Beatriz tells us her story: «to ask for help in time is not to be weaker» – The importance of measuring Ovarian Reserve
Today in our real stories section we bring you a story that is truly worth the read. It’s the journey of a patient who had to start reconsidering some aspects of her life after undergoing a check-up during one of our free fertility campaigns to measure the ovarian reserve.
We offer this campaign each year to spread awareness about the fact that fertility has an expiration date, and that simply having a period does not guarantee that a female is fertile. This campaign allowed Beatriz to discover that she was one of those women with a diminished ovarian reserve. This new reality opened her eyes, and at the age of 30 she made the decision to take the leap earlier than originally planned and to make her dream of becoming a mother come true.
From all of us here at URE Centro Gutenberg we want to thank Beatriz for sharing her story with us. Her journey makes us particularly happy as the decision she made is precisely one of the objectives of our ovarian reserve campaigns: to educate future mums that their moment is now, and that postponing motherhood may result in problems or obstacles down the road.
Beatriz, we are so very grateful that you decided to collaborate and share your experience with such an important topic that is female reproductive health. Here we’ve included the letter, word for word, that Beatriz sent to the team at URE.
Beatriz Experience with measuring of the Ovarian Reserve
My fertility story began at the age of 30 when I was reading the newspaper and read about the free fertility campaign offered to women each year at URE Centro Gutenberg.
I had never had any problems when it came to my gynaecological health. Everything was under control and I simply went to the clinic to confirm my belief that everything was all right and that I wouldn’t have any issues becoming a mum when the time was right. So I was very surprised when I went to speak with the doctor and I was told that my ovarian reserve was low for my age.
This observation was confirmed with a blood test and the value of my anti‑mullerian hormone was 0.2. As you can imagine I started to panic. Then, after a year of trying to conceive naturally I decided to seek help from a fertility clinic.
I was initially referred to a different fertility clinic by my gynaecologist. It was at this first clinic where I underwent the egg retrieval and embryo transfer, only to later miscarry the two embryos that had implanted. In a different cycle I underwent another egg collection procedure but no eggs were retrieved. Once I began to think that becoming a mum with my own eggs was going to be mission impossible, we decided to start egg donation treatment. At that point I just wanted the nightmare to end as soon as possible.
The Fertiliy Clinic
That’s when we visited URE Centro Gutenberg and had our initial consultation with Dr. Flores about ovarian reserve who told us that he didn’t think egg donation treatment was necessary based on the information he had about my particular case. Instead, he encouraged us to try a cycle of in vitro fertilisation.
And that’s just what we did: we gave it everything we had and followed his advice. Every month I went in for an ultrasound so that the doctor could decide whether it was the right moment to start the treatment process. One month went by, then another … time was going by! That’s when I requested specialised psychological support for fertility patients, and what a great decision that was! Diana was able to pull me out of the hole I had gone down. The emotional support, feeling good with myself and the help and dedication I received from Dr. Flores were the keys to my success.
After several months of check-ups, Dr. Flores decided it was the right time to begin the ovarian stimulation. Unfortunately we did not get the results we were expecting and we decided to cancel the cycle. A few months later we began a treatment that my doctor said was ideal for my case, and throughout the process his dedication and commitment to making our dream come true was evident.
At that point I trusted the process and knew deep down that everything would go well. By the end of a long process we had made it to the egg retrieval and had two eggs which resulted in two “perfect” embryos according to the laboratory staff. And there you have it: with a low ovarian reserve and just two embryos we decided to do a single embryo transfer, and the long awaited positive pregnancy test was finally a reality. A dream come true!
Thanks to the team at URE Centro Gutenberg we felt right at home the entire time. We felt emotionally and professionally supported and knew that we were in the best hands. The words “thank you” are not enough.
We’ll be back to try again with the frozen embryo we have in storage!
Thank you again, Beatriz, for adding your story to our real patient stories archives. We are certain it will be helpful to other women in your same situation.
And if those of you out there who are reading this can relate and need advice or the support of experts, you can count on us to help you. Remember that your first appointment at URE Centro Gutenberg is cost-free.
