Thanks to this method, she gave birth to two children. This is the last stop before IVF

It is commonly believed that couples unsuccessfully trying to conceive have only two options: IVF or adoption. Gabriela’s story proves that this is not true. Her two children conceived thanks to a less “media” but effective method for many couples, called the last stop before IVF. In a letter sent to MedTvoiLokona, Gabriela tells why she and her husband decided to undergo intrauterine insemination, what emotions accompanied her during the procedures and how much sacrifices, including financial, cost her.

1. Intrauterine insemination is a reproductive support technique that involves the administration of specially prepared sperm into the uterus through a flexible catheter.
2. The method is painless and non-invasive, it can be repeated many times, although the number of attempts is usually limited to six
3. Gabriela benefited from insemination twice. The first attempts proved successful in both cases
4. The biggest challenge, apart from the time and nerves devoted to preparation, was the cost. – From the first visit to the clinic, where we said that we had come for insemination, we spent 4,2 thousand zlotys until the procedure itself. zloty. (…) A separate cost was the pregnancy after insemination – she points out, adding that together with her husband, they needed almost 12 thousand zlotys for conception and childbirth. zloty.
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

«The husband said: it probably won’t work out right away. And he was right »

We tried for the first child for far too long. We had been in a long-distance relationship for four years before we got married, so when we finally got married, we wanted to enjoy ourselves. The time for the children would come later.

Later, however, there was a move, a new job, post-graduate studies, a loan and buying a flat … This way it turned out that we were already over two years after the wedding and the topic of the child still did not exist. It was still not that time.

It was my husband who decided that we were not waiting any longer. We can do it for sure, and you probably won’t be able to do it right away. And he was right. We applied for the first child for almost four years.

The first gynecologist I went to – even though she’s a really good doctor and had many pregnancies – didn’t really appeal to me. I guess I didn’t know enough then and I had no idea what questions to ask. First tests, prescribed thyroid medications. I did not know what for, after all, I am healthy. After a few months, I stopped taking my medications myself, was a bit angry and disappointed, I didn’t go to her again. Efforts were still unsuccessful.

After all, a friend of mine who is a doctor said she had asked and that many people would recommend a specialist. He was a doctor who is said to be “making babies”, he likes difficult cases, he is a great diagnostician and patients go for visits 100-200 km each. I decided to go to him. After over a year of trying, I was hoping he would help.

He started by referring me to the hospital for tests. I was there for two days, but I had a whole list of tests done and on the next visit he knew exactly what we were standing at. It turned out that I have hyperprolactinemia – too high a level of prolactin.

I started pharmacological treatment, and at the same time I was referred for an MRI of the pituitary gland to see if there was an adenoma that could be causing such high levels of prolactin. The MRI results turned out to be okay, and by then it was possible to regulate the prolactin. In the meantime, my husband was also supposed to do semen tests. Everything was normal as well, but he was supposed to take supplements to make it even better.

Then it was time for ovulation monitoring and blood tests. Here, too, it turned out that everything is fine. Again, efforts and nothing else. So the doctor decided to test the patency of the fallopian tubes. It turned out that the examination was quite painful and there might be a small fusion somewhere, but if the examination was successful, we can try to continue, because now everything is checked and it should be successful.

However, she was still not pregnant. We were already married for almost six years and still had no children.

At last the doctor stated that he no longer saw anything to heal, that apparently it was a problem in his head (so-called idiopathic infertility) and suggested intra-uterine insemination. Having no idea what it looks like, I agreed without thinking and my husband supported my decision.

“I knew that time is running out inexorably”

We started preparations for insemination. Monitoring the cycle, timely medications for follicle growth, monitoring again, with the appropriate size of the follicles, an injection that will cause the follicles to burst and release egg cells. A day later insemination. Fortunately, it was successful the first time.

Thanks to this, we have a daughter. I tell everyone that she prayed. Literally, because when you try so many years, you get hold of everything and see hope in everything. After so many unsuccessful efforts, I started going to church more and praying for a miracle every day. So that I can finally hug my baby. And I believe that there is something to it – I had insemination on Sunday, at Pentecost. I gave birth to my daughter by caesarean section on Ash Wednesday, and my name is biblical. Maybe I was looking for symbols, but I don’t think it was a coincidence.

The rest of the article is available under the video.

When our daughter was over two years old, we decided that we wanted a second child. My husband wanted to do it sooner, but I was going to work, enjoy the fact that my daughter is more and more independent, and I am a young, happy mother. And now it will be possible much faster.

We’ve been trying to get a son for over two years. At the beginning, we also tried naturally, because if our daughter had a problem with the “head”, now we have for sure unblocked. But it didn’t work again. Then I knew myself that time was running out inexorably and as soon as the doctor suggested that we go to the clinic where we had our first insemination, I didn’t even think about it.

At the clinic, the doctor we came to recommended us to perform a series of tests. I had, among others check the level of my ovarian reserve, i.e. the number and maturation potential of eggs. This was to let us know how much or less I could still ovulate.

We heard that if the result is bad, we are left with IVF and we do not even try to inseminate. Ultimately, the result was not good, but it allowed us to inseminate twice. Luckily we didn’t have to try twice. The first insemination was also successful with my son.

“Everything in me was begging desperately: let it work”

With both inseminations, I felt the same thing: the fear that it would fail and that so many preparations would be wasted. I was also nervous about the procedure itself. The first one was quite painful for me, because I prepared inadequately for it, I felt rather discomfort.

With my son, the question rattled in my head even more: what if it fails? After all, this time we only have two attempts, not five or six, as is often the case with insemination. I really wanted it to succeed. I knew what to expect, so I was calm, composed and even joked about the procedure. But inside, everything in me was begging desperately: let it work.

Today my daughter is seven years old and my son is one and a half. We do not boast too openly about how our children conceived. My family knows about insemination, but only his mother knows about my husband’s relatives. The extended family still has no idea about it. There is one reason. They do not know what insemination is, how it is going. Unfortunately, many people today still think that an inseminated baby is a “test tube baby”.

Me and my husband are not affected in any way, because we know where such thinking comes from. However, we would not like our children to hear something so stupid one day, because they will not understand it yet. We will tell them about insemination when they get older. We want them to know that we did everything to have them and that we wanted to be their parents so much that we took advantage of the possibilities offered by modern medicine.

“After all, infertility is not a fantasy or a fad”

Today, when I think about the time of efforts for our children, about preparations for insemination, the procedures and pregnancies themselves, I can see how much sacrifice it required. In addition to the time, energy and emotions that we put into it, it is also about money, and quite a lot of it.

We were lucky with the first insemination. The doctor we went to for private visits also saw him in the hospital. Thanks to this, we were able to perform a lot of tests, including magnetic resonance imaging or patency of the fallopian tubes, at the National Health Fund.

However, when trying to get a son, we covered everything out of our own pocket. From the first visit to the clinic, where we said that we had come for insemination, we spent 4,2 thousand PLN until the procedure itself. zloty. This is the cost of the preparations themselves. Pregnancy after insemination, which is treated as a high-risk pregnancy, was a separate expense. In total, there were 12 visits to the gynecologist, eight to the endocrinologist and a series of laboratory tests repeated every three weeks. A total of 7,5 thousand. zloty. Together with the insemination, the birth of a second child cost us PLN 11,7 thousand. zloty.

It is unfortunate that we live in a country where social money is distributed to everyone who has children – whether the parent is working or not. However, if a couple wants to have a child and has fertility problems, they cannot count on any support and most often it has to finance everything itself. Yet infertility can be documented and proven. This is not an invention or a fad. This is a real problem for many couples.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to ecology. How to be eco and not go crazy? How can we care for our planet on a daily basis? What and how to eat? You will hear about this and many other topics related to ecology in the new episode of our podcast.