Hi everyone, I am Ingvild — from Oslo, Norway.

After nearly 20 IVF attempts in Norway and Denmark, I was fortunate enough that my gynecologist in Oslo told me: “You really need some help. The only one I trust to recommend to you is Dr. Olga. She has integrity, knowledge and if anyone can help you, it’s her.”

After 12 years of wandering the halls of different clinics, sometimes happy, sometimes depressed, lonely, sad, — spending money, sacrificing time with friends and family as well as work opportunities, I was sceptical, but I trusted my gynecologist enough — so I decided to make a short trip to St. Petersburg to check out if this was another moneymaking clinic, that not really cared about their patients — or if it had some substance.

No treatment — just checking it out.. And I was reassured. I found an excellent modern high standard clinic, and even more important, amazing doctors.

I must admit I also had some worries about traveling to Eastern Europe and Russia, but that part was changed during my first visit. St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful European cities I have seen, a city to fall in love with during the winter, with ice on all the canals and rivers, Christmas lights far better than London or NY, — During the summer; Festivals, people and joy. A city more beautiful than Venice! I feel in love with it.

So I decided to go back and give it a shot — although I had nearly given up hope. During my consultations with Olga and her doctors, and their evaluation of my medical history, it became clear that something was not right. I had had nearly 20 failed IVF attempts with only 2-3 implementations, and they all ended up in early miscarriages. Olga recommended me to do a hysteroscopy at her clinic — a peeling of the lining in my uterus she explained — much like peeling your face to avoid wrinkles. You need a very skilled surgeon to perform this, then it increases the chances of implementation. I checked with some of my medical network that I had acquired during my 12 years of fertility treatments, and they confirmed that most doctors take too much lining during such a procedure, as they don’t have knowledge of how to prepare the lining for IVF. It’s an art, like so much else.

While doing this Dr. Elena would also investigate my uterus to see if she found something else. And indeed, she did. Elena told me I had Adynomyosis. Eh? What?

I could not even pronounce it. So, I got a piece of paper, wrote it down, 3-4 times, still without being able to pronounce it. Later I got all the paperwork — excellent translated from the clinic, and was told that we needed to change strategy if I was to have any chance at all.

Adynomyosis is a common female medical challenge, similar to Endometriosis, but much less known. And as many female medical challenges, little researched.

Bottom line it makes the uterus an unfriendly environment for a fertilized egg, it makes it challenging for the egg to implement and challenging for the placenta to grow and feed the baby. And as the fetus grows it can hinder the uterus muscles to expand properly and thus create contractions and miscarriages during pregnancy.

Well — I went back to Norway, surprised by this news, a little sceptical, and determined to get a second opinion back home. I googled my way and found a doctor at Oslo’s most prestigious hospital that had done her doctorate on Adynomyosis, and got an appointment:

“The Russians says that I have Adynomyosis (with my little paper note in my hand — still having trouble pronouncing it), but I have been in and out of fertility clinics for 12 years, and no one has ever mentioned this — can it possibly be true?”

The doctor smiled and said; “Well, let´s see what we find.”: One ultrasound later, she confirmed Dr. Elena’s diagnosis. That’s when I nearly lost it. “But how can this be?” I said. “I have spent all my mental, physical and financial resources trying to get pregnant for the past 12 years — and no one has ever mentioned this???” “Well,” she said, “Probably because only 2-3 doctors in Norway will have the knowledge to diagnose this…”

So I went home and cried into my pillow for a few hours. Crying over the wasted years I had spent, wondering if I should dare to get my hopes up again, and even more — dare to go into another exhausting treatment process at my age. I was approaching 48.

And yes, I did. And yes — it was challenging with more medication, more plans, more uncertainty. But never have I felt so taken care of. So reassured by outstanding medical expertise, so seen and individually treated.

 And almost 2 years ago I gave birth to Jenny — the most precious little miracle I have met. She smiles in the morning when she opens her eyes, she tumbles around outside as it now is getting towards spring, and if I knew what I know today, I would take on those 12 years again anytime. But — if I had found Dr. Olga and her team earlier, my endless desert walk through other fertility-clinics would have been unnecessary.

Nearly fifty years of Age, advanced adynomyosis, 12 years desert walking without success, I really was one of the patients clinics don’t want — as more often than not they can not help, and it messes up their successful statistics. But Olga and Elena took me on — and here I am 3 years later with the most beautiful daughter you can imagine — and with more bubbly happiness than I ever thought possible.

If there was hope for me, they most likely can help you. And you can rest assured that you have found the clinic with the best qualified expertise you can look for. They will do what ever is possible — within their power — to help you.

The post Nearly fifty years of age, 12 years desert walking without success, I really was one of the patients clinics don’t want… Olga and Elena took me on… appeared first on IDEAS.

Kerry, Instagram: @kerrywellbeing

Hello, I am Kerry. I am from Ireland. My beautiful baby girl Freya is three and a half months. 

I always wanted to be a mother. But my stars didn’t align as I expected them to: the right man at the right time didn’t come along. And at the age of forty I started getting quite panicked and I made my first inquiries into some clinics to go alone to have a baby, to try. But I couldn’t make that decision. At that point it wasn’t an option for me. 

So the years went by and I was 47 when I found Dr. Olga’s clinic and their embryo donation guarantee progamme. I thought that the fact that they offered a guarantee programme if you are unsuccessful after 4 attempts was amazing. I contacted them and I was extremely impressed with their attitude, with their approach and with their professionalism. But I didn’t make a decision at that point. It took me one year to come back to them and to see if they would accept me on the program.

From the very beginning it was amazing. I can’t begin to tell you how positive the whole experience was. My amazing coordinator Ann just made me feel so heard and every question I had, whether it was through my coordinator or through the medical team, was answered very quickly. I had three or maybe four sessions on Skype with one of their psychologists, who was fantastic, too, and that helped me to find answers to a lot of questions, including the ethics of this way of becoming pregnant. It was extraordinary: with every question, every concern I had and also on emotional level, I felt there was a huge mental support.

And it was all before I handed over any money to the clinic. So it just showed me where they are coming from and what kind of people they were. For me there was no question – I was in good hands and I was with the right people whatever the outcome. I was so glad that I was taking this road, although it was very scary and it was very hard to make the decision. But once I made it, there was no looking back and that was really because everybody I dealt with, from a coordinator to the medical team to the donor team, everything was superb: their professionalism, their carrying aspect, and their humanness.  

It was also a really positive experience going to Saint – Petersburg. The first time I went with friends and we had lovely time and the clinic organized a lovely city tour. It was an especially beautiful place to visit in the winter time. The next time I visited it was in the spring and I came alone, but it was also lovely and I made good connections in their beautiful clinic.

On the second attempt I was pregnant and I had the most amazing pregnancy. I hadn’t felt as well as I had in years as I did when I was pregnant and at this stage I was 49. 

Freya arrived in January. She is the most beautiful and sweetest baby! I just can’t say how much I love her and how grateful I am to the clinic. Everything was positive, I can’t say anything negative, everything was just amazing and I am so glad I chose Dr. Olga’s clinic and her team and I have now my dream come true.

I will be forever grateful and I just can’t thank you enough, Dr. Olga and the whole team. Thank you for doing everything that you could to make my dream come true.

I’d love to encourage any women and any couples who are in the similar position to make contact with the clinic and to look at your options because there are many options. Just keep an open mind. For me there is no better place. They are extraordinary. 

Another one testimonial from Kerry:

Your mission was to help bring a healthy baby to my arms. I now have my beautiful and healthy baby girl, Freya, thanks to you all.

I want to thank you all for making my dream come true. I cannot find the words to express my joy with being a mother to this little angel. She is just divine!  Her nature is so sweet and placid, and she is already smiling at almost 5 weeks old. I could never give up my dream of being a Mum, but at 49 years old, I knew it would really be a miracle.

The day I came across your clinic, I knew I had to get in touch with you. From the moment I made contact with you, thanks to my wonderful coordinator Ann, everything was clear. Any doubts or questions were clarified, and I felt in very good hands in every way. Every team member I was in contact with was extremely professional, yet caring and personal.

Although making the decision to go ahead as a single woman was not easy, I never looked back and felt confident that I could make my dream come true with your help. On the 2nd attempt, I was pregnant! I had a wonderful and healthy pregnancy. Everything has been such a positive experience with you and your amazing and caring team.

I have already told so many people about you all, as I hope that other women like me will put their most cherished hopes and dreams into your hands. Thank you all from the bottom on my heart!  With my very warm thanks and please pass especially to Dr. Elena and Anna Macarova with the donor team. I’m just so happy!

Much love, Kerry

The post Story of our dear patient Kerry appeared first on IDEAS.

Lina  Instagram: @maybebaby_2019

My name is Lina and I am a former patient at OLGA Fertility Clinic.

Almost two years ago I was sitting at the seminar at Strandvägen in Stockholm listening to Dr. Olga. I was devastated as I had already done several failed fertility treatments and I didn’t know what to do next.

Eight months ago I gave birth to my son Nicholas who was conceived through IVF treatment with my own eggs at OLGA Fertility Clinic.

My journey didn’t start at OLGA Fertility Clinic. I had been trying to get pregnant for almost 4 years before I came to OLGA. My journey started in Copenhagen with inseminations. I did six inseminations that failed and I was pregnant only once but it was an early miscarriage. I was about thirty years old when I started with my inseminations. When we realized that I would not have a lasting pregnancy with inseminations, the doctors recommended IVF treatment. I did three IVF treatments in Denmark. Every time I got out approximately twelve eggs but only two of them got fertilized. During those three treatments only one embryo survived to be transferred. My two other transfers were cancelled because there were no alive embryos on day two. The doctors didn’t have any explanation for this. They basically said that my egg quality was very bad and they recommended me to do egg donation instead.

Since I needed both sperm donation and egg donation, and at this point in time it was not legal in Sweden or Denmark, I went to Spain and I did two egg donations. One failed and with another one I got pregnant but it was another early miscarriage. The doctors in Spain told me – “It seems like you not only have a bad egg quality, but there is also something wrong with your uterus “. Basically, they said – “We can try another time, but it might be that you have something in your uterus, so it might not work”.

That was the point in time when I decided to change clinic. I contacted Dr Olga to get help with embryo donation.

In April 2018 I visited Dr Olga’s seminar at Strandvägen. Dr. Olga read my detailed medical chart that I prepared for our meeting and she said that she thought that the options with my own eggs were not exhausted and she wanted to try IVF with my own eggs. I was so surprised! I remember sitting there crying because there were so many doctors that had told me, both in Denmark and Spain, that I would never become mother with my own eggs. It is important to know that I was rather young at that stage – I was thirty two when I went to the seminar. But anyway I was very surprised and I decided to do my treatment at OLGA Fertility Clinic.

I started my stimulation in June 2018 and in July I went to Saint- Petersburg to do my egg retrieval. Dr. Elena Lapina was doing the retrieval and she got out twelve eggs. Out of those twelve eggs – eight fertilized. You remember my old history in Denmark there only two out of twelve eggs got fertilized. Now eight were fertilized! I was in shock! I thought that Dr. Elena was a magician! And what was even better was that out of those eight fertilized eggs five blastocysts were frozen! And, you know, in Denmark I only had like one two-day embryo and the rest of the transfers were cancelled. So

I was so surprised that I almost thought they had confused my eggs with eggs belonging to an egg donor.

I went back to Saint-Petersburg for my transfer in October 2018. Unfortunately, that transfer failed. I went back to Saint-Petersburg a few weeks later for a hysteroscopy, also performed by Dr. Elena. At the hysteroscopy they found that I had a chronic inflammation in my uterus and also micro polyps that made it really difficult for an embryo to attach to my uterus. The doctors did a light scratching and I got some antibiotics and some other medicine. Another four weeks later I went back again and had my second embryo transfer. That was the time when my baby was conceived, and in August 2019 my son Nicholas was born.

I am so grateful to Dr. Olga and Dr. Elena and I wish I had gone to you much earlier. I will never be able to thank you enough. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Find our more about story of Lina

The post Lina’s story: baby born on the very first attempt with own eggs at O.L.G.A. Clinic after 3 unsuccessful IVFs in Denmark and 2 unsuccessful egg donations in Spain! appeared first on IDEAS.

My name is Linda and this is my son, little Henry.

We tried to get a baby for ten years — ten years of struggling, tears, of seeing my sisters and friends getting children. We also lost a couple of children, so this one is my fifth pregnancy. He is my only child and he is my entire world.

I was a little bit afraid to do this journey: I had concerns about egg donation and how Henry would feel growing up, how I would feel if he didn’t look like me.
My heritage, my name and my family are immensely important to me. But when he was born and they put him on my chest, at once it was everything to me, he became my entire world. He even looks like two of my sister’s children. In our family we have seven small children: Henry is the youngest, then my sister has a child who is only 3 months older than him and the oldest children are 13. I love all of them so much and I think it is great and fantastic that even if these are not my genes Henry looks like two of my sister’s siblings.

When you read about epigenetics, you can see that the mother who carries the baby triggers which part of the donor’s heritage will be turned on or turned off. So just many things about a way he looks and about his personality come from me. Since he was born, I have had no doubt that he is mine.

I am so grateful to OLGA’s team and to Elena, the doctor who helped me to get this baby, and to my coordinator and all of the team who helped us. I had almost stopped believing and stopped hoping because after ten years of trying to get the child in Sweden, I thought that if they can’t make it happen, maybe no one can. And now Henry is here and he is absolutely perfect and I am his mother.

There is one thing that I want to tell you – “Don’t wait!” I waited for ten entire years. I hope that you all will get your little miracles in the future. It is worth everything.

Another one testimonial from Linda:

For those of you who still keep in mind: “Am I really ready to give up my eggs?” or “How important is it to me that my child has my genes?” etc. I can tell you that my family, my relatives and my origin mean the world to me. I told my husband when we met that you marry me and you become an Ammitzball. It is my family name from the 13th century. I also told my husband that Ivar is another family name so I wanted that as the third name of the child. My husband said I could get the last name. (He had a regular name). But he then wanted his first name after his grandfather. So for ten years we dreamed of Henry. I wanted the child to look like me, walk like me, be like me. It took me 10 years of IVF and infertility to give up the idea of my genes and my eggs. After ten years, we made an egg donation.

If you would learn about epigenetics you will see that the mother who carries the baby triggers which genes of the donor should be turned off and put on. So the baby becomes part of the mother, the father and the donor. During the pregnancy, I wondered how this would affect me. When Henry arrived — he was just mine. I loved him from the first second. He is a copy of two of my nephews. So I have triggered genes that I and the donor have in common. He is also very similar to his dad some days, so he is a mixture of us. I love him above everything! I’ve got everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Hope you who are in the thoughts and doubts do not wait as long as I do. Genes are crap the same. You carry the baby. He becomes exactly like you. You trigger his DNA. You have him in the stomach. You characterize him for the rest of his life. Hope you get your wonders in the future.

Here’s my Mowgli cocoon baby.
Henry Matteus Ivar Ammitzboll

The post Story of Linda — It took me 10 years of IVF and infertility to give up the idea of my genes and my eggs. After ten years, we made an egg donation appeared first on IDEAS.

Dear Olga,
and all wonderful ladies working at OLGA Fertility Clinic…. Today is one year since I’ve visited you in Saint-Petersburg. I was thinking for a long time, I was a hopeless case. But thanks to many years of your experience, empathetic and precise work, my daughter Frieda is 14 weeks old now and she is the most beautiful and sweetest baby that I could ever dream about. My connection to her is so strong and a sheer Magic! Frieda is such a cheerful baby. She wakes up and develops every day and the sense of my life is to see her growing, to support her and to love her unconditionally.

I’m certainly one of the happiest women in the world!

Your Nicole

Nicole’s group on Facebook

Translated into English by Valeria Sergeeva