Success story 12
...the doctor told us he saw one heart beating and we were over the moon with this result. You can imagine our surprise that two weeks later at the second scan the doctor saw not one...but two hearts beating : we had twins ! … Our identical twin girls and are now one year old!
We are a couple from Europe, my wife is 44 years old and I am 48 years old. We met each other later in life and decided we would like to have a child together. We tried the natural way and indeed became pregnant, but unfortunately it turned out to be a miscarriage which was a very disappointing event. It took us some time to recover and come to the conclusion that the natural way would probably take too long with limited chance of success at our age. Because we really wanted to "crown" our love for each other with a child we decided to try IVF. We used a reputable private clinic in our home country but despite promising signs in the beginning it didn't work out. We tried this twice and again it was quite disappointing and emotional to go through this rollercoaster. Not to mention the amount of hormones and medicine that my wife had to take each time which had quite an impact on her body.
After long consideration we then decided to go the route of egg donation, which is a big step for any couple. The reason we went this way is that we found out that the quality of the eggs of my wife was not good enough anymore to have a good chance of success with IVF. Egg donation in our home country is allowed and practiced, but it unfortunately takes a long time on the waitinglist because there is a shortage of donors. That is why we started looking abroad. After in depth research on the internet we narrowed the choice down to Spain, Greece, Czech Republic and Russia. After talking to the different clinics we picked AVA-Peter Clinic in St Petersburg.
Why did we make this choice ?
- firstly the excellent website that provides a lot of detailed information. Both on medical process, logistics, and price the website was very clear. Price is something not to be neglected: this is an expensive procedure, not only the medical process but also the flights to St Petersburg, hotel costs and expenses during the stay there. So it is important to know in detail what you are up for.
- Secondly my contact with one of the assistants, Julia, was very good. Her English was excellent and she was very helpful in providing initial information, both on the phone and quick replies on emails. All you need when you start a process like this is precise information on how things will work and therefore the first contact is quite important.
- Thirdly the clinic offers the option to, by selecting the egg, choose the gender of the child. This was important to us because my wife really wanted a girl.
- In addition the option is offered to have tests done on Down syndrome and other hereditary illnesses. Obviously this was key for us.
We then travelled to Russia for a first visit to meet Dr Olga Zaytseff, who was mentioned several times in different web chat forums on the topic of fertility. Her approach and professionalism was commented on very positively by a number of sources. This gave us confidence that she was the right doctor to talk to. And indeed she was ! From the first moment we met her my wife and I felt comfortable with her as a person. In a sensitive and emotional process like this the personal chemistry is vital. Communication and staying in touch was done very well by her: on for example sms's she replied quickly and to the point. During this first visit to St Petersburg blood and sperm tests were done.
After returning home we got information about possible donors. Dr Zaytseff selected donors, not only looking like my wife (hair/eyes colour, height etc), but also with a similar profile in terms of education. All donors had children before. The second visit two months later was obviously timed in such a way that it would coincide with the cycle of the donor. This visit was of course very exciting for us. My wife found the medical environment comfortable, high tech, there was very professional staff around all the time. Dr Zaytseff made her feel secure and the whole procedure was handled with the highest standards of ethical and medical professionalism. It is important to mention that Dr Zaytseff took care of us all the way, no other doctors were involved. As mentioned before, we felt very comfortable with her as she is person with high emotional intelligence and connected well with us, both on an individual level as together as a couple. Two eggs were placed back.
After returning home the clinic in our home country took over and administered the medicine that was prescribed. First we had the blood rnd_test that showed that my wife indeed was pregnant! We were very happy and fortunate that everything developed well after that. Of course the first scan was an extremely exiting moment....the doctor told us he saw one heart beating and we were over the moon with this result. You can imagine our surprise that two weeks later at the second scan the doctor saw not one...but two hearts beating : we had twins ! An incredible moment!
Our identical twin girls were born three and a half weeks earlier than expected and are now one year old. They are very cheerful and healthy girls and we are proud and happy parents. For us a dream has turned into reality. We sincerely hope that for whoever reads this, that will happen too!