Quincy: Hello, my name’s Quincy Yu, I’m 37 years old and we have a 3 year old boy of whom we managed to conceive naturally. After our boy, we tried for a second child naturally for over a year, but this time around we had trouble conceiving so we decided to try IVF at Beyond IVF after hearing a lot of our friends having success with IVF.
Sandy: Hello my name is Sandy Leem and I’m 36 years old. We have a lovely baby, he’s a boy, turning 3 this year and my husband wanted to have a second baby, so we tried naturally for about year and half. We couldn’t conceive naturally so we asked our friends and our friends told us that IVF treatment might be able help us. Yes, that’s why we chose to do the IVF treatment.
Can you briefly explain your IVF experience?
Sandy: So, when we decided on doing the IVF treatment, we went to Dr. Ton at Beyond IVF and we did a health checkup and on the second day of my period we…
Quincy: They gave you the first (stimulation) injection at the clinic!
Sandy: Oh! Right they gave me the first injection at the clinic, but it (the stimulation phase) lasted about 10 to 12 days. The Dr. told me I can do it (the injections) at the hospital or I can take injection home and do it myself. So I thought it’d be easy for me to do at home – so I tried and actually, it was very scary and I was very nervous, but after few days later I got used to it. It was a quite easy!
Quincy: How was your mood during the injections?
Sandy: Well I didn’t notice, but the people around me told me that I was quite…weird…
Quincy: The process wasn’t really that complicated (for men). I went in once for an initial sperm analysis (prior to the completion of the stimulation phase) and then once again on the day of egg collection (OPU) for the ICSI fertilization procedure. In terms of preparing myself, the Dr. recommended abstaining from sex and of course not drinking alcohol.
Sandy: Yeah, I think we did it in the afternoon for the egg collection and the process took about half an hour and after the procedure I was just resting outside for about an hour and a half, and then we got to home afterwards.
Why did you choose Beyond IVF?
Quincy: When we finally decided to do IVF we spoke to a lot of clinics. Additionally, a lot of my relatives have also done IVF in the past so I had a lot of information first-hand about the IVF process and the various clinics (in Bangkok). We spoke to a lot of doctors and clinics before selecting Dr. Phunsak (Dr. Ton), who ultimately impressed us with his knowledge and his straight forward, patient-first approach where he was very careful about not over-stimulating my wife’s ovaries. Without over-stimulating during the stimulation phase, we were also able to transfer the embryo immediately in the next cycle, whereas other clinics recommended us over-stimulating and waiting at least 1 month to allow hormone levels to stabilize (prior to embryo transfer). This approach was comforting to hear for us as my wife’s health is of course of utmost importance to us, which led us to choose Dr. Ton and Beyond IVF.
Sandy: Well the first time I met him he was very humorous and I thought he seemed pretty honest as well. During the IVF procedure I think it’s very important for the mother not to be stressed out and I think he did a really good job on that.
Quincy: Additionally, we felt that Beyond IVF’s overall facilities were both new and utilizing the latest technologies in the laboratory, which definitely put us at ease.
Sandy: And we did some research and the doctor was very experienced in other hospitals as well. – I think over 20 years of experience.
Which step was the most exciting for you?
Quincy: During the 10 days of ovarian stimulation we went in every 3 or so days for regular ultrasounds with Dr. Phunsak to monitor the growth of the eggs. Everything was thoroughly explained to us every time we went in and we felt both at ease and excited with the regular updates we were receiving (especially guessing how many eggs we would eventually get!). In the end we managed to extract 13 eggs, and of that, 10 were mature and ready for fertilization. After culturing the embryos to 5 day blastocysts, we were left with multiple healthy embryos to choose from and eventually we settled on a girl.
Sandy: So, the most exiting past for me was pregnancy test. The Dr. told me I could check it (pregnancy) after 2 weeks, but I decided to check at 1 week! So I’ve been checking after 7 days every day and I could see the 2 lines (in the pregnancy test) becoming more clear, and that made me really excited!
Once the pregnancy was confirmed, how did you feel?
Sandy: So after I checked my pregnancy test and realized I was pregnant I still needed to wait for Dr Ton to reconfirm with me, and I went in 2 weeks later, he reconfirmed my hCG levels and he told me I was 100% pregnant. I felt really relieved and happy!
Quincy: I feel happy and a bit relieved that we managed to get Sandy pregnant on the first try! I had heard a lot of stories from friends and relatives about how they had to do IVF multiple times, so again, very happy to be able to have it “one and done”.
Anything to share to those considering IVF treatment?
Quincy: A final note to couples having trouble conceiving and are looking at IVF, all I can say is don’t be scared, the process really isn’t as complicated or scary as it looks. We were, of course, anxious and unsure like most people prior to considering IVF, but after speaking with Dr. Ton we were put at ease with his kind demeanor and his willingness to explain every step of the process in detail. So, if you’re having trouble conceiving, I recommend visiting Dr. Ton at Meko IVF for at least a consultation, even if you’re unsure of doing IVF.
Sandy: I just wanna say that it’s not going to be easy, but it’s really worth it, so I want to tell other people that you should also do your IVF treatment at Meko (IVF).
Any parting comments for Dr.Ton?
Sandy: So I want to say thank you to Dr. Ton for making us feel at ease during the process and would also like to thank him for making our dreams come true
Quincy: I’d like to thank Dr. Ton one final time for our baby girl and literally making my own dream come true of having a daughter.
