Hope for infertile couple – IVF success story

“Never let go of hope. One day, you will see that it has all finally come together. What you have always wished for has come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself… ‘How did I get through all of that?” A very touching IVF success story

I have always believed that life is a miracle waiting to happen. Ever since childhood, I was taught that God will give you only those things that you deserve. Sometimes, you may have to work hard for it. You may even fail numerous times before you finally emerge victorious. You may question HIM; that of all the people in the world, why did HE have to choose you to bear the hardship? You may falter, break down, and cry. But if you believe in HIM from the depth of your heart, you will know that whatever happens, happens for the best. No matter what life throws at you, you will surely come out of it with a smiling face. And whatever the end may be, it only makes you stronger as a person and paves the way for a firmer belief in God.
It was February 2009 when my entire family had visited Vaishno Devi. My husband and I journeyed to the temple on foot. I felt that Maa was calling me. It was extremely difficult for me to climb uphill, but somehow I managed. When we entered the temple, the priest saw me from a distance and quickly started ushering the queue to move fast. When I reached his side and faced the deity, he smeared a big, long tilak on my forehead and said, “God Bless You. Jai Mata Di”. I was the only one with such a long tilak. Everyone, including my father-in-law could not help but comment as to why the priest chose me for this. I, too, could not understand this, until a few months later when he gave me the greatest test of my life. The test that changed my whole life forever.

My husband and I were trying for a child for a while. After Vaishno Devi, we gave ourselves another month before arriving at the decision of visiting IVF clinic in Delhi for a consultation and check-up. In no way was I prepared for the journey that lay ahead of me. I went in for a simple consultation only to realize that things were not as simple. We started off with the most basic tests, which left me feeling extremely vulnerable. When those tests results came clean, we were put through more severe tests. Every day was the same story; scans, consultations, medications, injections, fertility procedures and blood test results, which were always negative for 17 months in a row. It was an extremely emotional and trying time for the both of us.

The medications and injections triggered my hormones to an extreme level. The negative pregnancy strips were slowly making me lose hope. I was tired but I don’t know why, I did not give up. Every month, when my blood test report was negative, I would cry incessantly before my husband. The next day, after all my tears had dried, I was ready to fight again. I was ready to go through all the procedures and the medications again. I don’t know what kept me going. Somewhere I knew, that HE was giving me the strength to fight and sustain. I would tell my husband that things will surely work out for us. All we had to do was to wait and have faith in the Lord. HE will see us through. We kept this hope alive in us and faced each day with a smile.

It was almost a year since we started our fertility treatment. My first IVF cycle had failed. I was shattered but was willing to give it another try. My doctor from Nova IVI fertility treatment center in Delhi asked me to take a break for a month before starting the whole process once again. I dedicated myself to my work. One day, I received an email from a friend asking each of us to put a bowl of water on the window sill for the birds to drink since this summer was recorded as the hottest summer of the decade. I decided to comply and placed a small bowl of water on the window sill. Whenever I was in the room, my eyes would wander to that bowl of water. It was now more than a month and the water was untouched. I did not see a single bird come to have water from my bowl. I could not help but relate this to my current situation in life- was this a signal from God that I would not get what I wanted? Was HE actually conveying a message to me?

Time flew by. I went through my second IVF cycle and was asked to take complete bed rest. One morning, the sound of the birds awoke me. I tiptoed to the window and peeped through the blinds. I was thrilled at what I saw – a little sparrow was sitting on the tip of the bowl and sipping water. It sat there for a few minutes and then flew away. My joy knew no bounds. I quickly went over to my husband and told him everything. He too, was happy. After nearly four months, I finally saw a bird sipping water from my bowl.

At that exact moment, I knew that my second IVF treatment would be positive. This was the greatest signal from God. I knew that HE was telling me that patience is always sweet and positive. I knew that all this while HE was testing me, making me stronger with each passing second. HE was teaching me the greatest lessons of all times and that is: Life is precious.
‘We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise, if we have waited in the darkness’.

A few days later, my doctor called and informed me that my pregnancy reports were positive and that I’m carrying twins.

God made us wait. HE tested us. But in the end, he gave us the greatest gift we could have ever asked for… our twins!

So don’t lose hope if you have repeated IVF cycle failures, stick to your clinic and doctor and keep faith on God. With every cycle the IVF success rate goes up by 15%, hence there is high chance that you will be successful at the end of the 3^rd or 4^th IVF cycle.

ERA test increase the chance of pregnancy

Endometrial Receptive Array (ERA) is a test that helps in determining if the uterine wall is ready to allow implantation of the embryo. If it isn’t ready, then it suggests the ideal window for the implantation for an embryo to reduce the chance of failure of pregnancy.

Infertility treatment success rate is based on many factors, however, there are cases when a pregnancy fails or miscarriages occur. Pregnancies fails when the embryo fails to implant on the endometrial wall. Implantation occurs when the developed embryo or blastocyst (An embryo that is 5 days old) attaches itself to the endometrium or wall of the uterus.

There are two reasons blastocyst fails to attach:

• The genetic makeup of the blastocyst isn’t ideal
• The endometrium isn’t ready to allow the blastocyst to attach.

With recent advancements in PGD (Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis), it is easy to pick the blastocyst that is more likely to implant itself. However, in spite of choosing a perfect blastocyst, implantation can fail meaning that the wall was probably not receptive enough. This is where ERA steps in to determine the window of receptivity. The best IVF clinic in India always does proper ERA test to make sure the success rate of implantation is the highest.

The endometrium during an ovulation cycle gets thicker. It is receptive to the blastocyst only when the wall is at its thickest point. If the blastocyst fails to attach then the wall breaks and leaves the body in the process of menstruation.

ERA test is more accurate than the older techniques of uterine wall receptivity such as histological data because it takes the molecular changes that might occur over the course of ovulation into consideration.

ERA brings the time of insertion of the embryo and the receptivity of the uterine wall in sync with each other. It also encourages patients to cryo-freeze their embryos and insert them only during the implantation window. This is called a Personalised Embryo Transfer (pET). It also gives the uterus time to heal after the hormonal drugs which can also make it a hostile environment for the embryo. It has been proven to be effective in many successful pregnancies

Increase Your IVF success rate up to 20 Times with PGD

When you face another IVF treatment failure with no explanations whatsoever, it is only natural to wonder “What can be going wrong when a ‘healthy’ embryo had been chosen for pregnancy?”

The trust you had in IVF begins cracking and it can be quite traumatizing, physically and emotionally.  But, in some cases IVF success rate can be increased by a great extent through Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). This is a method where the suitable embryos are picked for implantation by studying them, genetically.

In some instances, choosing the embryos based on its superficial appearance and expected amount of cell division has a good chance of failing. That’s because there are hidden genetic defects that prevent it attaching to the uterine wall, or worse lead to a foetus with genetic diseases.

In cases like this, Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis provides tools which allow the doctor to dig deeper into the seemingly perfect embryo and judge its viability by reading its genetic structure. By detecting chromosomal abnormalities and other genetic disorders in the embryos, it helps the doctor ensure that only embryos which have the right genetic requirements are implanted – the ones which correctly attach to the uterus of the mother. It also allows the doctor to help you decide whether you need to consider other alternatives such as a donor egg.

This is how PGD prevents abnormal pregnancies or miscarriages. Another wonderful advantage is that it limits the number of embryos transferred by the doctor into the mother’s uterus or womb. This is because it is about 98% accurate in determining the genetic disorders and hence only the healthy ones are transferred.

IVF success rates in India have gone up since the practice of PGD has been introduced. It is right now one of the most effective techniques in ensuring successful IVFs.