So after our long wait – fertility treatment for 2 years and journey through pregnancy, our bundle of joy arrived earlier this month! Our earlier update (given below) was at the beginning of my second trimester. Everything was going as smooth as one could pray for. But towards the end of second trimester I failed the glucose tolerance test for Gestational Diabetes and with my numbers, history and precious pregnancy I was asked to start insulin immediately. The pricks for testing sugar levels and insulin shots were no joy - but we had no choice but go by the doctor’s advice. Though this bothered us for a while, things fell in place soon with the medications and some healthy interventions. Thankfully the baby’s growth was within normal limits and everything seemed fine. Given all the medical history and being an IVF pregnancy with Gestational Diabetes I was told to be prepared for a C-section at almost full term. Finally our baby girl arrived during Diwali, lighting our lives with joy forever!
Every morning now, it still feels like a dream to find my baby beside me when I wake up. I cannot stop thanking God, Dr. Malpani and my obstetrician for the special care and support!
I always envied but enjoyed reading success stories on infertility struggles. Longed I would be writing one and help someone believe in their dream during this struggle.
We were already nearing our 30s when we got married. And I had always thought like many of us that as soon as we want we will have babies. But we were not so lucky after all. So after a few months I started worrying though my husband felt I was being paranoid. I had no gynaec history earlier but the mere age factor with my being overweight was worrying me. So after 6 months of actively TTC we decided to see a doctor locally (BTW we are based out of Bangalore). She seemed to be just starting her own fertility practice but based on general reviews she seemed a good doctor. We first met her in Jun’11 and initial meetings were nothing but blood tests and investigations more from my side. She suggested we kept trying naturally as the hormonal tests were all normal. Meanwhile my husband’s tests came back as low motility but not alarming. We were both put on medicines to improve egg and sperm quality and that started our fertility journey. As days passed by, we realized how much of an investment this was both financially and emotionally. But each month we faced disappointment.
After a few medicated cycles of TTC naturally she suggested IUI (Sept’11) but that wasn’t a success and she felt my cervix wasn’t dilated enough so I may need a hysteroscopy to rule out any problems before IVF. The hysteroscopy suggested some scarring in the tubes and she ruled that the tubes may be blocked. The TB PCR test which followed came back positive based and AMH tests also suggested a low number adding to our worries. With these we were told our egg quality was very poor and also I would need immediate TB treatment and that IVF was our only hope. Her husband happens to be a doctor on Infectious diseases and so I never thought of taking a second opinion. I started off on the TB treatment from Nov’11 and continued under her oversight until end Dec when she repeated the TB PCR which came back negative this time. She felt we were ready for IVF and we should start the very next cycle. Though I wasn’t convinced on stopping the TB treatment so early on without explanations, all I knew was I was getting closer to doing IVF which probably gave me the highest chance of having a baby. So we went by her advice and started our first IVF cycle in Jan ‘12.
The IVF cycle couldn’t have been better – everything was good and even better than planned. We retrieved 7 eggs but resulted in 3 very good quality blastocysts (top quality as per the doctor/embryologist). Her clinic never rated the embryos and we never got a chance to see them as well. But given that everything was going well we were happy. We decided to transfer 2, 5-day blasts even against our doctors wishes as she felt this would certainly result in multiples. After the toughest 14 days of my life the results came back negative. We were lost and had no answers on what went wrong. She mentioned that my egg quality was very poor and hence expectations could not be high – this statement being completely ironical to our conversations during the cycle when everything seemed better and beyond expectation and we had transferred 5 days blasts. We waited one cycle in between and decided to go for a frozen cycle with the 1 blast left and even this was unsuccessful. During our follow up meeting the doctor kept stressing on how poor the quality of our eggs were and also that we should think about donor eggs. My husband was particularly very disturbed with the discouragement and quick alternates suggested without even spending justified time on treatment.
We were so worn out with the treatment that we decided we would take a break in March’12 and try naturally even though she suggested this held no hopes for us. But even on a financial level we weren’t in a position to go any further with the treatment. We stopped all medications and decided to adopt a healthier lifestyle by adding some yoga into our daily lives along with some ayurvedic medicines. To our total surprise we conceived naturally in July’12 but unfortunately the HCG numbers started dropping and before week 6 we miscarried. Though the miscarriage was traumatizing the fact that we conceived gave us a lot of hopes so we continued to try naturally.
After a few months of being unsuccessful we felt it was time to relook at our treatment options. I had always read about Malpani Clinic from the time we started TTC. But being based out of Bangalore and financial constraints we could not consider it as an option. When we had enough funds to start a cycle again we began looking at alternates at the end of 2012. I came across the Malpani’s site and sent out a general query with my history and was pleasantly surprised to see a reply the same day! Hopes were raised to start a fresh cycle with a strange kind of confidence in the doctor couple. We were in Mumbai early Feb’13 and our first meeting with Dr. Anirudha Malpani went quite well. We were explained the facts straight given our history and the treatment mode was explained. The basic infrastructure, the staff and the doctors themselves represented the quality of the treatment we were to expect at the clinic. After our experience in Bangalore, each day at the Malpani clinic gave us new hope and filled us with positivity. The scans and procedures were handled by Dr. Anjali herself and should mention she was very patient with all our questions and probing. Our retrieval and transfers were smooth – 8 eggs retrieved and resulting in 6 embryos (All were grade A embryos). We were suggested a 3 day transfer of 3 embryos – 1 morula and 2 6-cell embryos. We were shown our little babies before being moved to the transfer room and also got to bring their pics back home.
We were back in Bangalore soon after the transfer and eagerly waiting for our beta tests. I did secretly take HPT at home and I could see a positive after day 7 of transfer. Our beta results came back positive and follow up tests were also good. We were on top of the world at our 6 week ultrasound when we saw our little bundle of joy with a steady heartbeat! Words cannot describe our feelings and we continue to be in this trance of having achieved our dreams! Now we almost complete our first trimester and are eagerly awaiting our next ultrasound.
Having an offspring is probably a couple’s biggest dream and we are so indebted to Dr. Anirudha and Dr. Anjali for helping us get to our dream. The entire treatment was very transparent, well documented and well explained. Special mention to the staff at their clinic who are so encouraging and never fail to bring a smile on our face even during the most stressful phases of the cycle. When we were being suggested to freeze our remaining embryos before the transfer, those words still keep ringing in my ears when the senior nurse , Sister Pramodini, said “Beta, once you have your baby after this treatment you can come back to us after one year to have the second one!”
We wanted to give her a hug for her words! Overall we could not have asked for more from our experience with the Malpani’s. Except we did regret having waited for so long to meet them - but better late than never.
That’s what we have to say to all those couples who are still on the waiting side – believe in your dreams, in almighty and this great couple!
My email ID: [email protected]
Ned help in creating your own IVF success story ?
Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/malpaniform.htm so that I can guide you better !
No comments:
Post a Comment