For our entire lives, Christian and I have dreamed of being parents, and while it’s finally coming true, the destination has been quite an uphill journey. We have climbed mountains to make our dream a reality. We have travels across the world, spent tens of thousands of dollars, attended endless doctor’s appointments, hundreds of painful injections and cried tears of happiness, frustration and deep sadness along the way.
For those of us on this journey, it can feel as if our lives are on hold. We are in a constant state of waiting. Waiting for the next doctor’s appointment, ultrasound, blood test, exc. All with the hope that we are moving closer to attaining our dream. I thought this blog would be helpful for people on the outside to understand the ins and outs of in-vitro fertilization and to de-stigmatize the journey.
After a devastating miscarriage and several failed IUI’s our Reproductive Endocrinologist instructed us that we should move on to IVF. In the US, a single cycle of IVF runs anywhere from $17,000-$20,000 dollars. I came across the option of IVF in Prague via a New York Times article about the gaining popularity of medical tourism.
Nothing motivates me like a really good deal, so I began doing my research to find out more. Obviously this isn’t the same as a good sale at the Gap; IVF is literally a matter of life, so research was crucial. I needed to know how legitimate these clinics were, cost, and how much time we’d need to spend abroad.
What I discovered was that IVF is strictly regulated by the European Union and therefore the clinics we were considering in Prague were impressively modern and advanced, especially in comparison to their US counterparts. In the United States, IVF is regulated by an internal professional agency, not a federal agency, so oftentimes the cleanliness and medical practices of US clinics vary wildly state to state. Furthermore, treatment is a fraction of the cost so even factoring in flights, accommodations and time off work, Christian and I would be saving upwards of $10,000.
We decided to book an IVF coordinator to help ease the process for us. We used Praga Medica to coordinate with FertilityPort. Our experience has been so positive from the very start. The IVF coordinators all speak fluent English and are so helpful in answering all the questions that we have. We had our initial Skype consultation with Dr. Jan Smrcina on the morning of Valentine’s day at 8:00 am (2:00 pm Prague-time.) We were enthralled with Dr. Jan’s knowledge of the reproductive sciences. He spent an entire hour speaking with us about the IVF process and did an amazing job laying everything out on a timeline we could comprehend. Dr. Jan was so thorough and his approach was more personal. Never in my life have I met with a doctor for a full hour. At our clinic in Columbus, Ohio, we feel so rushed and typically see the doctor for only 5-10 minutes. Our experience with medical staff abroad has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Unfortunately during our consultation Dr. Jan informed us that I am not a candidate for a Fresh Embryo Transfer. My anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels are too high which indicates a high ovarian reserve. Dr. Jan explained that I am at high risk for Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) which can be potentially life-threatening. He’ll need to preform a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) instead, which means we will be traveling to Prague March 14-21st for the Egg Retrieval surgery and again in mid-April for the FET procedure.
This is never how Christian and I imagined we would grow our family, but what an adventure, right?! Prague will now forever hold a place in our hearts.
Getting Prague-nat 