I live in Sweden, I am over 35, and I’m struggling to get pregnant.

This is a stressful experience felt by an increasing number of women around the globe. The happiness of motherhood is a journey with ups and downs, and where the pressure to get pregnant can make it difficult to enjoy the moment and reach the desired outcome.

Around age twenty to twenty-five, your professional goals may urge you to postpone pregnancy for later in life. Around age thirty-five and onward, pregnancy becomes desirable, but here, other factors often come into play- health and medical indications, relationship status, or sexual orientation. The desire to become a mother, sometimes, is simply not enough. In this article, we will walk you through the existing options for effectively addressing the problem of infertility.

 

Adoption, or infertility treatment by IVF?

 

In Sweden, the adoption procedure is quite bureaucratic. For every 500 adoptions by Swedish parents of a child from abroad, there are only 5 adoptions of Swedish babies. Adoption, in addition to taking two to four years to accomplish, will cost a hefty sum. On average, it costs around 10,000 euros, or 100,000 Swedish kronor.

 

In case of infertility, fostering or adopting can be a solution. However, it brings several challenges and drawbacks that should be taking into the equation at an early stage of the process.

Of course, a parent can love a fostered or adopted child just the same as a biological child, but these situations can cause distress in the family, and often with the child as the biggest victim. When you plan to foster a child, you need to prepare from the very beginning that at any time this child could be moved to another home. Adoption, on the other hand, does not have this issue, but may result in other conflicts for the child, such as the longing to find their biological parents.

Additionally, to a woman who views pregnancy as an inextricable part of motherhood, no other experience can offer the same fulfilment of carrying and delivering their own child.

 

In-vitro-fertilization (IVF), is the best option in terms of success rate.

 

Despite the price, artificial insemination and IVF offers the opportunity of maternity for Swedish women under 40 struggling to get pregnant. But here, you need to take into account several fundamental constraints, sensitive for those who wish to find the happiness of motherhood moments.

First, only one clinic in Sweden has the right to conduct infertility treatment. That is, the reality is that you are waiting in line. It takes months at the very least and steals your time - a precious resource in this situation.

Second, from the point of view of today's medicine and average life expectancy, the age limits are illogical. If you are over forty, IVF treatment is the best to increase chances of being able to be a biological mother.  Additionally, the donation in Sweden is not anonymous, meaning your child will know his biological parent, which for some is an uncomfortable situation. Beyond this, the choice of donors is very limited.

The third factor is that during IVF procedure, the doctor has right to work with only one embryo, which obviously significantly reduces the chances of overall success. Considering that the state will only pay for up to 3 attempts, this system does not favour success.

Fourth, Swedish legislation still restricts the rights of single women to use the procedure of IVF fertilization. The total set of these factors, plus the price for treatment, encourages Swedish parents to consider treating infertility abroad.

  

what are the chances of getting pregnant?

 

It must be understood that the chances of getting pregnant as a 35 year old are 42% lower than those of women in the age group of 20 - 24 years old. At age 37, a woman's ability to conceive falls by about 9% per year. So, if you did not use the procedure of vitrification (freezing your genetic material) and you cannot naturally conceive, it is worth considering options for assisted reproductive technologies.

 

The chances of getting pregnant as a 35 year old are 42% lower than those of women in the age group of 20 - 24 years old. Time is an important factor. Taking action and following the right steps is important!

 

Auxiliary reproductive technologies (ART): donating sperm and egg donation.

 

In general, there are two approaches to the treatment of infertility in IVF: the donation of a male (sperm), or a female egg in a variety of combinations. The latter is a rarity in itself - some countries prohibit the use of female donors in the treatment of infertility.

Speaking specifically about Latvia, and more specifically about Ava Clinic in Riga, we probably have the largest donor base in the country - men and women with a Scandinavian phenotype. So, the future child will be like you. In addition, unlike many other countries, Latvian legislation does not prohibit the treatment of infertility both to single mothers and to homosexual couples.

According to the legislation, the donation of eggs and semen in Latvia is anonymous. That is, the donor has no way of knowing who will receive his reproductive material. True, you will not be able to access the personal data of the donor. But in the end, a stranger will not come and lay claim to the child you raised, disrupting your family unit.

 

The percentage of success with artificial insemination is 93%

 

In the treatment of infertility, the matter is not confined to a mere replanting of the egg of the donor into the future mother.

There is a whole set of tools that can bring the level of success with artificial insemination to almost the maximum threshold.

Usually, the embryos obtained with the help of the donor egg are planted on the third day. Recent studies have shown that with cultivation of embryos up to five days, up to the stage of blastocyst, the percentage of success increases to 82-84%.

At the same time Ava Clinic, in Riga, so far the only one in the region, offers to use its unique Geri incubator (Genea Embryo Review Instrument). What is unique? In Geri, the development of each embryo is fixed at intervals of five minutes. At the disposal of the doctor, there are almost 300 accumulated in a day's time for meticulous research and selection of the best, healthiest, most ready embryo for transfer candidates.

 

What is Genetic Screening?

 

The next step, which will add a few percent to the overall chances of success, will be genetic screening. This is a pre-implantation genetic analysis of embryos. At Ava Clinic, we only use the newest method.

During the analysis, the goal is to obtain and analyse the complete information about chromosomes, and to exclude from further treatment any embryos with their wrong set. Screening is carried out on the fifth day, when the embryo consists of about 120 cells. To conduct a biopsy, we take five to seven cells, from which we extract DNA. Then, we copy it, bring the number of copies to one million. After that, as a result of the research, we get the exact answer - how healthy the embryo is genetically. And, of course, the health of the embryo increases the overall chances of pregnancy and the birth of a healthy baby.

 

Embryonic glue.

 

Embryonic glue is a special fluid that is used by doctors during the embryo transfer. At the time of transplant, embryos are immersed in the liquid which they grew in during the last days. This liquid can be substituted for a special embryonic glue before the replanting - this will increase the chances of successful implantation.

Embryonic glue, by medical standards, is young. It appeared on the market only seven years ago. The manufacturing plant is located in Denmark with a distributor company based in Sweden. The first internationally recognized analysis of the effectiveness of embryonic glue was published in February 2014. The results were, quite frankly, impressive.

 

The average pregnancy rate when using Embryonic glue rose by 8%, bringing the total success rate to a fantastic 92.3%!

 

Nuances of remote IVF.

 

The total duration of the course of drug treatment for IVF, including initial analyses, will take about one and a half months. At the same time, the course of treatment itself is arranged so that you only need to fly to Riga once. Today, it is common practice when a patient arrives in the morning and flies home the same day, on an evening or an afternoon flight.

 

Effective infertility treatment.

 

Given the latest developments of the IVF technique, your age, social status, income level and even sexual orientation are no longer obstacles to experiencing the joy of motherhood.

Methods of extracorporeal fertilization, proven technologies of working with egg donors, donor bases, pharmacology, absence of boundaries, combined with a strong desire for a child, give you high chances of becoming a mother and experiencing first-hand the miracle of life.