Case Study - The Hart family
Naomi and Michael Hart from Antigua always assumed that getting pregnant was something you could take for granted. After several years of trying to conceive without success they decided it was time to get help.

Naomi and Michael had been married for four years when decided they were ready to start a family, but after a full year of unprotected sex there was no sign of pregnancy. After a visit to their physician, tests revealed that Michael’s sperm was not being released and therefore their only hope of a baby was through
in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

With no fertility treatment available in Antigua, the couple decided to head for the States. After finding a clinic in Florida, they discovered that treatment was going to cost around US$15,000 for one cycle of IVF, plus the cost of staying in Florida for a month.

It was a lot of money and a big decision, but in April 2007, the couple travelled to Florida for their first IVF cycle, which involved Naomi’s eggs being collected, then fertilised with Michael’s sperm. Sadly, only one embryo was of good enough quality to be transferred. Like so many couples who undergo IVF, they were convinced that if an embryo had been placed in her womb, a pregnancy would occur. However, the embryo did not take and they had to face the bitter disappointment that the treatment had failed.

Determined that their struggle for a baby would not become the centre of the their world, Naomi and Michael decided to focus on other aspects of their lives.
Later that year, armed with another US$15,000, the couple took another month off work and headed back to Florida to try again, praying that this time they’d be successful.

For their second IVF cycle they used frozen sperm from their first cycle and paid extra for assisted hatching. This time there were three embryos of good enough quality to be placed back in her womb, but sadly, yet again none of these embryos resulted in a pregnancy.

 “When we failed the second time it was even tougher than the first,” Naomi remembers. “We just couldn’t believe it hadn’t worked for us again.”

When they arrived home, Naomi felt depressed and angry, but a story in a local magazine about the Barbados Fertility Centre caught her eye. Trying not to get her hopes up too much, she decided to give them a call. From the outset she was impressed by the Centre’s success rates and the fact that costs were a lot less than Florida.

“They seemed to genuinely care about our case and explained that we’d only be required to go on a two-week holiday instead of a full month to undergo treatment,” Naomi explains. The couple also benefitted from discounted rates for their accommodation and flights as Caricom nationals.

The couple scheduled their treatment for December 2008 and opted for the Healthy Mind & Body programme designed by the clinic to help couples relax.

Again three embryos were transferred and when they left Barbados they were secretly optimistic: “The holistic approach was really positive and we felt that even if the treatment failed we had enjoyed a good IVF experience,” says Naomi. “We felt different this time around and I told my husband that I thought it had worked. He didn’t answer as I don’t think he wanted to tempt fate!”

Fourteen days after the transfer, the couple held their breath and took a pregnancy test. The positive line on the test was faint, so Naomi sent Michael to the pharmacy to buy another test. When he came back they decided that they should wait until the following day to try again as they wanted to be 100 per cent sure. The following morning, Naomi tried again but her hands were shaking so much she couldn’t read the result! Michael looked at the stick and smiled from ear to ear. Their son, Glen, was born in September 2009. Naomi says, “He has brought us such joy and was absolutely worth waiting for.”

Case Study - The Daly family
Many Caribbean couples who are dealing with infertility do so in silence, but one such couple, Melissa and Ray, have broken that silence to encourage other couples to get help sooner rather than later.

Melissa and Ray Daly met at UWI, fell in love and got married. “In the five years we had been together we had opened our own business and built our own home. Feeling proud of our achievements we thought it would be nice to have children and make our marriage complete,” Melissa remembers.

But the couple found that after two years of not using any contraception, nothing was happening. They consulted their doctor, and an ultrasound confirmed that Melissa had Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

Melissa said, “I was taking birth control pills at university and as they made me have a regular period, l assumed in my ignorance that everything was alright. That night l cried myself to sleep. The shock of it all was overwhelming.”

The couple then trawled the internet and learned all they could about Melissa’s medical condition. Melissa was prescribed Clomid by her gynaecologist and advised to start using ovulation tests.

Melissa said, “Our love life became mechanical as we rushed home early on our two peak days a month in the hope of getting pregnant. But month after month we failed. We became frustrated with the process and with each other.”

Finally after one full year of medication and ovulation tests they got a positive pregnancy test and were overjoyed, but this joy was short-lived, as only
days later Melissa began to bleed. The couple were devastated, and their despair only deepened as all of their friends had their first babies and quickly moved
on to their second.

Ray’s family became suspicious and started to put pressure on the couple about starting a family. They used words like “barren” and “sterile” which hurt the couple deeply as they had not told anyone what they were going through.

“That year we went to a friend’s house for a Christmas party and two couples were pregnant, seven had one child already and four couples had two children. We were the only childless married couple,” says Melissa. “The day after, one of my pregnant friends called and l finally opened up about my PCOS. She was very supportive and told me that she knew someone who had gone to Barbados Fertility Centre (BFC) for an IVF procedure and was pregnant after ten years of trying.”

Ray & Melissa went back to the internet and looked up the clinic, and within one week of that party the couple were talking to Dr. Skinner at Barbados Fertility Centre.

After taking a full medical history of the couple,  Dr Skinner ordered a series of blood tests, from hepatitis to HIV, and a sperm count for Ray. Within another two weeks Dr. Skinner had the test results and a one-day visit to Barbados was scheduled to check that Melissa wasn’t suffering from blocked tubes.

“It’s great that BFC has now opened an office in Trinidad,” says Melissa. “When we had treatment we had to fly to Barbados. Now it will be easier for couples as these tests can be carried out in Trinidad.”

The team at the BFC explained the risks and success rates, which exceed the national averages for both the UK and USA, and one month later the couple returned to Barbados for the IVF procedure.

They spent one week going to the BFC for morning appointments, during which they were monitored and Melissa’s eggs were collected and fertilised with a sperm sample from Ray. They spent their afternoons sightseeing and enjoying their holiday. Four days after fertilisation, two embryos were implanted.

“Our BFC family wished us the best of luck, I was given medication to take until l could perform a pregnancy test, and we got on a plane home,” Melissa remembers. “Two weeks later we had a positive pregnancy test and now have a beautiful, perfectly healthy baby boy!”
 

Fertility Treatment in the Caribbean
The Barbados Fertility Centre was founded in 2002 to meet a growing demand from Caribbean patients for a full time, highly specialised world-class IVF unit employing the latest in scientific advance and technology. In 2009 they saw a 62% success rate for women of all ages.

If you would like to know more about their work, go to www.barbadosivf.org, or call +1 246 435 7467