The story of our journey

About 3 years ago it was time for a laparoscopy. That's when it turned out I have endometriosis, and that this can make getting pregnant quite a bit harder. And it showed, because we'd already been trying to become mom and dad for 2 years. First we overcame a needle phobia through psychotherapy, and then started with IUI. In the end we had 3 rounds of IUI, without success. It was decided we'd move on to IVF/ICSI. On the 1st IVF attempt they still let a few things slip, which caused it to go wrong. 2nd time, ICSI, but that treatment didn't go smoothly either. The result was still: not pregnant.

Then we heard that lately quite a lot of people with these kinds of problems go to Turkey. Our first reaction was: TO TURKEY???? No way! We're not doing that... But our interest and curiosity had still been sparked a bit, because that evening I was on the internet. That's how I very quickly ended up on the Human First website, and it looked pretty decent, even a little hopeful... The next morning I went ahead and called the Human First office anyway. That call ended up lasting 3 times as long as any consultation at the hospital ever had! I got thorough answers to all my questions, and my trust in this organization was set: We're going to Turkey!! Our insurance would still cover the 3rd attempt (the treatment and the medication), even if we did that attempt in Turkey! We still wanted a holiday anyway, so why not? Within 2 months everything was arranged and we were standing at the airport with our suitcases.

We arrived during the Sugar Feast (Eid). Our hostess picked us up from our accommodation and we went to the clinic together. It turned out to be open specially for us, since it was actually still a national holiday!!! You do feel a little guilty then, but we got a warm welcome! First we had a talk with the doctor and then started treatment. That evening we had to start injecting hormones right away, but by then we were used to that.

It all went really smoothly and relaxed: check-ups every day or every other day, and besides that we could just enjoy our holiday. Into the city center, dinner out one time, the cinema another time — there's really enough to do in Istanbul!

At the clinic the doctor took an enormous amount of time to answer all our questions, and the check-ups were also done in a pleasant, very thorough way. Super hygienic too. Just that alone was a huge plus compared to the hospital in Breda. Even when you had an appointment there, we'd often still end up waiting a really long time in the waiting room. In Istanbul the scheduling worked a lot better, we could often go straight through. And also a huge relief that someone finally listens to you!

I had the egg retrieval done under anesthesia; my fear of needles is still there in the background, and I never could have done this while conscious. Here too the nurses were very sweet. Because I was so scared, the hostess was even allowed to come with me into the operating room, she was allowed to hold my hand and she did that perfectly :-) Same with the blood draws, by the way.

The result was good: 12 egg cells and they all looked good. Now it was my husband's turn to get to work. He got a tidy room and a little cup for the sperm to go in. As soon as he was done, he could place the cup at a little hatch and press a buzzer. Then he could leave right away and someone would come collect the cup. All quite nerve-wracking of course, but also a little funny: "it was just like the hatch at the Chinese takeaway."

Now we had to wait and see what would happen in the lab, we'd already get a call the next day. And yes, the next morning we got a call from the hostess: all 12 egg cells were fertilized and it looked good!! We really hadn't expected this after the disappointing results in the Netherlands! This really gave us hope, but we still had to be patient a while longer. After 3 days it turned out all the egg cells still had really good quality, and the doctor wanted to wait with the transfer until day 5. This way the strongest embryos would be left for the transfer.

On the 5th day, before the transfer, we first had a talk with the doctor. Because of the previous failed attempts we were given permission to transfer 3 embryos, but we had to take into account the possibility of twins or even triplets. We had a 10% chance of triplets, which did give us a bit of a shock, but we decided to do it anyway. After all, this was our last chance to get pregnant, after this the curtain would really fall for us.

The same day as the transfer we flew back again, and that's when it really got tough: waiting, waiting, waiting. How long those days lasted. And how much hope we had because of the good results!

On a Saturday I was allowed to take a test: Pregnant!!!!! Over the past years I'd used up quite a lot of those test strips, but was it really it this time?! I still couldn't quite believe it.

On Monday the blood test: yes, really truly pregnant! Help, how scary...

At 7 weeks, the first check-up at the hospital: we saw it right away: there are 2! We were very happy but still cautious. First we just had to get through the 12 weeks. The little wall we'd built up around ourselves to protect against disappointment was still standing pretty firm...

Meanwhile we're 17 weeks pregnant, and we've switched to the hospital in Roosendaal. That's already a huge improvement for us too, and now we trust that everything will be fine. But whether we're in as good hands as in Turkey...? We'll see. In any case we're very glad we went, if only to experience that it can be done differently too. And now with this result, our happiness knows no bounds!

Lots of strength to everyone for whom getting pregnant also doesn't come easily!

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