My husband and I tried to start our family pretty soon after we were married. We never thought there would be any problems with getting pregnant. We just assumed starting out that everything would be fine. But it wasn’t. I think because I work in the medical industry I started to get a little bit worried that something could be wrong, and after about 6 months of trying to get pregnant without any luck we decided to get help.
We had a holiday planned back home in Asia, and while we were there we went and saw a specialist where we both had testing to find out what could be going wrong. A series of scans and blood tests showed that we both had minor fertility issues.
When our holiday ended, we came back and went to see our GP. Because of our situation we were eligible for public funding for IVF, so she sent a referral out and pretty soon we were booked in to see Guy Gudex at Repromed and started our first round of IVF. Going into it, I really didn’t know what it was all about and thought it was going to be easy. I hadn’t ever talked to anyone about IVF. In reality, it was really daunting and a bit overwhelming for me.
With the first round of IVF we had three eggs removed and two were able to be implanted, but none of them survived which was quite depressing. When this round of IVF didn’t work out I wasn’t sure what to do. We decided to go back home and give it a shot there with the original specialist back in Asia. This second round of IVF resulted in a positive pregnancy result! But the 6 weeks scan showed there was no heartbeat. I came back to NZ and miscarried here and it was really tough.
We decided to give it another attempt with Repromed, now that we knew we could in fact get pregnant. This time, we opted for Pre-Genetic Screening. It cost more money, but we wanted the assurance that were selecting the healthiest embryo so we had the best possible chance of success. Our embryo came back with no chromosomal problems so that was reassuring for us as it had a higher chance of implanting.
I remember the phone call telling us we were pregnant clearly. My husband and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie together when the phone rang. It was Lyn, one of the fertility nurses at Repromed. She told us the good news and we were so happy!
Our 6 week scan was very exciting, we saw the heart beat and felt such a relief. My husband was such a great support and he was always there for all of my scans and appointments. I must admit it was pretty lonely going through IVF, it was really hard not being able to talk about it with anyone, especially my family. Back home, most people are married off very young and everyone gets pregnant within the first year of marriage. That is the norm! If you are not pregnant within a year of marriage everyone would be wondering what is wrong and it’s not something which is talked about openly.
I am thankful there is a more open approach to talking about IVF here in New Zealand and I also really appreciated talking to Lyn my fertility nurse. She was just so amazing to talk to, she listened to me and helped me through the process, I am really thankful for her support. In fact, the whole team were amazing to deal with.
My pregnancy went really well there were no complications at all and I enjoyed the whole process. And after all of that, we now have a beautiful baby girl! She is just amazing. We are so thankful for the chance to have a family.
Repromed NZ offer private and public funded IVF treatment and may be able to help you with your fertility journey. All are welcome, we stand for ethnic and gender equality and are proud to be awarded with Rainbow Tick certification. Having a simple fertility test is a good place to start. You can book a free 15 minute phone consultation with a fertility doctor. Click HERE to make the first step.
Individual results may vary dependant on your personal circumstances.
