Posted by By OMODELE ADIGUN on
Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, again rolled out drums recently to celebrate another landmark in its short history as one of its clients, Mrs Kehinde McCarthy, was delivered of triplets on July 6.
Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, again rolled out drums recently to celebrate another landmark in its short history as one of its clients, Mrs Kehinde McCarthy, was delivered of triplets on July 6.
This was coming on the heels of twins delivered by another client on May 19. Its first baby ever was born last year.
In this piece, the Managing Director of the centre, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, observes that men usually cooperate when their wives are undergoing In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) because the treatment is logical and advise the stakeholders in the country to form cooperative societies so as to bring down the cost of treatment.
The McCarthys
They were married for about three years before they came to Nordica in 2003 when we newly started the centre. Then we did every necessary evaluation and we found out that the woman had a wibal blockage which necessitated Invitro Fertilisation (IVF). We had the first go and the second one which were not successful but the third attempt was a triplet. Every other thing just went as planned in this case.
Hiccups
When you have multiple pregnancies, you have to take some precautions. The doctors that looked after her took these precautions and everything went well.
Duration of treatment
She had three circles altogether within that period of time. Of course, that is what we keep telling people that sometimes you may not succeed the first time. This is an evidence of such persistence.The babies came on July 6, 2005. They were delivered at the Island Maternity Centre, Lagos.
Tubal blockage
Generally in Nigeria, two things are responsible for infertility, abnormal sperm count and tubal problem. They are the chief factors responsible for infertility in this part of the world.
Advice
My advice for people having similar problem is to learn from the case of Mr & Mrs McCarthy. One good thing about them is that they started early. The wife's age was right for the treatment. We can't over emphasize this. Again, the couple persisted. They did not succeed the first time. They didn't succeed the second time. But here they are the third time, they have triplets to show for it. So, persistence is something that people in this kind of situation should embrace.
More male infertility?
It is something we are not sure of, but it seems as if male infertility is increasing all over the world. Even at the last meeting that we held, it appeared as if all IVF clinics, even in Europe are handling more of male infertility problem. So, definitely, there is an increase. But what precisely are responsible for this could be attributed to so many factors, from the ridiculous even to the sensible, though one cannot say that this is precisely what the problem is. One thing is obvious, sperm count is decreasing.
Clients
One luck that we have in Nodica is that most of the time we are not the first people to handle the clients. Some doctors have seen them before. Most of them were aware that there is a male problem. In such cases, we see the couple together so that we can counsel them on how to go about this treatment, the kind of support that the wife needs and so on. We do this because we have found out that whenever the problem is from the husband, the wife carries the burden more than the man. Again, if you observe the men closely, you will easily discover that what they are looking out for is something logical. Therefore, once they see that your treatment makes sense, they tend to cooperate. Most of the times, when they can't see any sense in what you are telling them, they won't cooperate. We have few of them who don't cooperate. But many do. The problem usually is getting them to come for the treatment, to start with.
Babies
Yes, it is possible for the treatment to bring more than triplets to start with. To control the number, one way of doing so is to reduce the number of embryos that we place. For instance, you know that we don't place more than three in this part of the world. We know that in other places, like America, they can place five, six even up to nine. So, one of the measures is to restrict the number of embryos that we place. Even now in some parts of Europe they are talking of singular embryo transfer. Another way which is not particularly common in this area is direct fetucide. We don't practise it anyway. So, if it is not more than three, it is something that can be handled easily. If it is more than three, it becomes a big problem.
Reducing cost
The cost of treatment can be reduced if we can get cheaper drugs, which we are working on. I think that is the problem all over the world, even in America, they are looking for ways to reduce cost. But we must bear it in mind that we should reduce the cost and not the quality because if we do, it becomes a tragedy. Again, we can achieve low cost by putting things that may not require much work. For instance, in patients who are appropriate, we can do invitro-maturation. Those are the things that can reduce cost. Of course, if the market in Nigeria becomes more organised, all the players can form something like cooperative to bring down some of these costs. I must tell you now that we spend much money on consumables. And some of them, you can't even get out from the manufacturers.
You have to go to a third party. These are some of the things that raise the cost of treatment. But I believe that with time, all the players will be able to come together and then affect the cost of consumables.
Mr McCarthy speaks:
After our marriage, we lived together for three years before we actually noticed the problem. Somehow, I got information about Nordica Fertility Centre. I approached them and they explained the whole thing to me. I thought we should just give it a chance. We have been spending so much all these trado-medical herbs without any result. Along the line, I said this is medical, I was positive that it is likely that we get result. It was unfortunate that the first treatment was not successful but from all indications we knew that something would happen.
In the first treatment maybe due to overdose or whatever, only the doctor can explain that anyway, she had bleeding and the pregnancy came down.
Mood
Now that we have achieved success, I have joy flowing through me.
Cost
I don't really keep a proper account of how much I have spent so far but I think it should be in the region of N1 million or so.
Advice
One of the things I always tell men who have only females (unfortunately some even ended up marrying more than one wife) is that you determine the sex of your baby. So, it is the same thing with infertility. It is not a one-sided problem; it may be from either of the couple. Sometimes, you have some problems that you can not even explain. The best advice I can give to anybody is to try as much as possible to see doctors, especially fertility experts who will give a helping hand.
Mrs McCarthy relives her experience:
The triplets' pregnancy
I am a 30-year-old school teacher. Carrying the pregnancy of triplets wasn't easy at all.
It was very heavy and stressful. I couldn't go to work, I couldn't do anything. I stayed home all through.
When I was told that I was carrying triplets, I was disturbed. I asked a doctor that with my slim stature, would I be able to carry such pregnancy. He told me to keep on praying. I was very healthy, all through because I was giving myself (intavenous) injections. Surprisingly, I didn't experience any of the morning sicknesses associated with a pregnant woman.
In-laws
My husband's family didn't disturb me because they were nice people.
Advice
My advice for women with fertility problem is to go for this IVF treatment.