Today, on the International Day of Families, we’re going to discuss Maribel and David, two lawyers who went from a diagnosis of Unexplained Infertility with the impossibility of having children, to now being a large, 6-member strong family (and potentially more on the way).

When they were both 27, Maribel and David decided that it was time. They wanted to have a baby. But no little one was forthcoming, so they were plunged into the world of fertility treatments.

Following 4 Artificial Inseminations and 8 In Vitro Fertilization treatments, through both public and private health care, Maribel and David managed to secure some embryos that did not implant. No progress. Indeed, things seemed to be going backwards. The more medication and the greater the stimulation, the worse Maribel’s ovaries responded. After the last IVF with negative beta in a private centre in Mallorca, Maribel suffered serious internal bleeding that led to hospitalisation. She knew that something wasn’t right, but the only diagnosis after years of treatment and significant emotional and physical exhaustion was Unexplained Infertility and the statement that they will not have children.

Maribel decided to deal with the situation, accept it, and start the adoption process. She didn’t want to know any more about assisted reproduction techniques and didn’t want to undergo any more check-ups, operations, or punctures. It was a categorical decision: it’s over.

“I went to Valencia due to an agreement with my husband. I wanted to close a cycle of my life with the peace of mind that I’d done everything I could,” Maribel explains.

Things went otherwise, as the couple recounts. They left the consultation with a clear medical diagnosis and with an appointment already scheduled for surgery to correct the T-shaped uterus.

“After meeting the doctor and her team, I realised that if I couldn’t get pregnant with them, I couldn’t get pregnant with anyone. At last, they knew what was going on. I’d had hundreds of ultrasounds over three years, and no one had seen my uterus issue?”  Maribel exclaims. 

According to Dr Crespo: “When we perform an examination and send tests, we must know what we’re going to look for, this will also determine the appropriate time in the cycle to perform these diagnostic tests. We only start treatment if we find the cause. If we don’t know what is happening, we continue investigating with all necessary means. We won’t subject the patient to treatment without determining the cause. That’s prioritising chance over our professional responsibility.

On 3 October 2012, 8 months after her visit with Dr Crespo, the embryo transfer of 2 of the 5 embryos obtained after corrective surgery for the T-shaped uterus and bilateral hydrosalpinx took place. On 16 October 2012, Maribel and David got their first, much-sought-after positive beta resulting in Carme and Mauro.

In May 2015, Maribel and David returned to Valencia to repeat the experience. “After twins, I wanted to make it easy. Maribel visited from Mallorca, and she looked well. I transferred an embryo that resulted in a miscarriage that destroyed her uterus again. We had to operate again to clean all the debris and adhesions. After the past experience of embryo transfer with a single embryo and her operated uterus, we opted to transfer the two remaining embryos that quality-wise, seemingly weren’t so good,” Juana Crespo adds.

Maribel who had come seeking another child and left on 8 February 2015 not even aware that her two new little ones were already there inside her, growing into two wonderful realities named Nico and Martina, now 7 months old. 

Maribel and David’s medical history shows 5 embryos and 3 transfers of 2-1-2 embryos resulting in 2 twins. However, their report does not show that Maribel, who arrived in Valencia a broken woman, without hope and having never become pregnant, was a great fighter who gestated three times. Together with David, her rock and who played a key role in this story, Carme, Mauro, Nico and Martina, this large family may one day return to Valencia for a little visit and who knows might emerge.