A Little Miracle (Jul 2014)

We'd love to share our experience with you, since after a period of 4.5 years of ICSI treatments (6 of them), we were almost at the end of our rope. In those 4.5 years we experienced a lot of disappointments, and because of that our belief in having a child of our own kept fading. After years of treatment in Düsseldorf, we still wanted to get a second opinion from another hospital. Through the internet we came across Human First, and we quickly grew enthusiastic about it. After I got in touch with Human First, we became completely enthusiastic.

We were given a lot of information, and they also took a critical look at in what way treatment in Istanbul would actually make sense for us. In terms of options it turned out to be fairly comparable to Düsseldorf, but given the high success rates, the positive experiences of other couples, and the fact that we really wanted a second opinion, we decided to go to Istanbul for a few weeks in the summer to undergo treatment there. We got through this period in Istanbul almost completely stress-free and experienced it as very positive. It felt like a wonderful holiday that happened to include a treatment. The calm, no obligations from work or home, and the beautiful surroundings only contributed positively, as far as we're concerned.

Thanks to the fantastic doctors in Istanbul and the great support from Human First, after this wonderful trip we received the best news ever: a positive pregnancy test! We were overjoyed right away, but the doctors asked us to be patient until the first ultrasound (at 7 weeks) before we could really celebrate. The ultrasound at 7 weeks looked good, and by now I'm already 23 weeks pregnant. A miracle, given that our chances of having a child of our own together were very small. So you see, it can really pay off to look further and try something different.

We're very impressed with the professionalism and expertise of the doctors in Istanbul. On top of that, we were very well looked after as patients there. The service was, in a word, amazing. During the retrieval and the transfer we were given our own room. The retrieval in particular was a real relief for me. I could choose between general anesthesia, light sedation, or local anesthesia. They assured me that with local anesthesia I wouldn't feel a thing, so I chose local anesthesia. Indeed I felt absolutely nothing of the retrieval, but was still present for it. I found that really nice. I also found the transfer a lot more professional than what I'd been used to until then. The room where the transfer took place was right next to the lab, so the embryos didn't have to travel an unnecessarily long way before being transferred. My husband couldn't be present at the transfer, but looking at it from the angle that it takes place in a kind of operating room, there's something to be said for that too. All in all it came across as very professional. We didn't choose to use a host, since we could speak English with the doctors and were already fairly familiar with Istanbul. Looking back, I would actually recommend using a host, since she can also translate well. Especially for communication with the nursing staff and front-desk staff, that can be very handy, since they barely speak English. Throughout this whole process we were regularly in touch with Evren from Human First. We were very pleased with this. If we had questions about anything, we could always go straight to her. Whenever necessary she brought our questions to the doctor. This always put our minds at ease. Her involvement also made us feel the treatment was extra personal.

Looking back on our trip, we can only say it was a wonderful experience that we can recommend to everyone, especially with the support of Human First alongside it! Good luck to everyone, and fingers crossed for making your biggest wish come true!

Naomi & Sander

July 2014

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