Silvia's Story "Through hell and back"
Updated: Aug 6, 2020
I’ve been living with endometriosis for about 15 years. It took a year of going back and forth to my GP and different procedures before being referred to a gynecologist who diagnosed me with severe endometriosis.
I have undergone several drug treatments, two laparoscopies, two laparotomies and a colonoscopy. After my last operation, I was told my tubes were too damaged and that it would be a miracle if I fell pregnant.
I went through hell and back with this horrible disease and my dream of becoming a mum was going to be a long and hard journey.
The journey started with looking at adoption, which we decided wasn’t for us at that time. Our next step was IVF; our first try was unsuccessful. I grieved for a baby that never was. It was a very low point in my life. I could handle all the needles and procedures; I struggled with the emotional toll it would take on both myself and my husband.
About a year later, we were approached by friends to adopt a younger sister’s baby. We were so excited, but three months before she was born it all fell through. I was a total mess grieving again for a baby that wasn’t even mine. It took a long time to get back to some sort of normal life again.
We decided we needed a new start so I looked at information about other IVF clinics, and found that Melbourne IVF had a high success rate. I had family there, so we decided to move to Melbourne to try our luck.
We did our first round of IVF a year after we arrived in Melbourne. We produced an A grade embryo that was implanted. It was the longest two weeks of our lives. We got the call I was pregnant! I couldn’t believe it! To prove to myself it was real, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Nine months later, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Rhiana, who is now 7. We returned to NZ a year later with our precious girl.
I’m one of the lucky ones as I have been symptom-free for years now, touch wood!!