Our story.... to begin with.... is no different from many infertile couples. A perfect love marriage in 2005 with everyone's blessing after 5 years of courtship! As we began this exciting journey of togetherness, at age of 23, conscious decision was made not to start a family until be both settle well in careers, have a house of our own and descent earning to support a good standard of living. Years passed by fast and we were all set by 2009 to begin 'trying' for a baby with a confidence to be conceiving soon.....
2010 came, with no success after trying for almost a year. The doctor in me alerted my own self that something is not going right. Went to seek a gynaec opinion and was taken aback to learn that I had PCOS (polycystic ovaries) with anovulatory cycles which needs to be treated before we could try again. 6 months of treatment and the cycles were responding well.
Started off with my ovulations studies and trying 'normally' for 6-8 months. Again no luck! Meanwhile, during this process, further good news for me was to learn that I am a thalessemia minor (a type of anemia) and grade 1 heart disease - MVP. And being a medic, I knew what this meant for me - conceiving will be a challenge and pregnancy will be high-risk.
So I was referred to the so called experts in infertility in the town (Pune). Hysteroscopy confirmed everything normal and IUI suggested. 5 failed IUI cycles left us with 'IVF' thrown as the last option to conceive. By this time, all possible pujas, stone wearing and offerings at temples began under parental guidance with us resorting to it due to the insecurity of the creepy thought, ' What if we don't conceive' ! !
Started the first IVF along with 40 other patients at an IVF center in Pune (literally felt like visiting a baby making factory), and after goggling all the positive IVF stories and being inspired by them, we began the journey of innumerable pricks both physically and emotionally (this part was far more painful).
On the day of pick-up the center expert comes and informs me that the process cannot go ahead as my eggs were poor quality and I will need to go for egg donation as she feels I would not be able to produce viable eggs. Shattered with the failure and top of it the daunting words of the center head rather than being encouraging - were the perfect recipe for going into depression.
I gathered myself next day and went through the literature and reassured myself that 'I must not loose hope'. We waited for 6 months and repeated another IVF with the same center (because we had paid for a combo deal ! !!). This time the so called 'supposedly bad quality' eggs managed to go to the level of ET and then the killing 2 weeks wait.... just to see a negative result !
We lost all hopes, less because of failure and more because of the 'business minded' IVF centers all around, interested just in mending money without any humanitarian approach or sympathy toward their patients. worst part is that they follow 'one shoe fits all' approach with their treatment. For them, patients were clients and IVF was just a business. We decided not to go ahead with any more IVF tortures and take a brake mentally from all this and think on the lines of adoption later.
Dec 2013, I met another doctor colleague of mine and was discussing this experience with him. He took out his 1 year old daughter's picture on mobile and showed it to me. I just kept looking at her twinkling eyes and innocent smile and said - Oh what a cute baby! He then informed me about their experience with Dr. Malpani from Mumbai and how they succeeded in their first attempt to have this cute angel in their life.
What really struck me was, my friend's comment - 'You won't feel cheated even if the procedure is a failure, just go and meet him once'. After a week of hesitancy to go through it all again, I checked their website which was pretty impressive in terms of the 'effort' taken to 'explain' the science of IVF to a common man. Their section on 'knowledge center' and IVF comic were a brilliant form of patient engagement in educating them on the various aspects of IVF.
I picked up my laptop and wrote an explanatory email to Dr. Malpani with my case details. Got busy with my daily routine thinking he will reply in some days. I was pleasantly shocked to see his detailed email the same evening with some great suggestions with no urge to come and meet him for a consultation (like what you experience with a lot of hospital into e marketing) .
After this we kept discussing on email for next 4-5 months before we went to meet him personally in June 2014. We went there with a very open mind and absolutely no expectations.
The clinic was very atypical of hospital/fertility centers and had a very positive environment. The staff was extremely courteous and empathetic. While we were waiting for Dr. Malpani to arrive, we were just glancing through the feedback book and what caught our attention was a feedback from someone who could not succeed with the IVF.
He had written a lot of good things about the Malpani couple and the clinic and expressed a desire to come back again when they think of taking a chance again. And then came our turn for consultation. The best part of Dr. Malpani's consultation was his frank advice - Have your plan A, B and C ready. Success is not guaranteed . People make a mistake of investing their entire money and emotions into the IVF thinking this is a guaranteed success.
And that's where we probably went wrong in the first 2 attempts. He did a detailed study of my reports and informed us beforehand that the treatment followed will be different than others and will be twice expensive as I have very low AMH counts (lesser number of eggs than normal females) and wrote us a list of medicines to be taken in case we plan to go ahead with his treatment. We felt relieved that someone is ready to understand us as a patient and tailor make the treatment to get the best results out of us. At least there was an intention to do the best possible and see success with my eggs, by Dr. Malpani, unlike the previous clinic experience.
I walked out of the clinic with a 'HOPE', huge peace and a firm belief that 'He (Dr. Malpani) can surely get the best eggs out of me'. Sounds funny, but after having thought of only eggs and sperms and their quality, failure etc for 4-5 years, you literally start considering yourself a rooster in a poultry farm, producing eggs every cycle ! !! haha....
August 1st 2014 we began the IVF with Dr. Malpani. We used to travel Pune to Mumbai daily on the day of visits. The entire treatment period was a roller coaster ride with my body responding differently at every visit. Finally came the day of 'pick-up ' when Dr. Mrs. Malpani informed me with a sweet smile as I woke up from anesthesia that I have produced 11 good eggs ! !!
On the day of ET, Dr. Malpani did the procedure with a great positivity in the OT and asked us to hold hands and remember our prayers while he transferred the embryos. After the procedure I asked him the commonest query, do I need to be on bed rest? And he smiled at me and said. 'the embryos do not fall out, so just chill and both of you spend some good time for next 2-3 days'. We did follow his advice seriously !
The next 2 weeks wait was a killing experience, but we were sure to have a next cycle repeated after 2 months with Dr. Malpani again, if this fails. And the MOST pleasant surprise of my life was, a positive Beta HCG test received on my email at 6.25 pm on 25th Aug 2014. Our HOPE had finally converted into a 'LIFE'. It left eyes wet, hearts overwhelmed with joy and soul filled with gratitude for the Dr. Malpani and his entire staff.
The journey of pregnancy was a great experience and Dr. Malpani was always there to address any advice we would seek. Today I hold my 4 months old daughter in my arms... spending endless hours admiring and kissing those little feet, hands and forehead.... and thanking God for routing us to the blessed hands of Dr. Malpani.
If God has chosen me to experience the joys of motherhood again, and if it has to be an assisted reproduction, Dr. Malpani Clinic is the only choice we would have in mind !
What to find an IVF clinic which respects your time and intelligence ?
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