29-year old Sima and her husband had always wanted to have children, but little did they know that IVF would be a part of their story – the reason they could finally live their dream of parenthood against all odds.
When the young homemaker from Bangladesh was diagnosed with renal failure two years into her marriage, her first thought was that her dream of motherhood would remain unrealised. After two years of dialysis, her doctor recommended kidney transplant. In July 2013 Sima underwent the surgery. The transplant was successful and soon her dreams of motherhood came back. She was, however, advised to wait for at least two years before conceiving as the immunosuppressant and anti-hypertension medications she was on could be harmful to the foetus.
When post the two year wait Sima failed to conceive, the couple knew that to realise their dream of parenthood they had to consider alternative options. That’s when they consulted me. While surrogacy was an alternative, Sima was adamant on carrying the child herself. It was then that I put forward IVF as an option to the couple.
Initially Sima was apprehensive, but after I had walked her through the process in detail, she felt a lot more comfortable. After receiving a ‘go-ahead’ from Sima’s nephrologist, I began with the cycle of treatment. The initial egg retrieval process proved to be a failure as the eggs retrieved were inadequate for fertilization. This left Sima depressed, but I told the couple that this was normal and they should not give up hope. They proved to be second time lucky as some of the eggs retrieved this time were adequate.
The couple moved forward with a fresh embryo transfer. Unfortunately Sima failed to conceive. After a gap of a few months, the couple decided to go ahead with the transfer of a frozen embryo. This time, the pregnancy test showed positive. At her first ultrasound, it was revealed that IVFhad worked and the foetus was developing.
However, the journey of nine months was full of ups and downs – there was a time during pregnancy when Sima’s creatinine levels had gone up, but with the help of the doctors, it could be managed. The dose of immunosuppressant too had to be minimized to ensure that it does not impede the growth of the foetus.
The couple had been undergoing regular check-ups with me during pregnancy. On 3 September 2019, Sima gave birth to their child through C-section. Unable to hold back her tears, she said all the risks they have had to take seemed worthwhile the moment she heard her baby’s first cry.
