I am a health care professional in my 40's. I have adopted and biological children and yet I found myself dreaming, wishing I could have another child. I have not used birth control in 6 years with no pregnancy (and I am very in love with my husband) so I understood that getting pregnant at my age just wasn't going to occur naturally. I sought the help of prominent fertility specialists and did several rounds of various fertility treatments hoping to conceive our own biological child...still it didn't happen...and my insurance does cover In-Vitro Fertilization - so I was not under the financial strains of fertility work. Still no success. My Doctor recommended using donor eggs. I wanted anonymity, I wanted to carry and give birth to a child that I could call my own and never have to look back. This doesn't mean I don't respect the women who donate their eggs, I am so thankful for their unselfishness, but if I had a child through donor eggs it would have been created by the love I shared with my husband. This child would be our love story. I also had mixed emotions about spending 30,000 for such a procedure, for while my insurance covered my IVF work, it would not cover a donor cycle. As a mother I just could not justify spending so much money, on a chance. I began to research my options and came upon a site IVF vacation. It offered anonymous donors and yet a full range of testing on the donor, Karo-typing along with a full medical evaluation. Fortunately for me I have traveled extensively and knew the Czech Republic to be far more modern than what most people would imagine, I also knew their medical staff and clinics are held to the American Medical Association standards. I contacted the site director Marcela Fite and besieged her with a zillion questions. She was patient, polite and knowledgeable. The total costs were less than 1/3 of the US costs and their success rates the same and in some cases higher. As a medical professional, I ordered publications from the staff at the Clinic she was working with and discovered that they had been pioneers in many key techniques only recently hailed as optimal choices in the U.S. I didn't need any more information than that to feel confident about the medical staff. We arrived in the Czech Republic and upon meeting Dr. Anna and the staff touring the facility I was Sure we had made the right choice. He was a humble and yet confident man who knew his field and set me at ease discussing our options for this procedure. His clinic has every state of the art piece of equipment U.S clinics offer and even a few they don't. As a scientist I was impressed by his embryologist and nurses and how detailed and efficient they were. I knew we were in good hands. Our stay in the Czech Republic was just 10 days and we were spoiled rotten, the food was WONDERFUL and dirt cheap. The people were kind and we never had any trouble finding someone who spoke English. Marcela took us to each appointment and made the entire process smooth and relaxing. We even booked ourselves daily massages, pedicures and facials at a spa, a few blocks form our hotel, so we were pampered daily for 1/4 the prices we would pay for such luxuries at home. The procedure went very smoothly and we are now back home waiting for the results. We are thrilled for the hope of new life in our worlds and no matter what happens we KNOW we have every possible chance for success! I feel great - sure I know it may not happen but I could also be a new mom 8 months from now! Our total costs were the same as my last vacation and yet this vacation we have fallen in love again. We are in love with each other and thankful for our time together in the Czech Republic. We have this new found love for their people and culture that will bond us in closer to our new child, if so blessed! I will keep you all posted but offer to you my complete endorsement for IVF VACATION and the entire staff working with sweet Marcela! Waiting for news... March 2006 YES, I am pregnant! To all who have read our testimonial regarding our experience with IVF vacation. I have now had a positive urine test followed by a positive blood test. From the high serum levels at this early stage the doctor also feels we may be expecting twins. We are both thrilled, actually thrilled doesn't say it enough - the joy we feel is beyond words! Two very happy Americans who are successful Czech IVF clients! If you are seriously interested and want to know something from my personal experience, you can contact me at annemom@hotmail.com November 2006 Words cannot say what is in my heart - our twins were born Sunday by c- section - I carried them 37 weeks and 5 days. They are full term healthy baby boys! The c- section went well - it had been scheduled for a few days later but let me tell you about the pregnancy first - I felt very tired very very tired the first few months and spotted a bit of blood till the 3 rd month - I was so afraid I would mis carry - still I worked and about 4 months into the pregnancy I felt great - the bleeding stopped and worked and felt great till the very end - two days before the c-section I worked and had gained normal weight and had very little swelling - then I woke up to a very swollen face and ankles - I stayed in bed that day and rested - but the next day I was MORE swollen - we went to the hospital. The C-section was very calm and well orchestrated my doctor had been off that day and strolled in 20 minutes after i arrived and assembled her surgical team in another 40 minutes so - truly it was about an hour and a half after I got to the hospital we had our boys - now fortunately I had not eaten or drank anything - not even a drop of water. Now the best part - our sons came into this world 1 minute apart - the first screamed till given to his daddy and went quiet the moment placed into his arms - our second son cried out and his daddy spoke to him and he too went quiet - soon he was walking around the delivery room holding both - they were strong full term and had their eyes wide open - they did not need any special care. My husband - with the help of the nurses - held them over me and let me kiss them and snuggle their faces - I cried tears of UTTER JOY!!! Our sons are BEAUTIFUL SIMPLY SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL - they are donor egg babies and yet one looks like me and the other like my husband - both have many of my features and his - there are a few bio traits - their LONG fingers - well these are blessings of their Bio mom - who one day in heaven I will get on my knees in front and PRAISE to GOD for her gift into our lives!!! OH THANK YOU BEYOND HEAVEN and EARTH! We love our sons - I am breast feeding them both and cannot tell you all how much we treasure them - we are almost overly in love with them - we cuddle them so close to our faces because they are the babies we dreamed of and we treasure them beyond what my words can say to you now! We choose the Czech republic for many reasons - the EXCELLENT medical care - Marcela - Dr Anna were AMAZING - but one reason was our private lives to be private - to never fall under the world microscope for our infertility treatment choices - we wanted privacy and by Czech law the donor is anonymous - this is the calmness in our hearts we wanted - to know she had been screened by medical professionals and we would never have our lives torn apart by the choice to use donor eggs - these are the babies made by OUR LOVE and we wanted to be able to praise the BIO mom and her family to GOD daily and also be able to LOVE OUR BABIES. So now we hold them close and the dream of them is alive breathing in our arms and we find our selves daily in tears of JOY and thankfulness for our sons - WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR THEM - SO VERY VERY VERY THANKFUL - We thank all that took part and ll that made this possible and all that helped us and all that gave us this new life!! I wish I could send you pictures but I cannot - my husband and I would standout in a crowd and be easy to recognize - so we have chosen to reach out to all we can to support IVF/and praise bless the CZECH people - Marcela and Dr. Anna - by these e-mails. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND MAY YOU ALL HAVE THE JOY OF OUR LIVES!!! |
Ultrasound picture of one of Anne's boys.
March 2007 - the boys are 5 months now they are around 20 lbs and doing great.