When the most natural thing in the world won't come naturally
I can still remember the incredible feeling I had, the first time I held my daughter, Rose.* So, when she told me she was planning to start a family of her own, I couldn’t have been more thrilled for her. Looking back, I was very lucky to have her. After all, the conditions need to be just right for the miracle of life to happen. It never occurred to me that so many people experience problems conceiving.
Rose and her husband Michael were among the many couples who face infertility. It turned out that she has blocked tubes, a condition that makes it impossible to get pregnant naturally. After reviewing their options, they decided to try IVF, counseled and guided by an experienced IVF clinic team. Rose and I have always been very close, and I’m grateful she trusted me enough to share this difficult decision and the journey it has taken them on. I, in turn, made it my mission to find out as much as I could to understand the processes involved and offer emotional support where needed, for Rose and also for Michael.
Apparently, fertility treatment is still a thorny issue and one that can be quite stressful for those involved. Emotional ups and downs, and a success rate of 20-30% per cycle [2-5] , make the journey challenging. Many couples do not make full use of their options and stop trying after their first or second attempt. However, a lot of what I’ve read on the subject also sounds quite encouraging. We’ve come a long way since the early days of IVF, where a medication from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, facilitated the birth of America’s first IVF baby, Elizabeth Carr, in 1981.