True stories

I’d be lying if I said that undergoing treatment was easy…

At 32 years old, it seemed like a good time to become parents.

From our friends and families’ experiences we knew that these things take time, so we were in no rush.  What a surprise when two months later I found out I was pregnant. Up until that point I had never paid much attention to my ovulation days and in reality, we had never had to.

Three years later we decided to try for another baby and six months later we still hadn’t been successful. We started to keep track of my ovulation days but we still didn’t get the pregnancy we were hoping for. We went to the gynaecologist and he told us that we could start out with a few simple fertility tests; for me, hormonal tests that would measure my ovarian reserve and monitor my ovulation and for my partner, a semen analysis.

When we went to the gynaecologist’s office they told us that I wasn’t ovulating and that we would need to go an assisted reproduction clinic to complete the testing. We started looking for clinics in Madrid and one day we mentioned our problem to some friends and they confessed that their baby had been born thanks to the assisted reproduction treatment that they had received at Clínica Tambre.

We decided to place our trust in the team at Clínica Tambre led by Dr. Caballero Peregrín.

My partner had a semen analysis done and we were surprised to find out that he had oligoasthenoteratozoospermia.

After coming to terms with the fact that the chances of me getting pregnant by ourselves were slim, given that my partner had very few spermatozoa, which didn’t move well, and a low sperm count, we decided to place our trust in the whole team at Clínica Tambre to receive in-vitro fertilisation treatment.

I’d be lying if I said that undergoing treatment was easy.

We had to go on certain days for hormone check-ups and ultrasounds. During that time, I had to inject myself with medication every day to help make my ovaries work a bit, but the care we received from all of the staff at the clinic made everything so much easier to deal with. The doctors that helped us during our visits to the clinic and the operating theatre were always willing to answer any questions that we had and kept us informed as to how our treatment was going.

The nurses were always friendly, helping me to take my medication correctly on more than one occasion.

As for the biologists and their behind-the-scenes work, they knew how to select the best embryos so that nine months later we were able to hold our second child in our arms.

Once again Clínica Tambre, specialists in assisted reproduction in Madrid, stayed true to the words of one of their slogans “We work for your dreams.”

But whenever we went to the clinic, we always encountered the same thing: kindness, smiles, hope… and we held hands and squeezed even tighter.

Almost two years ago my wife and I came to your clinic. We had been trying to become parents without any success for several years, starting treatment in a different clinic, only to be hindered by bureaucratic problems. The threat of time, age, and the little hope we had left were all stuffed into the same folder with all of the rest of our documentation.

Our first visit was, if possible, even more frustrating; the doctor that saw us didn’t give us much hope given my wife’s age, she was about to turn 40, but that was based purely on statistical data… nevertheless, she told us that she would do everything that she could to try and make our dream of being parents come true, that statistics were made to be broken.

And so began another journey of tests for both her and myself, calls to our insurance company, sleepless nights staring at our bedroom ceiling, and a single thought in our heads…will we achieve it?

But the data and the tests were what they were: advanced age and several years trying made our case a difficult one. We would start with inseminations and if this wasn’t successful, which ended up being the case, we would then move on to IVF.

I remember that the waits between one test and other, and between one insemination and the pregnancy test seemed to be eternal, and it took its toll on us, and it was not just a financial toll, but even more so, a psychological one… My wife and I found that we had less and less strength to carry on, but there was always a small light shining at the end of the tunnel.

I also remember, and it makes my soul shrink to think about it, that call from Dr. Marbán, telling us, with all the tact in the world, that the first IVF had not gone well either… that there was only one chance left, our last chance, our last hope.

Up to that point we had used up two inseminations and one IVF treatment; our time, strength, money, and hope were all running out.

And then the time came for our last IVF treatment… they performed it and we went home hopeful, hopeful once again, but with a terrible fear that this one wouldn’t work either, and if it failed… then what?

You may not realise it, but those stretches of time between tests while you are waiting for news, they affect your life, your day to day life, your partner, your marriage… everything, but once again, the smiles on the faces of the Tambre staff, from David in reception to Dr. García Enguídanos, made the procedure much more bearable.

And then the time came for the test… for the call. I don’t remember ever having smoked so much in so few hours while waiting for the call, just as I don’t remember ever having cried so many tears of joy when they told me over the phone that the test was positive…I couldn’t speak, I could only cry, cry, and cry some more…but this time I cried of joy.

I tried to find a way to tell my wife, to give her the good news, but I struggled to think straight, or even get my words out…I was so happy and wife was going to be happy too.

This was wonderful news for the whole family, and from then on there were new fears, new tests, ultrasounds, analyses…the usual, and each one more nerve-racking than the last… will everything go well?, will it grow like it is supposed to?, will it be implanted correctly?…and everything went as it was supposed to, and we were finally discharged from Clínica Tambre.

With another smile on her face, Dr. Marbán discharged us and honestly, we felt like we were orphans, we didn’t want to stop going to the clinic, we didn’t think anyone could look after us and help us throughout our pregnancy like they had done there… and I swore that I would write this thank-you letter, but as you can see, time slipped by me and I’m writing it today, because better late than never.

Our little girl Nieves is now two and a half months old, she is growing normally, and she is always laughing; I truly believe that you all infected her with your laughter because there was never a single moment when you weren’t smiling.

They say that money can buy anything, but there are some things that not even all of the money in the world can buy; professionalism, the right attitude, and a good work ethic, all of which the clinic’s staff had in abundance.

I wanted to send you this letter to thank you, from the bottom of my heart for the work you’ve done: to David, for the giant smile that he greeted us with every time we came in, to Dr. Marbán, for her friendly and encouraging tone, to Dr. García de Miguel, for her sweetness and her smile, to Dr. Garcia Enguídanos for his tact and politeness, and to the rest of the staff that helped us at one time or another, assistants, nurses, porters, administrative staff…keep up the good work, you’re going to make a lot of people happy.

As for us, we will keep on, God willing, enjoying our little Nieves, a girl that has a little bit of every single one of you, but most of all, she has your smile.

Eternally grateful
Damián and Rosa

We’ve always felt that we needed to tell the story of our experience and we hope that it gives encouragement to all of the other couples that are going through what we went through.

You’ve given us the most wonderful gifts that anyone could wish for; our lives took a dramatic turn for the better thanks to your effort and dedication.First with Violeta and Alonso six years ago and now, just three months ago, with our little Sara.
To say thank you is not enough. We will never stop owing everything to you because you’ve helped us more than anyone could possibly imagine.
This is just a small gesture to show our gratitude. Thank you to the entire team at Clínica Tambre.

Thank you, Family!

A hug from your Family
The Torres-Zapata Family 2016