{"id":932055,"date":"2026-10-18T01:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/932055\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T01:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T01:12:14","slug":"casey-donovan-and-renee-sharples-reveal-they-are-pregnant-after-ivf-procedure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/932055\/","title":{"rendered":"Casey Donovan and Renee Sharples reveal they are pregnant after IVF procedure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Casey Donovan<\/a> has spent the majority of her life thinking she\u2019d never have her own children.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Diagnosed with PMOS (formerly PCOS) when she was just 14, she was warned she may never see two lines o<\/a>n<\/a> a pregnancy test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Casey Donovan and Renee Sharples are expecting their first child together. \u00a0Instagram\/@caseydonovan88<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I heard from doctors my whole life,\u201d she tells nine.com.au<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just had this monologue in my head that [said], \u2018You\u2019re not going to have babies. It\u2019s not going to be a thing for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When she started exploring IVF with her fianc\u00e9e Renee Sharples, that voice returned to haunt her: \u201cYou\u2019re going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it\u2019s not going to work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It turns out that voice was wrong. <\/p>\n

Two lines did appear on a pregnancy test \u2212 a moment that is immortalised in a video fiercely protected in Donovan\u2019s phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The beloved singer is now 24 weeks pregnant, halfway through her biggest ever national tour, This is Me, and has just released a song, aptly titled My Baby & Me<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s spent the last year prioritising her health as she threw everything at making her dream of becoming a mother come true. <\/p>\n

She underwent two rounds of egg retrievals, but because her body was good at producing eggs due to her PMOS, the question wasn\u2019t how many would be retrieved – it was how many would hold as embryos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Casey<\/p>\n

Donovan shared her journey with the public, including pictures from the transfer. \u00a0Instagram\/@caseydonovan88<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the even bigger question was: Will my body be able to sustain a pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n

The result was 13 embryos. But the first transfer wasn\u2019t successful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set our expectations really low, [we thought] \u2018If this one doesn\u2019t stick, we\u2019ll keep trying\u2019. But certainly after the first [transfer] my expectation was even lower,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donovan, 38, says, unlike the first transfer, she carried on with her life: She was on tour, lifting bags and performing. Her voice over the course of the treatment, however, was changing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hormones were affecting my vocal cords beyond belief, but one night it was just \u2026 woah. I had a feeling \u2026 I\u2019d never been that free in my voice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ten days post transfer, she did a test. Positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donovan\u2019s journey most certainly hasn\u2019t been easy, but she says she\u2019s proud of herself. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a plus-size woman, you hear all these things … weight, BMI, complications, so I kind of felt doomed from the start,\u201d she tells nine.com.au. \u201cI did all the things to give myself the best possible chance to get pregnant, and I\u2019m very proud of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut pumping your body with all these hormones, it\u2019s a lot, and a lot on my mental state. Having to do that quite publicly, for people to see, there was a bit of shame putting on a bit of the pregnancy weight.\u201d <\/p>\n

Donovan says it was 40-year-old Sharples, a paramedic and lecturer, who carried her through those mental challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201cRenee, my beautiful fianc\u00e9e keeps telling me, \u2018Babe, you\u2019re growing a human, give yourself grace.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to try and keep this precious thing inside of me healthy and letting go of those fears that my body can\u2019t do something, because it very much can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\":<\/p>\n

Donovan was already in her second trimester when she performed with Robert Irwin at this year\u2019s TV Week Logie Awards\u00a0Getty Images for TV Week<\/p>\n

The singer, who raise to fame right across the nation when she won the 2004 season of Australian Idol at 16 years of age says she and Sharples were committed to becoming parents, and both decided to undergo fertility treatment. <\/p>\n

\u201cRenee has also had some egg collections and created embryos as well,\u201d Donovan tells nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a few years older than myself, and we wanted the best possible outcome for her eggs and embryo, so we did it [earlier]. She absolutely loved the process of the whole thing.\u00a0It was this really beautiful time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ultimately, they decided Donovan would undergo the transfer, but she had a national tour on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenee and I spoke at length about when we were going to do it, how we were going to do it, and Renee just said, \u2018Babe, we need to start trying because it may not work the first time\u2019. And sadly, it didn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n

Donovan said her mindset was: \u201cI\u2019m going to give it a red-hot bloody go until I cannot any more\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then [we\u2019ll] have different conversations about raising children, adopting and respite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, Donovan says she is focused on wrapping up her national tour, taking in this special time and preparing for her first child, who is due to arrive in February 2027. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t do the long hours that I once could, which infuriates me, but it also gives me the opportunity to stop. I find [that] very hard as an Australian artist. We\u2019re go-getters. <\/p>\n

\u201c[I recall] at the Logies [in August] being 17 or 18 weeks pregnant, and putting on all these dresses, telling the dressers I was going through IVF so I was a little bit swollen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut doing all of those things and making those memories with our little family before they\u2019re even earthside, it\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

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