I am one of those women for whom becoming a mother seemed like a very difficult task. My husband and I had been trying to conceive a baby for many years, but it looked impossible. I remember we reached a clinic specialized in assisted reproduction, where we met a very gentle doctor whose name was Jorge. With him, we went through different assisted reproduction treatments, from the least invasive ones to the use of in vitro fertilization. Needless to say, my body went through injections, hormones, and more. Doctor Jorge has the idea that after an implantation process, I must rest in bed for two weeks. That idea was to add more stress to my life. I think it was our second attempt when I was working for a school as a 4th grade teacher. This kind of information is not what you tell everybody, so how do I keep it a secret if I have to be off work for two weeks? I had to lie. Just my direct boss knew about the upcoming process I was going to go through. For the rest of my colleagues, I had a made-up story about a surgery I needed. Obviously, after two weeks and negative results, I came back to work and had to keep lying while everybody was asking about that made-up surgery. For the third attempt, I decided to leave my job. The results were negative, too.
Physically and mentally exhausted, I finally thought motherhood was not for everybody, and so my husband and I must just move on with our lives. However, I found out that a friend of mine, who had been trying to be a mother for a very long time, was in her latter stages of pregnancy. I told it to my husband, and we decided to look for her doctor. This doctor\\\'s name was Andrea. Dr. Andrea was extremely serious and not very friendly, but she discovered what might have been causing me not to get pregnant, and with that hope, we went for another in vitro attempt. Dr. Andrea had a different opinion on what actions a woman undergoing artificial insemination should take. She believed the woman should carry on with her...
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I am one of those women for whom becoming a mother seemed like a very difficult task. My husband and I had been trying to conceive a baby for many years, but it looked impossible. I remember we reached a clinic specialized in assisted reproduction, where we met a very gentle doctor whose name was Jorge. With him, we went through different assisted reproduction treatments, from the least invasive ones to the use of in vitro fertilization. Needless to say, my body went through injections, hormones, and more. Doctor Jorge has the idea that after an implantation process, I must rest in bed for two weeks. That idea was to add more stress to my life. I think it was our second attempt when I was working for a school as a 4th grade teacher. This kind of information is not what you tell everybody, so how do I keep it a secret if I have to be off work for two weeks? I had to lie. Just my direct boss knew about the upcoming process I was going to go through. For the rest of my colleagues, I had a made-up story about a surgery I needed. Obviously, after two weeks and negative results, I came back to work and had to keep lying while everybody was asking about that made-up surgery. For the third attempt, I decided to leave my job. The results were negative, too.
Physically and mentally exhausted, I finally thought motherhood was not for everybody, and so my husband and I must just move on with our lives. However, I found out that a friend of mine, who had been trying to be a mother for a very long time, was in her latter stages of pregnancy. I told it to my husband, and we decided to look for her doctor. This doctor\\\'s name was Andrea. Dr. Andrea was extremely serious and not very friendly, but she discovered what might have been causing me not to get pregnant, and with that hope, we went for another in vitro attempt. Dr. Andrea had a different opinion on what actions a woman undergoing artificial insemination should take. She believed the woman should carry on with her life. So, I carried on with mine for the next two weeks, and then I had a blood test. I remember Dr. Andrea calling me at work, and with an extremely serious and not friendly tone of voice, she congratulated me. I was pregnant. I was happy. I had never been that happy. She then asked for another test. I did. She called me once more to tell me that the test produced positive results again, and this time she told me \\\"See you in two weeks for your first ultrasound\\\".
My husband had made plans to go on a trip with his family, so he would not be with me for my first ultrasound, which gave me no pleasure at all. At the ultrasound, neither Dr. Andrea nor I saw anything on the screen. She said there must be a little sack. After a couple of minutes, she just asked me to get dressed. I understood what was happening. I\\\'d rather wait for her to give me the bad news, though. When I was ready, I sat in front of her at her desk, and with her serious and not very friendly expression on her face, she said, \\\"I\\\'m sorry, there\\\'s nothing.\\\" I asked many questions; perhaps they were stupid ones, but she answered all of them in her typical serious and not friendly way. Now I understand that perhaps she may have adopted that attitude as a shield for situations like this one. She also pointed out that there was something positive, and it was that this time, after her treatment, which consisted of injecting myself with Enoxaparin in my tummy every day, I had actually gotten pregnant. She was right; however, at that moment, I was just thinking about bursting into tears right there in front of her or waiting until I left her office. I held my tears, but as soon as I started my car, I broke down sobbing until I realized I was driving wherever but home. I thought about my husband, and I hated him as he was not by my side.
After some months, I gave her good point some thought, and we tried again. Everything turned out to be the same as the previous attempt until Dr. Andrea reached me to give me the good news, because this time I did not allow myself to be happy. I remember my husband and I crying in silence during lunch when I told him. I waited until I saw that little, beautiful sack she had talked about to be happy. My husband was with me this time. Dr. Andrea smiled at me. It was a total different feeling, even though I was again crying. During the first stage of pregnancy, which was very complicated, I got very anxious before each ultrasound, as I was expecting the worst. However, everything was right, and after the third month, we decided to thank Dr. Andrea because paying for an assisted reproduction clinic was very expensive. I reached back to my original doctor. Luckily for me, Dr. Andrea knew my old doctor, Dr. Ivo. They had worked together at the same reproduction center. Dr. Andrea wrote a detailed report so Dr. Ivo could continue with the treatment.
I had not seen Dr. Ivo for a number of years, during which I had been under the care of Dr. Jorge and Dr. Andrea. When he asked me how I was, I happily answered, \\\"pregnant.\\\" He smiled at us. I think he was truly glad for us, and he followed Andrea\\\'s instructions carefully.
However, the 2020 pandemic arrived, and all of us were sent home. It was unknown how pregnant women were to be treated. The Enoxaparin injections that I had to get every day became scarce and extremely expensive because they were used to treat patients with COVID 19. Fortunately, the clinic started accepting pregnant women first. It was May, and my pregnancy was going all right. Now it was just me who entered Dr. Ivo\\\'s office. My husband had to wait outside. He was not allowed to be with me for the ultrasounds either. The pandemic changed everything.
It was week 34 of pregnancy, and Dr. Ivo, who by that time was just Ivo, ordered a doppler ultrasound. When he read the results, he told me my baby\\\'s weight was below the 10th percentile for her gestational age. Then he said, \\\"Allison, I need to take her out\\\". I did not understand why, if my baby had been perfect just two weeks before. I was afraid of losing her. Ivo explained that my baby had intrauterine growth restriction, or IUGR. It means my baby was not growing. She was not getting food. We went out of the office. My husband was waiting outside, and as soon as he saw my mask covered in tears, he knew something was wrong. Ivo explained that a baby\\\'s weight must be between the 10th and 90th percentiles. My baby\\\'s was 8th. He told us that another ultrasound needed to be done in a couple of days, but in the meantime, I should be in bed and eat so that I would not burn calories, and hopefully my baby would get some food. I did as he said. We came back after two days, and the ultrasound results indicated that my baby\\\'s weight was in the 5th percentile. It was worse. Ivo gave us five more days to follow the same instructions. When I came back for the last doppler ultrasound, my baby\\\'s weight was in the 4th percentile. She had definitely stopped growing. Then our doctor said, \\\"Well, the good news is that you will meet your baby today\\\". I was prepared for a c-section, and needless to say, my husband was not allowed to enter the delivery room because of the pandemic restrictions. Because of that reason, Ivo asked the nurses to take pictures of the newborn so we could keep them as a memory of that day. Mia Sayumi was born on June 17, She weighed 2.5 kg.
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