How everything began

Our TTC Journey started in Jan 2012 and had numerous tests and procedures before eventually starting IVF in England in May 2015. I have a low ovarian reserve and we had two fresh cycles in the UK resulting in only one fertilised egg from those two cycles and one day 2 transfer. We felt that at this point things were not going to work for us.

At that point we knew we had to go private for our remaining cycles and had heard very good things about clinics abroad. We researched online and decided that Spain was where we wanted to go, the success rates seemed the best. Spain is also only a few hours flight away in the UK.

We went to the Fertility show in London in November 2015 and met with Dr Aizpurua who listened to our previous TTC Journey and worked through a plan with us there and then. It was a good opportunity to meet various clinics from all over the world. And we liked a lot of them, but after our consultation with IVF-Life we knew we’d found our clinic. We felt confident that in those few Minutes we had a better plan than we’d had in the previous few years working with our current clinic. They were also completely confident they would get us pregnant.

Travelling to Spain

In terms of traveling abroad we looked on it as a huge positive, a time to be away from the usual home pressures whilst doing treatment. I had worked through my previous cycles and being at home with “normal” life continuing had proved very stressful. We went to Spain for sometimes just one or two nights and even these became things to look forward to. It gave us the chance to explore Alicante, eat lovely food and to get some much needed time together in the sunshine. We found a very reasonable accomodation that we used for every visit and flights were often very cheap. When we did our cycles we booked our holidays from work at the same time. That way we anaged to have the most relaxing cycles we had experienced.

On my final cycle we stayed in Alicante for just two nights then after my transfer we flew to Asturias in Northern Spain. There we travelled around the mountains and countryside for 2 weeks, it was completely relaxing and gorgeous. I felt calm and happy.

I know if I had been at home I wouldn’t have felt like this, also if we did IVF in the UK I would have been very unlikely to book a holiday away during a cycle so it became the best choice we made for many reasons. IVF abroad and this part of our TTC Journey didn’t present us with any problems. For our scans and procedures in the UK we found numerous hospitals and businesses providing blood tests, ultrasounds. They even offered things like intralipids and the endometrial scratch, always easy and close to home. It never presented us with any additional pressure or stress. I would definitely have no reservations about recommending IVF abroad.

Support during Treatment

Our treatment was always straight forward, to be honest we turned up when our plan said to and took the medication when we had to. If we needed anything we would email our assigned nurse and she would come back to us. I guess waiting sometimes for responses makes you very anxious and you imagine that because they are in another country it’s more difficult. If I’m honest, when we had a clinic in the UK sometimes you have to wait for a Dr to respond and it’s no different at all in reality.

Life changing choice: the right clinic

When it came to choosing the right clinic for us it was a huge deal, you put all your hope and dreams into something so hugely life changing. We knew it had to be right, we hadn’t had much confidence in our previous clinic. Although we researched medical results and technical information to start with, when we met the team we just knew it. We got a good vibe and felt comfortable and confident that this was where we would complete our TTC Journey.

I think IVF is a very scientific process but we are not the experts. We just wanted somewhere we could put our trust in, leave the medical science to the clinic but feel confident everything was being done for us, but without us having to worry all the time that things could be better. That’s what we found here. We sat back and let the clinic guide us.

Our daughter Bo was born in 2017 so I think the result speaks for itself. It feels like we absolutely made the right decision coming to Spain for our treatment. We learnt to love Spain and Alicante as a second home. It will now always hold a special place in our hearts as where our daughter was conceived. The treatment we received was of the highest quality and thanks to the whole team at IVF-Life and of course our amazing doctor Dr Herrera (who is probably the loveliest person you’ll ever meet). All our dreams came true and we wouldn’t change a thing about our TTC journey.