experience would inspire other moms who were looking to have children later in life.
“It was a toss-up, we had two left and my husband and I thought about it for a while and decided to go through with it,” Tanis said.
“I’m 32 weeks now and so far so good. All scans show that the baby has no complications.
“It sounds very cliché, but people should expect the unexpected. Moms who want to start a family should never give up – I want to give moms hope.