About a year ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She has none of my genes, and yet she is all me!
My story begins in 2006 – I was nearly 40, just divorced and not likely to have any children due to endometriosis, hypothyroidism, age, and of course, lack of partner. The first months after the divorce I spent most of my time getting all practicalities of my life together. I put a lot of effort into decorating my home, on personal shopping and I also buried myself in work. Then it was time to plan my 40th birthday and with the help of good friends I had a pretty nice day after all. But what I whished for they couldn’t give me; I wanted a family!
In the back of my head I considered the option of international adoption. But it was getting harder and harder for single women to adopt and when China changed their rules and closed this opportunity for single women, the queues for the other countries grew drastically. So I decided to try IVF with sperm donor. I contacted a clinic in Finland, and they helped me with the procedure. All went according to plan, but I only produced two eggs. One was not mature and the other one wasn’t fertilized. A second attempt resulted in no eggs at all and I realized that my own production had stopped.
That’s when I came up with the idea of using both sperm and egg donor. I didn’t even know if it was possible, but yes, the clinic in St Petersburg could help me! Through their home page I learnt that this is called “Embryo Adoption”, and I contacted Dr Zaytseff who booked me for a first visit in August 2008. I didn´t really believe that this would work, but I went ahead with the treatment plan, which was, by the way, a “walk in the park” compared to IVF with own eggs. The transfer was scheduled in October, and after a couple of days of complementary examinations, and some sight-seeing of the beautiful city of St Petersburg it was time. I was a bit nervous, but the transfer was quick and painless, and I remember thinking that it is amazing what science can do... The feeling afterwards was surrealistic. Had this really worked? I was recommended not to do any heavy sightseeing that day, so I went to a café where I sat for a long time reading a book and contemplating. I had managed the first part of this journey.
Back in my country, I soon got the “symptoms” of being pregnant, but I thought it might just be me wanting this so much. I took the pregnancy test as instructed, and it was positive! I could hardly believe it, but doing the ultrasound after a few weeks I saw it – a tiny beating heart! A little life was really growing inside of me!
The whole pregnancy was wonderful. Everything went according to plan, I was feeling fine, and though I did worry a little sometimes (as I guess all pregnant women do), I spent most of my time preparing my home for the little one. And in July she came!
A year has passed, and it has been the most delightful time of my life. My lovely little girl has just celebrated her first birthday and is about to start day nursery. I hear all the time how much she looks like me, so the matching procedure must be quite thorough. And this fall I will try for a second baby, a sibling…
2009
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