Parents of twins

Pregnant with twins with Human First, June 2008

Diagnosis at a Dutch hospital

After my husband and I had been trying for three years to have children, we heard from the gynecologist that we couldn't have children the normal way. This became clear pretty quickly after we'd had ourselves tested. My husband then also had a biopsy done here in the Netherlands, and then we got another negative message: so it was down to my husband, and the gynecologist said we might still have about a 20 percent chance with IVF. We were very sad about this, but we didn't give up hope, because even if it's only 20 percent, that still means there's a chance. Our gynecologist said we could choose where to have an IVF treatment done — in the Netherlands itself, in Belgium, or in Turkey. We had heard that in Turkey the chances of success with an IVF treatment are highest.

The Human First website

My husband and I immediately went online looking for information about IVF treatments. There we found a Human First website. This caught our attention and we went through the information for a bit. What we found so nice, and what really appealed to us, is that there aren't such long waiting times at this organization. This organization works together from Rotterdam with Turkey. I called the phone number and immediately got a friendly lady on the line. I explained my situation to her and she was immediately very helpful and sympathetic. I found this really pleasant, and I could just tell her my whole story.

My husband and I wanted to have the IVF done during the summer holidays. That way we'd get a holiday out of it too, rather than just dealing with the whole IVF business. We had to send all the papers from the doctor and gynecologist to Human First. After we'd done this, we quickly got back in touch by phone with the receptionist at Human First. She called us to go over what we could do if we went ahead with this. After the doctor in Turkey had looked at our letters, we got an email from Human First about whether the treatment could go ahead. The doctor first wanted to see for himself whether he saw any chance of success at all, because if he didn't see one, then there was no need for us to come either. After we got a message by email that we could come whenever it suited us, we were quite pleased with that news. The treatment would take 17 days, and we'd planned for three weeks of holiday, so that worked out really well together.

For any question I could contact Human First directly, and what I really liked was that I always had the same lady on the line and only dealt with her. She was the go-between for us and Turkey. The doctor arranged everything in Turkey, and I received everything by post, a whole care plan for how we'd tackle it. Everything was clearly laid out in it, and whenever I had questions I just called Human First — even if they were sometimes odd questions, the lady who spoke with me never had any trouble answering them. I also often asked things she'd already explained before but that I hadn't understood, and it was absolutely no problem for her to explain it again a few times, and she showed a lot of care for us throughout the whole process and also called us regularly to ask how things were going, which was simply nice too. I got a prescription from Turkey for the hormones I had to inject, and I was able to get those here and take them with me to Turkey, because here I got them reimbursed right away, and if I hadn't brought them along I would have had to pay for them upfront over there — this seemed the most convenient way to me. Our flight tickets, the hotel, and the transport from Istanbul Airport were all arranged by the Human First organization. We didn't need to worry about a thing anymore. The day before we left from Schiphol we could check in online and choose our seats on the plane. That was also really easy.

In Turkey

Once we arrived in Turkey we were taken to our hotel by minibus, which was really pleasant — we didn't have to worry about anything. A man was waiting for us with our names on a sign and the hotel name, so we immediately knew we'd be riding with that man to the hotel. At the hotel you're welcomed nicely and taken to your room. That evening was the third evening I had to inject hormones. My husband did this for me because I found it quite scary to do it to myself. The little needle doesn't hurt at all, only the liquid stings a tiny bit. This had to happen every evening at the same time.

My husband and I only had breakfast in the apartment. Lunch and dinner we just had out at restaurants. That way we could enjoy all kinds of different tasty dishes and didn't have to be back at the apartment on time to eat. Turkey is really beautiful, and I'm very glad I had the IVF treatment done in Turkey because I also got to see a lot of the country and didn't just have to focus on the treatment — it was a really nice distraction. In the beginning we could tour around nicely everywhere and just stuck to the schedule for the hormones. Later on it did get a bit tough for me to walk far, since I ended up having a lot of egg cells.

Acibadem Hospital

That schedule also stated when and at what time we had to go to the hospital for the check-ups on the ovaries and egg cells. This was done by vaginal ultrasound. At the hospital I was received very well. I liked it so much I'd do it all over again just like that. All the nurses and doctors were immediately very kind and helped us with anything they could and with whatever we needed help with. Every other day we had to travel from one part of the city to the other by boat, which was really fun to do, and I actually looked forward to going back to the hospital because I got to take the boat again — I really enjoyed that, and the view was perfect. Of course you can travel another way too, but we chose this way, which was also the fastest way to travel. At the hospital the nurses and doctors could help you well if you speak English, that works fine; we also heard you could arrange an interpreter through Human First, but we didn't feel we needed that ourselves.

For the last five days I got yet another injection every evening, this one to protect the egg cells so they wouldn't get damaged. One evening before the egg retrieval I got an intramuscular (in the muscle) injection, this one to trigger the egg cells to release, and it didn't hurt. After the egg cells were retrieved from me under anesthesia (the retrieval, that is) and I woke up from the anesthesia, my husband was treated. Afterwards I was allowed to eat, since we'd both had to fast for the treatment, and I was glad I could finally eat. After my husband was brought to his room I could go there too, and then he was also allowed to eat. Then three days later we got a call saying embryos had been created and that we could come in for the embryo transfer. First we had a conversation with the doctor, who said embryos would be transferred back because we had a 35 percent chance of success, and the doctor said we shouldn't count on twins. After everything had been discussed I was admitted for the transfer. Before the transfer I had to drink a lot of water and wasn't allowed to go to the toilet, which was quite difficult, because that way they could place the embryos more easily in the right spot in the womb. After the transfer I felt bloated and was very tired and had a bit of trouble walking. The nurses and doctors were truly amazing to us, and I could really tell, since I'm a nurse myself in the Netherlands and can see the differences quite clearly.

Back in the Netherlands

Two weeks later I had to get a pregnancy test done via a blood draw at the hospital. Those two weeks were truly nerve-wracking. In Turkey I still had distractions, but here in the Netherlands my husband went straight back to work, and I did a few days later. My husband was also very supportive; after the hormone injections I wasn't always the easiest to deal with and behaved differently than usual. When I came back I leaned on my husband a lot for support, and at a moment like that that's really wonderful.

I also immediately got a phone call from that sweet lady at Human First who supported and helped us through the whole thing; she asked how it was going and whether we'd run into anything, and about my experience of it all. I felt very strange and I thought I was pregnant because I actually felt pregnant, even though I didn't know what that was supposed to feel like since this was our first pregnancy. Still I didn't dare believe it. After I'd done the blood test I still had to wait a few more days, which felt like an eternity before I finally had the result. The result was positive, and this on the very first treatment! I was super happy and of course so was my husband, right there with me. I still had to insert extra hormones vaginally, since these strengthen the uterine lining and help prevent a miscarriage; I already had this on prescription but only had to use it once I was pregnant, and if I wasn't pregnant then I didn't need to use anything anymore. I was quite ill in the beginning — very tired, sleeping a lot, unable to do anything, feeling nauseous and having trouble eating. That was pretty rough, but I thought, I'll gladly put up with this for such a little baby.

When I was 7 weeks pregnant we had to get an ultrasound, and if that turned out completely fine I could stop with these vaginal hormone tablets. At the ultrasound it turned out we got to be extra lucky, and we saw that we were having twins. So I was pregnant with twins: what a dream. Really super wonderful! I was, and still am, very happy that it worked on the first try and everything went so much according to plan. The lady from Human First called me and I told her the good news; she was really happy for me — I've actually never met her in person but I could just hear it in her voice, and I really enjoyed just talking with her, she put me at ease somehow, one way or another. She asked me if I'd like to write up a story about my experience with this treatment; I promised her I would, but because I was so ill the first fourteen weeks, nothing came of it.

She did call me once more in between to ask how things were going, which was nice, that she hadn't forgotten me and was thinking of us. I told her I hadn't forgotten about the story and that I would definitely write it, and gave her my promise, also explaining that I hadn't gotten around to it because I'd had so much trouble with pregnancy ailments. After my fourteen weeks of pregnancy I felt a lot better again and my appetite for food came back; I thought, now that I feel good I'll keep my promise too. I've now definitely spent a good hour and a half typing, but it's worth it to me. They did all sorts of things for me and helped me. I'd definitely recommend people who are in the same boat I was in to make the same choice I made. Human First — just take a look at the website, and you really won't regret it, I'm sure of that. My great thanks again to the whole team who helped us with this!

Warmest regards and good luck,

Expecting parents of twins

This story was translated from Dutch by our team. Read the original Dutch version →