8 Months Later - A Baby!

Hello Everyone,

It's been eight months since my last post.  I apologize for the hiatus. After we returned from the Czech Republic, five days after our embryo transfer, my husband and I found out we were pregnant! I had hoped to continue writing about my experience during the pregnancy. However, we had some complications in the beginning which became more serious toward the end of the pregnancy.  We decided it was best to focus on the pregnancy and resume writing after our daughter was born.

Thankfully, our daughter, Arlena, was born on June 12th at 10:44 pm.  She was 5lbs 10 oz. and 17 1/2 inches long.  She is the light of our lives and a complete joy! We will never be able to thank Reprofit enough for everything they've done for us.  We also hope that by sharing our most blessed news, that we may be able to help others affected by infertility.

Our goal for this blog is to continue writing about the fertility options available throughout Europe, so that we can spread the word and help other couples  make their dreams of having a child come true. 

Back from the Czech Republic

Hello Everyone,

We are back from Reprofit in the Czech Republic. We had a great time!  There were a few kinks along the way, but nothing we couldn't manage. 

We flew into Dublin because it is cheaper then flying into London or directly to Brno. We stayed at our favorite airport hotel, Bewley's.  Since we arrived early in the morning we had to wait around 30 minutes or so before they had our room ready.  We did not mind because it gave us a chance to fuel up on breakfast at the hotel's restaurant.  Once our room was ready we caught up on a few ZZZ's lost during the flight.  When we woke up, around five hours later, we went downstairs and had a lovely dinner once again at the hotel's restaurant.  We had a great first night.  However, the second day of our trip did not start off as well as we would have hoped.

Our flight into Bratislava, Slovakia was on Ryanair.  This is one of Europe's most popular low cost airline.  We have learned during our travels that the flights are so cheap because of "bare bones" service.  You are actually penalized if you do not print out your boarding passes before your flight.  If you show up for check-in without a boarding pass you will be charged 60 euros per person to have one printed out for you at the gate.  If you show up late for check-in like we did, you may not be able to check your bags like planned.  Furthermore, make sure you opt to check in bags when making your reservations or you will be charged yet another 60 euros for each bag you want to check.  Since we were not able to check our bags, we had to take them on board with us.  So my advice if you choose to fly Ryanair or any of Europe's low cost airlines, make sure you read the fine print and look for any hidden fees before showing up at the gate for your flight! If you don't, you will pay more. It is best to plan ahead when choosing to travel on one of these airlines.

Our flight into Bratislava was a long two and half hours.  The flight was full so we were not able to sit together, so we both got middle seats.  The seats on these flight do not recline ("bare bones" remember...but the flights are cheap!) and do not have nice built in headrests so long flights can get a bit uncomfortable.  Once we arrived in Bratislava the customs line went quickly and the girls at the counters both spoke very good English.  Our only hitch was trying to figure out how to catch the bus into downtown Bratislava.  We finally broke down and got a taxi.  Thankfully the taxi driver only needed to hear the name of the hotel and off we went, straight to our hotel!  Once we arrived at the hotel we only had to wait twenty minutes to check in.  We slept a bit since we had an early morning flight, then went out and explored the city.  The downtown was lovely and well worth the long flight. 

After two days of exploring Bratislava, it was time to head to Brno. We took a taxi from our hotel to the bus station.  It cost around 5 euros and was easier than trying to catch a train or bus at 5 in the morning.  Once at the bus station it took us a few minutes to find Platform 16 to catch our Student Agency bus.  The bus ride took around 1:45 minutes.  The time flew by because they have entertainment systems built into the seat backs so I was able to watch a movie.  They also have free wifi.  So my husband went online and caught up on some work.  Once we arrived at the bus station in Brno, we caught another taxi to the Hotel Europa (pronounced Hotel Evropa!).  I got a great rate on the hotel, only $50 a night and very nice accommodations for the price! Because we did not have Czech Koruna, only euros, we ended up spending 20 euros for a $2.00 taxi ride.  So make sure you have Czech Koruna before jumping into a taxi! We also arrived too early for check-in at our hotel and had to store our bags and go exploring for a while.  Luckily, we had our consultation appointment at Reprofit so we had somewhere to be and did not mind the three hour wait for our room. 

While at Reprofit, we met with the nurse practitioner.  I had an ultrasound to make sure my endometiral lining looked good for our FET the next day. We discussed the procedure in more detail and then set the time for our procedure the next day.  We were at the clinic for a couple of hours before we headed back to our hotel. The next day we arrived a little early and were soon ushered into the room where the procedure would take place. There were several other couples in the waiting room. However, we only waited a couple of minutes before a nurse directed to an office to wait for the doctor. A few minutes later, we met with Dr. Daniela Vitouskov who then explained what would happen during the procedure. She then took us into the procedure room and showed us our embryos on the screen (2 beautiful Grade A 5 day Blastocysts), then she performed the procedure.  There was a slight pinch and a little discomfort then ten minutes rest and we were done. It all happened within less than an hour.  After the procedure a representative from finance took us downstairs to pay and then were we on our way.

This time around we paid half of what we paid the first time due to a Shared Risk arrangement that Reprofit has with Miracles Waiting.  Our total cost for the procedure cost us $1500.00 and I'm happy to say, four weeks later that our procedure was a success.  We are pregnant with twins!!!

If you have any questions about Reprofit, embryo donation, traveling to Europe for IVF, or for any other reason, please feel free to comment. I would be more then happy to answer any questions you might have. 

Our Next Trip

Well here we are preparing to leave for our second trip to Reprofit.  I must say, planning for this trip went significantly smoother then the first. Once again, Paloma with Miracles Waiting scheduled all of our appointments with the clinic. I made all of our travel arrangements in advance.  So now as we approach our departure day, all I really have left to do is pack our bags and get our travel details organized.

It was much easier this time around to make our travel arrangements. By scheduling everything in advance we cut down on our expenses. To save on airfare we waited until six weeks before our travel dates to buy our tickets into Dublin. We paid $864 per ticket with American Airlines and went directly through the AA website to accrue more airline miles. Instead of flying into Prague, we decided to fly  into Bratislava Slovakia on one of Europe's low cost airlines, RyanAir.  We saved over $500 a ticket. Bratislava is conveniently only an hour drive from Brno and is close to Vienna.  To avoid renting a car and to save on travel costs we'll take a Student Agency bus into Brno.  Once in Brno we'll use the city rail service and taxis to get around the city. We have also come to enjoy all the walking involved during our travels for the exercise and additional cost savings.

We have planned to travel for a total of eight days. Just enough time to do a little site seeing. We'll spend our first night in Dublin and then fly into Bratislava early the next morning.  While in Dublin we'll stay at our favorite airport hotel, Bewley's. I got a great deal on our room, $56 a night through Orbitz! We also save because the hotel offers a free shuttle service from the airport and there is access to a city bus that will take you directly into downtown Dublin. From Dublin we plan to fly into Bratislava where we will spend two nights at the Ibis Centrum Hotel in downtown Bratislava. The hotel offers a great location directly in the center of old town within walking distance of most of the attractions .  We'll spend two days total in Brno at the Hotel Europa where I got us a great room for $50 a night. For both hotel stays, I had to shop around the different hotel and travel sites to find the best rates. I ultimately, ended up using Venere.com We'll then head to Vienna for a couple of nights before flying back to Dublin and then home.

We are very excited and will write more upon our return.  Wish us luck!