Success Story, got my gorgeous pgd baby girl - Savvas/Genesis

[jlglassford2]

Hi ladies, not sure if I am posting in the right place etc but have been meaning to post a message for a while now to give hope to those of you who are considering Savvas/Genesis. I am mum to three wonderful boys now aged 8, 6 and 3, and last September conceived my longed for baby girl on my second trip to Genesis. She is now 4.5 months old, and I finally feel my family is complete. We are so, so happy.

Not really sure where to start, but basically we decided to go for Genesis as it had to be Europe for us (US etc too far away and too expensive) and it seemed the best of the available options. We were pretty nervous as the stats from the clinic are non-existent and there appears to be no proper regulation. Initially when I phoned up Savvas to ask a load of questions that my husband wanted to understand the answers to (such as 'is it illegal?', 'what body are you regulated by?' etc), Savvas became very angry and defensive and nearly put the phone down on me saying 'if that's how you feel then feel free to go to the States'. I was very shaky as Savvas was really quite aggressive (I think perhaps he thought i was a journalist, who knows). However, we decided to push on and later I became very fond of Savvas (see more below).

In a nutshell it did not work first time (June '13), but there could be any number of reasons for that. I was 40 for starters (41 now). Also I had a bit of a disaster with my trigger injection that first cycle and only ended up administering half of it so the eggs were not fully matured. Then when I returned to the UK with 2 ok quality blasts implanted, my son was rushed to hospital in an ambulance with suspected meningitis 2 days after I got back and the nerves sent me over the edge, I think that would have been enough to end an early pregnancy.

However things were totally different second time around and 2 excellent quality blasts were planted (the only 2 I had left after some had died, a couple were 'boys', some had chromosonal issues etc) - and one took. I paid an extra 100 euros for a nurse to come to my hotel the night before the egg retrieval to administer the injection, as I was scared of messing it up again. FYI I paid extra for sperm sorting, totally worth it.

The clinic itself is a touch shabby in the waiting room etc (mind you, so are the Harley St clinics), but the hermetically sealed scientific areas seem very high tech and well maintained. No worries there. Communications are also a bit flakey from time to time but again, it is worth persevering. I did speak to someone on the board of medical tourism in Cyprus and he said that even though Genesis is not a member of their organisation it is very well known in Cyprus, ie not a fly by night, which gave me some comfort.

Regarding Savvas, he has a brusque 'bedside manner', however he is very caring once you are fully on board and really wants you to achieve that pregnancy. He was trained in the UK and is very well known in London in the fertility world. For example, in the early stages of my pregnancy I was seen by a fertility expert in Harley St who managed to get out of me that I had conceived my baby via pgd in Cyprus and he immediately asked if that had been with Dr Savvas even though they were not connected as such. Also, at one point I owed some money for my meds and there was no chasing for it etc - in other words, the money is almost secondary for him to achieving a pregnancy. The nurses are a bit flakey but very sweet.

One thing to bear in mind is that you do not have to stay out in Cyprus for the entire 2 weeks. Second time around I could not afford time-wise to be away from my boys for too long, so I went out on the Sunday, had a scan on the Monday, chilled for a couple of days, had the egg retrieval in the am of the wednesday and flew back to london (very cheap flight) at about 3pm. Was back home to put my boys to bed and spend thurs/fri/sat at home. Sunday afternoon flew out again , embryos were implanted at 5 day stage on the Monday morning. Chilled for 24 hours in hotel bed, reading etc, then flew back Tuesday afternoon. DId not feel like I was away for long at all, and because my husband's sperm had been frozen from the first time, he did not need to come out at all this second time. I stayed at the Curium Palace hotel near the clinic, nice but cheap, good pool etc.

Overall I thought the experience was amazing, and weirdly feel a touch nostalgic coming on the forum. I feel it was something amazing i did for myself (and thankfully DH was on board with it - very sceptical in the beginning but now of course in love with his little girl). Obviously it could have not worked but I was prepared to do it maybe 3 or 4 times, so got lucky with it working 2nd time. And as someone said, I think it is so much worse to never try and then never know. Better to try and have it fail, then at least you know it wasn't meant to be.

Sorry for the massive waffle, very short of time, should be doing loads of other stuff this morning, you know how it is. But please - do feel confident in using Genesis, there is not much verifiable info on them but I honestly think they offer a really amazing service, Savvas is a true expert (have had enough meetings and conversations with him now to know this), really cares about what he does and the result if you are lucky enough to get it, is so worth it. Baby sitting on my lap now as I type.

Big hugs to all of you

J xx

[lisvna]

Congratulations!

[lisvna]

Please can you make a cycle sticky?

[faithuk]

Congratulations xx

[Pink rose 76]

Congratulations! It must be a dream come true.

I also agree with your comments about dr.s, he can be quite brusque and in our culture we maybe would label him as very rude. My experience with him this summer was fine until after my failed cycle. After which he became hard to get hold of and did seem a little unsympathetic. I do however, trust his judgment and liked the clinic. The only reason I can't cycle there again is down to money. So I am off to the Czech clinic.

Also, the fact that you can openly discuss gender preference is a huge plus compared to the Czech clinics. I think the costs are rising though, especially with the extra acgh costs which are so much higher at genesis compared to everywhere else.

[jlglassford2]

Hi Pink

I think you've hit the nail on the head, he is rude but it is cultural not personal - also he doesn't like 'time-wasters' - which can be a problem when you are not a time-waster at all, just doing your proper research or trying to decide whether you are able to go for a second round or whatever. He wasn't particularly sympathetic with me when it didn't work out first time either, basically inferred it was my fault (which it might have been) etc. But I decided to suck it up.

FYI It's worth mentioning for those who don't know, that you get 20% discount second time around, which is not something you're aiming for but useful to know in case you find yourself in that situation.

Best of luck in Czech. How are you planning to get round the issue of being able to discuss/request gender selection? Will be keeping my fingers crossed for you xx

[True Blue]

Congratulations

[granddaughter]

Congrats post a picture would love to see her

[lisvna]

I agree with you its a cultural thing which I'm used to . Savvas isn't a bad person and the clinic isn't either although I think the succesrates aren't as high as he claims.

I agree that it's also a good thing you can discuss openly about gender with him although the last time I was there he had a hard time when I told him I didn't wanted to transfer the healthy boy. For me it feels like he changed his view about genderselection. I think he is okay with transferring girls if there are girls but if there are only boys he has a hard time not to transfer them. Lately I heard a few stories about trying to convince people to transfer the boys too......so I'm curious how it will develop in the future.......

All I can say it's nice to have a few good clinics to choose from in Europe because every person is looking for a clinic that's fits the best!

[ever hopeful]

Really, I'm a bit shocked by this as a friend of mine IRW has just started talking to him about going there to get a boy - she has 3 girls - and he's certainly been great on the phone with her so far about it - she's had two telephone conversations. Maybe he's concerned about quality etc and people having there last chance to get pg?

Joanna, so pleased for you. x