We’ve decided to go for donor egg fertility treatment in Spain using my hubby’s sperm. We visited a couple of clinics in Spain in December and now looking towards June/July for ET, it’s a little longer for me as I have endometriosis, fibromyalgia and have had a couple of miscarriages from natural pregnancies and 2 failed IVF. I’m 44 so this is our best option for us. We go back out on Tuesday for my hubby to have a FISH sperm test which is min of £500 cheaper. Taking advantage and having some other tests as well as they are cheaper.
Just wanted to see if anyone has been down this same route and/or going to do it in the near future to buddy up with and share experiences and support.
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RedHope
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I’m doing DE IVF in Spain but it’s looking likely to be July or August as I’ve been advised to take prostap for 3 months beforehand to shrink an intermural fibroid. I wish you the very best of luck with your treatment! Feels like there are so many barriers for some of us but we have to believe it will work out in the end.
I’m doing ED in UR Vistahermosa in Alicante and I’ve been advised to take Decapeptyl for 2/3 months to try and sort out inflammatory diseases. So looks like we will be going through it at the same time.
I'm currently 17wks pregnant using DE and am 41, used a clinic in the UK. Still a long way to go but never thought i'd get to this stage and its still sinking in! Sending lots of luck xx
Congratulations, over the first hurdle though. Sending you positivity. Xxx
Hello, I am 42, had 6 attempts and coming up for 25 weeks pregnant after our 3rd de transfer in Spain. Happy to share experiences with you. And I also wanted to wish you luck xx
- nhs round one = 2 collected and 1 fertilised = bfn
- nhs round two = 3 collected, 2 fertilised and put back =bfn
- private round 3 = cycle abandoned due to lack of follicle response.
I had been told I have premature ovarian failure previously. However, whilst I had a lack of eggs I still had some and I never considered that ivf wouldn't work. The private clinic told me after cycle abandonment that I had a 1% chance with or without ivf if I carried on with my own eggs.
Next option (as we are in Scotland and there is only one private clinic) was to go elsewhere. I did a lot of research and even visited one or two places in the UK. However decided that this journey is hard enough and if we were going to have to pay travel and accommodation to go to another clinic in the UK, we may as well go abroad and have a little sun each time.
There are so so many clinics to choose from abroad but as we have friends in Barcelona, had been there before and love it, we decided there and chose a clinic with a great success rate.
Going abroad also means less wait time as the rules are different - mainly in the UK the donor mother does not have the right to anonymity therefore it puts people off which means there is quite a waiting list.
We didn't get to choose our donor with our clinic either. They did all the genetic tests and of course have full medical history. But other than the age of the donor, we know nothing else. Which is good and bad I guess depending on your view. I didn't like the idea of feeling like it was a shopping trip so it suits me fine.
The clinic did their own investigation with me before we went down the donor route, and would gave been willing to try again with my own eggs. However the chances were very slim with that and time was ticking so I went for donor. We were also told stats re donor eggs that 1 try was about 50% chance of success whereas 2 went up to 70-odd%. Brilliant compared to something like 12% with my own eggs.
I can't quite recall how many were harvested, but we had 4 embryos at day 5 and another 2 made the cut at day 6. So 6 in total.
We had our first transfer in December 2017. Before new year we got our bfn. I was completely devastated. Had been convinced, just like at our first NHS round, that it would just work. I hadn't told work ever that I was doing ivf, but this time I had to. It was all too much. I had a very demanding and stressful job, and the company had been offering sabbaticals. I took 6 months off. I needed to de-stress, work on building up my mental and physical fitness etc. I did a mindfulness course, counselling, joined a choir. By Feb I was ready to try again. In March we transferred 2 embryos. We got our first ever bfp! It was so amazing. We never realised how happy we could feel and how really we were losing all hope.
Unfortunately we started bleeding, not a lot but still there. We ended up in epu every other day. Bloods were rising but not doubling and they couldn't see anything on the scans. Finally, at what should have been 8 weeks and after seeing two empty sacs which hadn't grown in a week, I accepted that this was our trial run. This was not meant to be. However, the biggest take away we got from it was that it was actually possible. We were determined that next time would be our time. I went back to work in June. Recovered from the medical management, took some time to heal, went on holiday to crete - its amazing. We also did a panel of blood tests just to check there were no protein or clotting issues (I insisted).
I started taking baby aspirin from July( apparently our blood can thicken as we get older and, especially in the early stages, it can be difficult to get through to our baby). In October we transferred 1 embryo. I also decided that actually 2 was a nice idea but the reality of 2 petrified me. There are also many medical reasons why more than 1 is not a good idea. So, 1 it was. All my positivity, nutrients etc heading to this one.
We had a really nice 5 days in Barcelona. We arrived on the Wednesday, transfer was on the Friday and we went home on the Sunday on a later flight. The sun shone, we did lots of exploring even went on a bus trip to Montserrat. We made it feel special and had time just the two of us to relax.
We again got a bfp, this time with no bleeding. Besides one morning when I awoke and felt a kind of period gush, saw some brown blood and went into panic mode. I put myself on immediate bed rest and phoned the clinic, my doctor and epu. Someone from the epu called back and reassured me that brown is old, not to worry and just to get back in touch if it hadn't gone in a couple of days or turned to red, filled a pad in under an hour. Thankfully that was the end of any scares.
We had a scan at 6 weeks. Omg, that 2ww is soooooo much more stressful, especially if something has gone wrong previously in the early stages. We saw a sac with a blob in it and kind of thought we saw a little flicker (heartbeat). Another scan at 8 weeks and this time it looked more like a baby. Our 12 week scan was on Christmas eve. All fine again.
I have had no sickness, no digestion problems. So far so good. Tomorrow we reach 25 weeks. I have been feeling the baby move probably for about 5 weeks now. at first I wasnt sure, but now I am. It felt a little bit like a one off muscle spasm at first, then more of them. Now it feels a little like an electric pulse. Not all the time, and sometimes he/she is further back so I don't feel anything. But it's so amazing. I am now actually starting to allow myself to daydream about the day they arrive and I can bring our wee one home.
Yes, you are right, we are a stubborn bunch. We know what we want and we stick at it until we get there.
I really wish you all the best. You will do this. And do try to enjoy those trips (there will be at least 2). I am so excited for you. Xxx
After 9 years ttc, multiple miscarriages and failed IVF in the U.K., my husband and I went for treatment in Malaga using DE last year. Our little boy was born in January. More than happy to share experiences and I wish you lots of luck. x
It was our first attemp with donor eggs. We feel very lucky. 15 were collected, and by day 5 there were 8 top graded embryos. We had 2 transferred and have 6 on ice, we’ll definitely be going back to try for siblings next year.
The process itself was much less involved/invasive than our previous IVF attempts. Much fewer meds, shorter protocol. We were matched with our donor 10 days after we signed the consent, so there was very little waiting. (Even though we went to Spain and both my husband and I are very fair skinned with red hair!)
The only thing I found a little harder was organising all my own pre natal scans and bloods. The clinic wants them at very specific times and sometimes it just wasn’t possible to get bloods back the same day or book a scan at a days notice. It didn’t appear to impact the process though and I was assured that if we had done a frozen cycle it would have been much more relaxed as there would be no “syncing” of mine and the donor’s cycles.
Prescriptions were no problem either. My local Tesco and Boots were happy to accept scanned scripts from the clinic and process them as private prescriptions.
I am a member of Facebook of egg donor angels recipients only, which is brilliant support from people going through the same thing. I live in Brighton, am 45 and will be transferring one of our 3 frozen embryos from DE in Spain mid May x
Thank you so so much, wow 15. I’m hoping we get a few to put on ice for later.
Thanks for the heads up on Tesco and boots. Thanks to that info I’ve called Asda and they said they would do it and the cost is cheaper. Gonna try Tesco and Boots now.
That’s interesting. My Asda won’t prescribe on scanned prescriptions. They want an original signed one. Is is just my local? They are cheap though. They said for fertility drugs they do it at cost price.
Actually, I think you are right. As I had trouble last time but the chemist took pity on me and still did it and he said he would get the original from the clinic himself but that was when I was at a clinic in London. I didn’t ask them if they would do it from a scanned copy. I’ll check, however, we are going on Tuesday and would be coming back with the prescription, so it could only cause a problem if I needed a repeat.
Thank you 🙏🏽 for sharing your journey, exciting times, especially when our odds are higher with donor eggs. I’ll check out the aspirin with them next week. I took it when I fell pregnant naturally but wasn’t aware of taking it before.
Just want to get on with it now.
I will look into mindfulness courses. I’m already sourcing some counselling as I know I’m extremely stressed 😥 at the moment. I have fibromyalgia and that has flared up again and I know that is due to stress. I think it has also brought on IBS which can also be stressed related, so really need to sort myself out and get me in a good place.
I'm over 38 weeks pregnant after our first de cycle with IVF Barcelona. The clinic were great especially as it was even harder to coordinate as we live in New Zealand. We have 3 excellent quality frosties too.
I'm 43 with unexplained infertility. I had 4 cycles with my eggs. Got pregnant on round 2 but miscarried at 7 weeks.
Wow that’s a journey and a half. I feel like this journey has been like going round the world, but you actually have. Anything in the pursuit of happiness. I applaud you 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Can’t wait to hear about your next chapter. Keep us posted,
I am exactly the same age and like you had natural pregnancies that did not work. We had our first ivf egg donor transfer done in Greece in feb and are now nearly 7 weeks. It really does give you the best chance I feel due to our age. Good luck with everything. Xxxx ❤️
Hi I had donor egg and sperm in Spain and now 31wks pregnant (girl) I was very lucky it worked first time. The treatment I received was great and the team were very friendly and professional. Also they could speak good English and followed me up to 22 wks pregnant . Obviously there are a few clinics in Spain but I had a good experience. The treatment happened quits quickly. I wish you all the best. If you would like any further information feel free to message me.
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