New Year and Double Trouble!

Well, we had a very dodgy xmas and new year in the UK as everyone in our family caught swine flu.

I came back to Spain very worried about my ivf pregnancy which is nearing the 12 week mark as of course flu can raise the miscarriage rate.

We had 6 and 8 week scans in December and both times saw a healthy growing baby with a heartbeat which after having a missed miscarriage ( where there is no heartbeat on the monitor ) was incrediably reassuring and pretty amazing! But although the miscarriage rate drops statistically after seeing a heartbeat before 12 weeks I was still very scared.

So at 11 and a half weeks we went for a check up scan to make sure everything was okay after the flu. Well we had the biggest shock of our lives, not only was there one lovely baby kicking and very much alive but there was also a twin!!!!

After EC I suffered ohss ( hyper stimulation of the ovaries ) quite badly and my ovaries were very large and quite painful. This made it difficult at scans to see the baby although we did see one at both the 6 and 8 week scan and assumed that was it. But now the ohss has gone down there were very clearly 2 bundles of joy on the screen ..... I am now in complete shock and wondering how we will cope!!!! But also overjoyed!

Of course twins does put this pregnancy at more risk, at nearly 38 I am high risk anyway plus I have an incompetent cervix so will need a stitch as soon as possible to ensure I don't go into premature labour. I'm going to take each day as it comes as there are many things that could go wrong and many complications that could arise during the pregnancy and birth, but at least we know that so far our twinnies seem strong and are fighters!

Next step is the offical 12 week scan next week when the twins will be properly measured to make sure all is okay and they will also have the Down's test. If we get through all that I have the joys of the 20 week scan to look forward to!

I will continue to have my pregnancy care at Clinica Fertia in Fuengirola. Having been under Dr Puente for the IVF we will now be under Dr Santander as she specialises in pregnancy. It's very nice to be able to stay with the same clinic who created our little one's as I feel they have a vested interest in making sure our babies stay safe. I have nothing but praise for the clinic and would happily recommend Clinica Fertia to anyone seeking ivf, fertility or pregnancy treatment in Spain.

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Second IVF attempt at Clinica Fertia ....

Well, I haven't written lots about my second ivf attempt as in many ways it was similar to my first!

This time round the clinic ( Clinica Fertia in Fuengirola ) made some changes to try to ensure I got as many eggs as possible which they felt would increase our chances of having some better quality embyro's ... so they

* Scanned me every month to find the best baseline month with the most follies
* Increased my medication ( upped the puregon dose and started menopour from day 1 )

I stimmed for a day or two longer than last time and funnily enough found the injections much harder this time, maybe it was doing more a day! EC went really well, from my 14 follies, 10 eggs were collected and I went home with mild ohss which was quite painful but no pain no gain!! Two days later I had a 2 day transfer. For me this was the most terrifying part. Last time at ET we were told the quality of our embryo's were very poor and very fragmented. We had been warned that if the same thing happened it would be best to start genetic testing or look into other options. However wonderfully and amazingly we had 4 perfect top grade lovely embryo's! The dr said it was like looking at the embyro's of two different women! 2 embryo's were put back and 2 frozen ... I can't tell you what a difference it made to our positivity knowing we had produced such wonderful embryo's after last time. First time round I left the clinic after ET in tears, this time I left on cloud nine knowing we had the best chance we could have ...

And so began the 2ww ... as usual week one was fine ( the ohss was painful and I did look 6 months pregnant ) but by week 2 I was becoming a wreck! On my first cycle I started spotting at 10dpt so getting past that was my milestone. 10 days came and went and no spotting, I did have cramping and other pre menstral signs but I also felt different to my last cycle and def more hopeful.

On official test day I had to go to get a blood test. I was so nervous and went shopping afterwards. The clinic rang a few hours later .... BFP!!! Big Fat Positive! Hurrah I'm pregnant!

Obviously with my history of miscarriage nothing is certain yet. I have my first scan at 6 weeks at the end of this week and I am petrified of seeing no heartbeat for a second time. But on the plus side I know we made great embyro's this time, I know I can still get pregnant and we have frosties in the freezer which would make a third attempt much easier. But for now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my wonderful clever embyro makes it this time .... !

The moral of my story is that you can have a disasterous first cycle and a very good second cycle, so don't give up if it didn't go to plan first time. I might not stay pregnant but it was a very different story for this cycle and a very different cycle from day 1 ...

So what did I do differently?

This is what everyone wants to know ... well this is what I changed 2nd cycle ....

* I started having acupuncture from about 3 months before EC. I found a wonderful acupuncturist who specialised in fertility and she worked very hard to stimulate more follies, increase the quality of my eggs and improve on my general wellbeing. I believe 100% that the acupuncture worked for me. I had one session per week and two on the day of ET as well as two in the 2ww. I am still having them now!

* I took Royal Jelly and Omega 3 as well as Pregnacare Conception which I took in my first cycle. Royal Jelly is supposed to improve egg quality and fertility and Omega 3 is an anti oxident and embyro's like a nice anti oxident environment apparently! I stopped the Royal Jelly after EC

* As before I drank tons of water and ate tons of protein once I started stimms

* I chilled out!! We moved house 2 days before I started injecting and I firmly believe that having to deal with movers and packing mean't I had no time to think about ivf and was much more chilled. During stimms I was busy unpacking and therefore not stressing. I also carried on as normal with my daughter, taking her to school etc ... last time family took over, this time we managed by ourselves and I think without the fussing ( well meaning I know ) I just got on with stuff more easily

* I didn't rest up after ET! My clinic recommend 2-3 days sofa rest and no movement and then taking it easy. It didn't work for me last time and I didn't feel good staying on the sofa. Family practically strapped me down on in and I just felt like an invalid and frustrated. This time I rested the afternoon of ET but still padded around the house making dinner, putting my daughter to bed etc. The next day we stayed at home in the morning but then I took my daughter to the park to meet her friends and although I sat in the cafe it was nice to be out and about. We nipped to shops after before going home to relax. The next day we went on a family day out and had a real laugh. We had a little work and lunch out ... For me, all that was so so much better than sitting at home obsessing ...

I am very happy with the treatment I got at Clinica Fertia this time round. I felt they were positive but honest with me and wanted to do the best for us. They seemed more friendly this time round, I think they knew me better and maybe I was more relaxed with them too ... it was a more informal cycle which was nice.

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First IVF in Spain .... bfn!

I know I've harped on about my ivf journey on here enough, so thought I really should post the result just in case anyone out there was wondering .... well sadly it was a bfn ... big fat negative!

The 2ww is horrendous, symptom spotting aside I was a nervous wreck! I started spotting at 9 dpt ( days past transfer ) and although I was told this could be nothing it had turned into a full period by 14 dpt ...otd! ( official test day)

Ever hopeful I still went for my bloodtest. The clinic had told me they'd ring me later that day with the results ( a Saturday ). Unfortunatly they didn't and I had to ring them on Monday! I already knew by then anyway but I have to say I wasn't impressed by the aftercare! The receptionist practically admitted on the Monday that they'd forgotten to ring me on the Saturday!

So onwards and upwards. We fully intend to try again and this time I'm going to have acupuncture which is supposed to really help. If nothing else I need something to relax me during the 2ww! I won't lie, the aftermath of an ivf is awful, having come so close you feel like you are miscarrying and have to take time to grieve for the loss. Now a month later I am coming to terms with it but still feel upset when I think about whether it's ever going to happen for us again.

Hopefully we can try again Oct / Nov ... so more ivf stories then!

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IVF in Spain - Egg Transfer

Well ... my IVF journey is nearly at an egg ... it feels like it's been a very fast process and has gone fairly smoothly ... not sure if that's a good or bad thing!!

We went for Egg Transfer and paid the rather hefty bill of 3,900€!!!! The cost of IVF is not cheap. This will either be a very expensive baby or a the most expensive period of my life! I think the end bill was slightly more as we ended up having ICSI ... I also spent 1,000€ on the drugs so the total cost of our first IVF cycle has been nearer to 5,000€. Unfortunatly none of our eggs made it to freezing so if we have to try a second cycle we'll have to pay the full price again. Based on a normal ratio of IVF working one out of 3 times, our baby could cost us 15,000€.

I found Egg transfer itself quite uncomfortable. It's like a slighly longer smear test and as there is no pain relief you do feel everything. It's not exactly painful but you do grit your teeth a bit!

So now I am at home resting with my little embies on board. I really hope they make it. Today is 5 days past EC which means they should be turning into Blasto's which would mean they have a good chance of continuing to implantation. I think implantation should take place sometime this coming weekend. There is very little scientific reasoning as to why embryo's do or don't implant and nothing that science can do to help them. Having had a normal pregnancy and a miscarriage I can only hold onto the fact that I seem to have a good implanting history and so this time shouldn't be any different. The biologist told me the quality of my embryo's was very good so I'm holding tight onto that!!

After ET I was told to rest and do nothing for 2 days, after I am supposed to take it easy although I can resume normal life. It's been pretty hard doing nothing as I am quite an active person. My daughter is staying with my parents but will be home tonight so normal life will resume whether I like it or not ....

Whatever the outcome I am very happy with my treatment at Clinica Fertia. I would say that some of the early appointments and scans were a bit rushed at times and I wasn't always given very much information ( I got most of my info from the fab IVF forum ) but during EC and ET the clinic were fantastic and the biologist is brilliant. Clinica Fertia do need to sort out their appointment times as you always have to add on a 45 minute wait to any appointment but other than that I am very happy with the treatment I received there. If this cycle doesn't work I would def do another cycle at Fertia as I feel they have learn't a lot about me and my body this cycle and have the expertise to use that information more successfully in the future.

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IVF in Spain - Egg Collection!

Well, it's all happened rather quickly for me!

I went along to my second stims scan on Wednesday the dr told me my follicles were ready! By this she mean't they'd grown to the right size for collection. Hurrah that means that I only had to do a week of injections! I had to do one more shot that night .. it's called a trigger shot and is basically a special injection you have to take exactly 36 hours before Egg Collection. I think it matures the eggs ready for ovulation. So I did my last shot on Wednesday night at half past twelve and then spent a relaxing Thursday with no injections and nothing to do except eat a lot of protein and drink a lot of water!!!

Friday was actually a holiday here in Fuengirola but IVF clinic's don't have the luxury of holidays or weekends as they are ruled by our eggs and so they opened especially for me on Friday! I think actually in hindsight having EC on a holiday was great as we were the only people there and so had the undivided attention of the clinic and no queues or difficulty parking!! I also felt quite special as an anaethiatist, the biologist and the dr had come in especially to collect my eggs ....

The actual procedure was very very quick. I thought I'd be put to sleep but I was only sedated. I was chatting away ( in a drowsy way ) to the dr's who kept telling me I should try to be quiet and could feel a bit of prodding down below ... I thought they were just getting everything ready but then they told me it was all finished! Our appointment had been at 10.30, they started around 10.50 and I was in recovery by 11.15. I had to stay for a while so they could monitor me while the sedation wore off and my husband had to go and do his thing with a plastic beaker. He informed me after that there were some seriously hardcore magazines in his little room!

By half twelve we were allowed to go home. The biologist ( a man named Luis ) was lovely. He informed me they'd got 8 eggs and told us a bit about the procedure for fertilising them. He was there throughout the morning and was really supportive, warm and friendly. I am so glad he's going to be looking after my little eggs on their fertilisation journey!

I thought the whole team at Clinica Fertia during my egg collection were great .... they were warm, friendly and caring but also professional. I was very happy with the way the egg collection went and felt I'd been looked after well.

I was told to go home and rest and take progesterone capsules three times a day ( down below not by mouth! ) I was feeling really groggy from the anasthetic still and Luis told me to take it really easy for the rest of the day, although I should be feeling much better by tommorrow.
I took him at his word, went home and slept for two hours and then parked myself on the sofa with Sky + for the rest of the day! I spent a lot of the afternoon chatting with the girls on the IVF forum who were so supportive, one of them had been through egg collection at the same time as me. That sort of support is so important ....

I slept well on Friday and woke up feeling fine on Saturday although absolutely petrifed about how many of my egg's had fertilised. Waiting for the call was worse than waiting for a call to say you've got a job or to see if an offer has been accepted on a house ... it was horrible. Luis rang dead on 11 to say that 4 of my 8 eggs had fertilised .... hurrah we have embryo's!!!!!!! Egg transfer is scheduled for Monday, I just hope my four lovely egg's make it till then ..... stay strong egg's and keep dividing!!!!!

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IVF in Spain - First Stims Scan!

Well after a week of stim injections ( and I have to admit I've become rather attached to my injection pen ... it's absolutely true that you become completely used to injecting yourself very very quickly ) it was time for my first stim scan. This was to see how many ( if any ) folicules I have managed to grow.

I was quite pleased to discover that I have around 7 follies ... this is a fairly average number for my age I think. A lot of people get between 10 and 20 and I even heard of one person who got 40 but a lot of people also only get 3 or 4 ... so I'm happy with my 7 for now! Maybe round two they would up the med's to get a higher number. One thing I'm learning about IVF is that in general the first attempt is largely an experiment. The dr's don't know how you are going to respond until you start so on cycle two or three of IVF they have a much better idea of how your body will respond to the drugs and can alter the doses and protocol accordingly. They say there is a 1 in 3 chance of IVF working, so if we do it three times we should hit baby bingo. Unfortunatley it's a grueling process for the female body and I'm starting to wonder if I have the strength to do it three times, even with such an amazing prize at the end.

After the scan I was told to continue with my injection pen AND a new injection in the morning and a different second injection everynight ... so I am now injecting myself 3 times a day! Wow in a week I've gone from injecting virgin to injecting expert.
These two new injections are tricky, they are both the old style syringe types which are pretty hard to manouver with one hand. The night time one is even more difficult as it consists of two glass vials which need to be broken and mixed with a long needle, before transfering to a short needle for the actual injection. While attempting this last night I pricked my finger.

The syringe needles hurt a lot more going in than the pen needle, they seem blunter and wider ... nice! Pushing the liquid in rather than pushing a button is also harder ... I now realise how wonderful my lovely injection pen is! Today I feel like a pin cushion. I used to be able to see the injection spots on my tummy, now my tummy is just a mass of spots and I can't remember where I've injected anymore! The skin on my tummy hurts this morning where I've used the syringe ... I'm presuming this is internal bruising as I can't see anything on the skin, but my word it's tender underneath!

This is the reality of IVF! It's not difficult, but it's time consuming and it's uncomfortable and after a week or so you start to feel like a lab experiment. Half the injections have to be kept in the frigde and taken at particular times so you can't always go out when you want and the whole thing is fiddly and if you don't like needles quite frightening ... then there's the physical symptoms. I've been lucky as I've been stiming for 7 days now without too many physical symptoms but I'm starting to get bloated now and I'm constantly worried about my thyriod being affected.

Don't get me wrong I chose to do this and I'm glad I did, but if you are considering IVF it's important you know what you are letting yourself in for!

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IVF in Spain - The First Injection

Last night I offically became a member of the self injectors club!!!

Since receiving my injection pen on Monday ( and a whole load of other scarey looking medications ) I've been slightly daunted by the size of the needle which looks a good 2 - 3 cms to me!

I watched the excellent online video which showed me how to set the pen up and do the injection and it all looked very painful and scary. Part of the problem was I was told I have to do my injections in the evening and so I spent the whole day waiting and worrying about it. If i'd had to have done it first thing in the am it would have been better!

I received lots of great advice from the more seasoned IVF girls on my IVF forum, all of them said that it looks much worse than it is and that once I'd done it I'd be amazed by how easy it is and wonder what I'd made such a fuss about ....

So last night with my daughter safely in bed and away from dangerous needles and Spain V Germany and Big Brother on the TV for distraction I attempted my very first injection! I actually did it along with the nice calm lady on the online instruction video ... this was a great way to do the first one as I did it step by step with the video and was able to pause and take a breath at each stage!
In the end I didn't faff around and just stuck the needle in and it was fine!!! When I pushed the button it stung a little bit and then I think I pulled it out a bit quickly because then it did sting for a few minutes and bled a tiny bit. My IVF friends tell me that if I do it more slowly tonight it shouldn't bleed at all but overall I felt it was a very successful first attempt and as they all said, I wonder now what I made such a fuss about ....

I did my injection just as Spain scored the goal that put them in the Semi final of the World Cup ... I take this a good omen for my IVF cycle, after all if Spain can do it then so can I!

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IVF in Spain .... Shopping for IVF!

The other day I went on an IVF supermarket shopping trip!

Apparently while taking stims it's important to drink lots of water and eat a high protein ( and low salt ) diet ...

Taking this to heart I stocked up on water, meat, fish, nuts, peanut butter, cheese and milk. As well as course as that all important fruit and veg!

It's good to be healthy anyway but there's a lot to think about with IVF.

The coffee thing is confusing me. Some doctors say cut it out completely, some say it's fine. The evidence is inconclusive. Some people claim they conceived when they gave up caffine and some studies show caffine has an effect on implantation and of course pregnancy. During my pregnancy I cut down to one cup of coffee a day and one cup of tea which was well within the recommended daily amounts. Obviously I don't want to spend 5 grand on IVF and blow it because I'm drinking coffee but I do enjoy my morning cuppa.
I'm also very mindful of other advice which suggests you should make sensible changes but not change everything as your body won't know what's hit it, it's also important during a stressful process like IVF to have a few treats ....

Bearing this in mind I've decided to stick to my one cup of morning coffee for the time being. I might try to give it up during the Egg Transfer stage but I'm not going to beat myself up about it ... after all if one coffee makes me happy then surely that's a better state for my body than being tired and stressed out!

IVF = I'm Very Famous !

The only day while ranting on here about how taboo the subject of IVF is, I started thinking about celebrities who may have had IVF. Jo Joyner who plays Tania Branning on Eastenders recently gave birth to IVF twins and gave a number of interviews about her IVF experience which she said she felt compelled to do as so few people speak out about it ....

So, I did a little research and am proud to announce that I am in extremely good company!

So here, just for fun, is a little list of celebrities who have ALLEGEDLY had IVF!

1. Courtney Cox and David Arquette suffered numerous miscarriages before turning to IVF. They now have a little girl CoCo and hope IVF will provide her with a sibling ....

2. Christine Brinkley sought IVF to have her third child ....

3. Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton had a little girl naturally in 2007 after several rounds of IVF and clomid ....

4. Marcia Cross from Desperate Housewives conceived her twins following IVF treatement ....

5. Celine Dion is currently pregnant with twins following years of IVF ..... her son was also conceived with fertility treatment ....

6. Hugh Jackman and his wife tried IVF for years before turning to adoption ....

7. Nicole Kidman ALLEGEDLY conceived her little girl following months of fertility treatments

8. Jennifer Lopez ALLEGEDLY conceived her twins via IVF although this has never been confirmed

9. Katie Price and Alex Reid are rumoured to be looking into IVF .... ALLEGEDLY!

10. Julia Roberts twins are also rumoured to have been concieved via IVF although she continues to deny any fertility treatment ....

11. Jane Seymour suffered multiple miscarriages and years of fertility treatments before finally having twins ....

12. Brooke Sheilds conceived her daughter after several IVF cycles ...

13. Emma Thompson went through several rounds of IVF in the hopes of giving her daughter a sibling. Eventually she and her husband adopted instead.

14. Trinny Woodall gave birth to her daughter after 9 failed attempts at IVF and two miscarriages

IVF in Spain ... Getting Ready ....

Well ... we are now officially on our IVF journey. On 18th of June I began to take the pill which is my clinic's verison of DR ( Down regging - preparing your body, closing down your cycle so the dr can start with a fresh slate so to speak ) and on July 5th I start stimming.

As exciting ( and nerve wracking ) as it all is, I feel it's important to be realistic ... at this stage the chances of getting as far as ET ( egg transfer ) are slim and that's miles before getting a bfp! ( big fat positive pregnancy test result )

So how does it all work?

.... As someone who up until a few months ago had never given IVF a passing thought I've had to learn a lot in a short space of time. But what I've learn't is really incrediable. It's amazing to think only 20 years ago women didn't have this opportunity and with more and more women suffering from infertility these days it's fantastic that something like IVF exists at all.

I do get a bit cross with people acting like IVF is a disease or infertility is an illness ... these days women who get pregnant just by dropping their knickers are the minority whereas women who struggle are the majority and yet we are labelled as odd and treated with sympathy. We are not ill thanks!

Worse are the awful people who ask 'when are you going to have another ... or when are you going to have children'. It's incrediably rude, I don't go around asking 'when are you going to lose weight, or when are you going to get your roots done'. I have some choice awnsers stored up for these people but don't think I'll ever be brave enough to use them! Worse are the people who say 'We only tried once and got pregnant, we got pregnant by accident, we weren't even trying' .... Grrrr .... just go away you insensitive thoughtless people!!!

The truth is IVF is incrediably common these days and I confidently predict that in twenty years time it will be the norm in terms of the favoured method of conception. The other week I was chatting iwth a friend who had two lovely little children and it turned out she'd had fertility treatment for both. The point is people just don't talk about it at dinner parties etc but I'd be very suprised if you didn't know several people who have suffered from fertility issues.

At the moment I veer towards panic and excitement that I am able to have a go at this amazing procedure. I've been told that there is nothing so amazing as seeing your 'baby' at cell stage, something you never get to do with a natural pregnancy.

BUT.... to get back to my point .... How does IVF work ?.....

In short, I take a lot of horrible drugs, inject myself, bloat up, become moody and hormonal and probably mess up my overactive thyroid meds while hubby doesn't have to do much at all ... then I go for scans everyday to chart the growth of my eggs.

Basically I'll be injecting stimms ... ( hormone stimulants ) which should make me grow approx 20 eggs on the chosen cycle rather than one ... ( no wonder I'll be moody! ) The thing is I might not grow 20 eggs, my eggs may not do well or horror of horrors I can over stim and they'll mature before the clinic gets a chance to get them out.

If we do get enough eggs and they are okay for egg collection then we do EC and hubby makes his deposit. Now comes the scientific bit ... if hubby has enough strong swimmers they'll swish them around in a testube with my good eggs and hopefully some will fertilise. Then you go away and have a sleepless night and wait to see if any have fertilised and if those which have are dividing ( cells ) in the right way.

Even someone with a good number of eggs might only end up with one or two that fertilise. And ... ideally you want enough to pop two back in and two in the freezer!

So ... then they grade them and a day or two later ( if you are lucky ) you go back for ET and hope you get two back in that are looking like they could be healthy embrio's and hopefully a couple more become frosties ( frozen eggs! ) ... ideally then if this cycle doesn't work you can have FET ( Frozen Egg Transfer )

Oh and don't forget if you go privately like we are this all costs a small fortune which counts for nothing if you end up with a BFN and if your cycle is cancelled mid way through I presume you lose the money already spent .....

We've got lots of things counting against us ...

* at 37 I'm at the wrong end of the success rate ... at 37 it's actually okay but at 38 your chances drop dramatically.

* Then there's my overactive thryoid which could be affected by the stimms. So if that goes out of sorts then we'd have to cancel the cycle as if I did get a BFP with my thyroid not under control then it can lead to miscarriage.

*Then there's hubby's migraines, kidney stones and ulcers which mean he's on a cocktail of pills which aren't great for fertility

* ...and oh and did I mention that during EC and ET I have to basically stay in bed which is hard with a toddler to look after

* ...and IF you get past all that you face the joys of the 2ww otherwise known as the two week wait, when you basically wait for the BFP or your period, all the while popping hormones that make you feel all over the place ... lovely can't wait for that bit!

It's all about PMA apparently... positive mental attitude ... So the above is the very LAST time I am going to have negative thoughts! My PMA is all about telling myself daily that the IVF will not only work but that I'll have twins! Ha ha, okay we can't afford twins and would have to move house, get a new car, give up my life for 2 years etc ... but hey if it works then I'd def be overjoyed with literally two for the price of one!!

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IVF in Spain - Choosing a clinic in Spain ....

Well it looks like our IVF journey is finally getting underway!

To recap, having conceived our daughter ( and a miscarriage ) naturally we are now just a year later faced with 'fertility' problems. It seems that my tubes have become miraculously blocked for no apparent reason and my husband has slightly 'lazy' swimmers! So together we are not doing a good job in the reproductive arena!

In the end we chose Clinica Fertia in Fuengirola over Ceram in Marbella. This was a very difficult decision and I feel like I should outline the reasons here for anyone who may be in a similar position to myself. I'm sure if this cycle ends in a BFN ( big fat negative - pregnancy test result ) we'll be thinking we should have gone with Ceram and maybe still will. While IVF does have a promisingly high success rate the chances of a BFP ( big fat positive ) in my age group are approx 50 - 60% so nothing is guarunteed, in fact far from it.
As someone on a wonderful IVF forum that I've become a frequent poster on commented, it would be amazing if IVF were a procedure with guarunteed success as it would make it easier and I have no doubts that in my daughters lifetime that may well happen ... for now though it continues to be a lottery ... with not too bad odds!

So why did we choose Clinic Fertia .... well mainly and this is important it's about 5 mins from our house. When doing IVF you have to visit the clinic frequently for scans, mini op's and tests ... Ceram is a good half an hour away and unfortunatly in a zone where parking is a nightmare. For simple logistical reasons CF won this point.

My tubes were actually diagnosed at Ceram and I received very good treatment there from the dr on my 3 consultations. I have to say the receptionist was not the friendliest woman I ever met in my life though .... nor someone you want to see when you are confronted with fertility problems. You want to see a nice smiley face. I went to Clinica Fertia where the receptionists were more friendly and the dr was also very nice and reassuring and most interestingly disagreed with the Ceram diagnosis that all was lost for my little tubes! I felt this was an interesting point. On the downside I have now had 3 appointments at Clinica Fertia and at every one have had to wait at least 30 minutes, even first thing in the morning ... Ceram were incrediably good at keeping their appointments on time ....

I googled the two clinics like mad and couldn't really find anything conclusive about either ... both had good and bad reviews on the net and both seemed to have good stats. In the end a friend of a friend said that she'd tried both and would def recommend Clinica Fertia over Ceram.

So in the end we chose ( not easily ) Clinica Fertia.

To be honest I don't know whether we made the right decision but it feels right at the moment. Having said that if it doesn't work at Clinica Fertia or the experience is not positive, I wouldn't hesitate in trying again at Ceram. I haven't heard anything particularly negative about Ceram, it was just that for this first try Clinica Fertia is more convienient ....

I hope this helps someone who finds themselves in the same situation as me ( although I also hope no one does ! )

****

Update 12 /01 /11

I am now delighted to say that I am nearly 12 weeks pregnant with twins following our second cycle at Clinica Fertia in Fuengirola. Despite some dodgy time keeping I have nothing but praise for this clinic who have guided us through two cycles and given us the amazing opportunity to have twins. I believe the clinic have always been honest and fair with us and worked creatively to improve our chances following a fairly disasterous first cycle. Many thanks Clinica Fertia!!!

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IVF AND FERTILITY IN SPAIN CLICK HERE

IVF in Spain

Well, before you get to the pregnancy and baby stage you need to concieve first. Whilst I conceived very quickly first time round and had a text book pregnancy, I have since had a miscarriage and now find myself in a situation I never thought I'd be in ... with blocked tubes and told our only chances of having another baby is via IVF!

Dealing with infertility or secondary infertility in my case can be quite daunting. IVF is a big new world I though I'd never visit and yet at the same time it's quite exciting too....

While researching IVF I came across a website called ivfspain.com which is run by a fertility nurse called Ruth Pellow who was formally head of the egg donation programme at the centre for reproductive medicine at St Barts in London. Now she resides here in Spain and with her husband dedicates her time to helping British ( and Spanish ) couples who are seeking IVF treatment abroad ( in Spain or Greece ) ... everything from recommending and arranging clinic appointments to picking them up at the airport and arranging hotels.

Ruth is both incredibly knowledgable and incredibly helpful. She called me and patiently answered all my IVF and blocked tube questions, explained the differences between the long and short protocols and about some of the tests we needed to have done.

Sometimes it's just great to be able to talk things through with an expert who is not your doctor and who can offer advice and recommendations.

If you are in a similar position to me or are in the UK and thinking of coming to Spain for IVF then I'd highly recommend contacting Ruth for more advice ...

I'm sure I'll be posting here more about the trails of my IVF journey in Spain ..... so if this is something that has affected you then please do comment here if you'd like to share your experience ... I'd also love to hear from other people who have been through IVF in Spain and particularly any recommendations for either Ceram in Marbella or Clinica Fertia in Fuengirola.
If you'd prefer to email me privately please email samantha@indybel.com