Chantal & Philippe (Switzerland)
Chantal & Philippe (Switzerland)
“My husband and I visited your homepage with great interest, reading and sharing the many experiences of successful and, in some cases, sad destinies. We would like to share our own story.”
This story has been generously supplied by Verein Kinderwunsch Switzerland www.kinderwunsch.ch
Chapter One: Discovery
Chapter Two: Deciding what to do
Chapter Three: The long path
Chapter Four: Living a 'normal' life
Chapter Five: The final success story
Chapter One: Discovery
Chantal and Philippe’s first obstacle was a big one. But they found a way around it.
“My husband and I are 33 years old and have been married for 8 years. When we married, children were not a topic. But as the years passed, the desire for children became increasingly an issue. We discussed it and sometimes we said yes and sometimes no. An added problem was that my husband had testicular surgery as a child, and it was later found that it would be practically impossible for him to sire a child as a result of this operation (the sperm were too slow and of poor quality).
So what should we do?”
Chapter Two: Deciding what to do
Balancing the chances of success with the effort involved.
"About 3 years ago I talked to my gynaecologist about it, and he referred me to a specialist for IVF.
This was extremely frustrating - only a 25% chance, and even the path to this 25% would be a difficult one. Nevertheless we decided to try IVF.”
Chapter Three: The long path
Teamwork can get you through (or over, or around) almost any obstacle, as Chantal and Philippe quickly found out.
“There followed a series of tests, and then the hormone injections started. We were quite relaxed about it. We were a team; I pushed my stomach out and my husband administered the injections. Unfortunately, after just a few days, there was an over-stimulation. The attempt was stopped and we were plunged into an emotional mix of sadness and mutual encouragement at one and the same time. We were not going to give up so easily!
About 4 months later I underwent an operation on my ovaries to prevent a further over-stimulation.
A further 3 months later we tried again. Again we were in good spirits, the way a team should be! Every injection, every bit of positive feedback from the gynaecologist was a small success story for us!”
Chapter Four: Living a 'normal' life
The waiting between egg transfer and pregnancy test can make time feel stopped. But Chantal and Philippe were together in their journey from the very beginning, and found that time passed easily.
“And then our time came. The eggs were taken. Another success - 10 beautiful eggs were taken and fertilized. The next success - all 10 were fertilized, so we had 10 embryos.
Then came the transfer of two embryos. We were excited, relaxed, anxious and happy all at the same time. What now?
During the next two weeks our life continued along its usual routine; we went to work, had nice dinners out, chatted, played sport ... everything as normal. And yet, somewhere the thought lurked - pregnant or not? The two-week wait passed very quickly for us.”
Chapter Five: The final success story
Some encouraging advice for couples everywhere: “never give up hope”
“It was time for the visit to the gynaecologist. Now we started to get nervous. The blood sample and then the waiting; although we only had to wait a few hours for the result, it seemed to us like an eternity.
Then the phone call - we’d done it! Another success, we were pregnant!
Today we are the proud and blissfully happy parents of a 3-month-old son. And already we are looking forward to the next attempt in the hope that this will be a success too.
Finally a few words for couples who are just at the beginning of an attempt:
Never give up hope, try to think positively and, above all, regard every tiny little step in the direction of a possible pregnancy as a success! Every little success brings you closer to your dream. It is the small steps that make us successful!”
