Wanting a 2nd child (Sep 2022)

After I got pregnant naturally and became a mom in 2016, I just didn't get a positive test in the years after that. After 1.5 years I found this strange and made an appointment with my GP. Because of our age at the time (21 & 27) they didn't think this was odd and figured it would happen naturally. I was advised to try for another 6 months and come back if it still didn't work. After 6 months I made another appointment because I still didn't have a positive test, and only then did I get a referral to the gynecologist at the hospital. After the first appointment I was again told to try for 3 months and keep track of everything. (As if I hadn't already been doing that, but anyway). After 3 months I came back and that's when my journey began.

First everything was checked in me, everything was fine, and everything was fine with my husband too. They found it strange it wasn't working, so they flushed my fallopian tubes, which was also fine. After this came our IUI process. In total I had 5 IUIs, NONE of which worked. After this I was finally allowed to start IVF after 3 years. I went into this process full of good hope.

IVF PROCESS IN THE NETHERLANDS 2020

During the egg retrieval 21 eggs came out, of which 15 were fertilized and eventually 9 "good" embryos resulted. This has to work, I thought to myself, surely 1 of these 9 has to stick? But unfortunately that wasn't the case. I had 7 transfers in total, of which I got pregnant from 5 of them. Unfortunately all of these ended in an early miscarriage at 5/6 weeks. According to the doctors nothing strange, I just had really bad luck since I only ever got good embryos transferred back. This made me so sad and so confused. Why didn't a single one stick? In my opinion something was wrong with the embryos. I got pregnant every time but ended in a miscarriage every time. Something didn't add up for me, but the doctors saw nothing strange. After such a long time in this process my courage sank into my shoes. I understood absolutely nothing about it. Also the joy of the positive tests at first, which then ended in sadness and anger. By then 5 years had already passed without result.

After this I started searching further for clinics abroad. I didn't feel taken seriously at the hospital. They were so casual about it and according to them it was just really bad luck. To hear this after 5 years without result and so many tears and hormones further, I felt it was time to keep searching, and I absolutely did not want the 2 remaining embryos transferred back. Almost all the other embryos had implanted successfully at first, only to end negatively in a miscarriage after 1.5 weeks. My body couldn't take this anymore, both mentally and physically. Online I came across humanfirst and that's how my 2nd adventure began.

Right after reading about it I felt so positive and wanted to start the IVF process as soon as possible. I got in touch with the sweetest woman (Evren) who explained everything so well, I immediately felt at ease and had such a good feeling this time, even though I hadn't even made an appointment yet haha! I called my gynecologist and told her I wanted to do my 2nd IVF attempt in Istanbul. Unfortunately this conversation didn't go as hoped, because I didn't get the referral I needed for my insurance. This was because I still had 2 embryos in the freezer, so 2 more chances according to him. I explained that I couldn't handle having the remaining 2 embryos transferred back because I knew it would end in a miscarriage. My body was worn out. Unfortunately there was no understanding for this and I didn't get the referral. My dream sank, because without a referral the insurance doesn't cover the attempt.

After this I still had one more transfer done in the Netherlands with the embryos I still had in the freezer. You guessed it, another positive test, but unfortunately another miscarriage around 6 weeks again. I was really done with it now because I just didn't feel taken seriously. I was convinced there was something wrong with the embryo, but according to them everything was fine. I asked if they could test the last embryo to figure out what was going on, but this wasn't done either. Everything was working against us… and this was the final straw for my husband and me. We were completely done with it and decided to pay for everything out of our own pocket. Our wish for a second child was so big, and after so many years without result we decided to go to Istanbul.

IVF PROCESS ISTANBUL 2022

After everything had been discussed with Evren in the Netherlands, and she had helped and guided us so well, I could start with stimulation. I did this in the Netherlands since I already had experience with it. We chose the 10-day trip and so at the end of September we boarded the plane towards our dream of a second little miracle. We had a hotel next to the hospital which was ideal. At the hospital we were received and helped so well. Everyone was so sweet and wished you the best (which they also delivered). The Netherlands could learn a lot from this. They also work super hygienically at the hospital, and my gut just told me this is going to work! I had complete confidence that everything would be fine. Dr Cem knows what he's doing! I don't need to tell a whole story here, but what a champion this man is.

EGG RETRIEVAL AND TRANSFER

Once my eggs were good it was time for the retrieval. This too was done so well once again. So hygienic and so much more professional than what I was used to in the Netherlands. In the days after I was kept updated on how my embryos were doing (which I found really wonderful). And then came the day of the transfer. I chose to have 2 embryos transferred back, and so we flew back to the Netherlands the same day, after which the two most nerve-wracking weeks followed.

TEST MOMENT

Of course, just like many people always do, I started testing early, and after 10 days post-transfer I had a positive test in my hands. I had expected this too, but for me the exciting weeks were only just beginning now. Things always went wrong at 6 weeks, so I tested every single day up to that week and had blood drawn 4 times. Everything was positive and the hCG rose nicely. So did it really work this time? And even more exciting - is it 1 or 2?

At 6 weeks I went out for dinner with my husband, and when we drove home and I wanted to get out of the car, I felt a gush run down. I suddenly felt awful, nauseous, and didn't want to look to see if it was blood. But it literally ran down my legs and I was bleeding so much and so heavily that I assumed the worst. I thought this is the end of the story and started crying and took a shower. I bled so heavily for 3 hours that I thought, this really can't be good??… after 3 hours the bleeding stopped and I waited another 4 days before I had an ultrasound appointment scheduled. More days of uncertainty, but I still stayed positive!

DAY OF THE ULTRASOUND

After the ultrasound practice ran quite behind schedule and I still had to wait 1.5 hours for the moment of truth, it was finally my turn. And yes, there we saw the little heart beating! They couldn't explain the bleeding, but I think it was the other little embryo that didn't stick. I was overjoyed and was literally on cloud nine! After this came more ultrasounds and everything was fine. Both the 13-week ultrasound and the 20-week ultrasound. Time has flown by so fast that I'm now 37 weeks pregnant and still can't believe that soon we'll be able to hold our baby (after 7 years) that we longed for so much.

I recommend to everyone with a wish for a child to go straight to Istanbul and not start a process in the Netherlands. What a wonderful experience we've had! And even though I haven't given birth yet, we're already planning for a second IVF treatment with humanfirst.

We want to thank the entire hospital team, dr. Cem, Evren and our host Nida so much for the wonderful time and guidance! We hope to see you again soon for baby number 3!

Ps; we definitely recommend getting a host (Nida). She helped and guided us so, so much. Really recommended and such a sweet woman who does her job with so much pleasure!

This story was translated from Dutch by our team. Read the original Dutch version →