Maria Louise Ellingsen (32) has been looking forward to becoming a mother for a long time, and at 26 she was ready to start. – Becoming a mother has always been on the list. She was young and had good prospects. But first she had to go through a roller coaster of miscarriages, failed attempts and a lot of waiting. Six years later, in April 2024, she had little Jennie Eline in her arms. – At the first meeting, for those around me, I was perceived as a bit cold and withdrawn in my gaze. And it was probably because I wasn’t quite there. – It took me a long time to understand that she has come to us, says Ellingsen. – It actually feels like it was a long journey from the start, and then you didn’t know where the end station was, says Ellingsen. – Nothing happened Maria Louise Ellingsen and roommate Daniel Fiskum actually had to choose between two good things: Getting pregnant or getting married. They went at first, but it wasn’t quite that simple. – Then time passed, and then nothing happened. Then the process of getting help via IVF treatment, or in vitro fertilization as it is also called, began, when it turned out that they were inexplicably childless. And on the first try, Maria Louise actually became pregnant. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. It was the start of a long and tortuous road to having children, with many ups and downs. Facts about IVF/test tube fertilization IVF stands for in vitro fertilisation, and is also called test tube fertilisation. The treatment involves egg cells taken from a woman’s ovaries being brought together with many sperm from the woman’s male partner, or from a donor, in a “test tube” where fertilization can take place. The first successful treatment with assisted fertilization that resulted in a live-born child occurred in Great Britain in 1978. In Norway, the first child was born in this way in 1984. In Norway, almost 40,000 children have been born with the method during the 36 years that have passed since the first child was born. Here, around five percent of all newborns are the result of IVF treatment. Denmark has the highest percentage globally, at around nine percent. There are 13 IVF clinics in Norway: seven public and five private. Source: Great Norwegian Lexicon. The magazine Vesterålen has previously discussed Maria and Daniel’s journey. Spontaneous abortions, infection and Asherman One day while Ellingsen was washing a couple of cups in the kitchen, she noticed that something was wrong. She had an intense feeling of infection with a high fever and chills. It turned out to be an infection as a result of abortion, for the second time. Ellingsen had had an abortion before. The first time it happened, she first had a side effect from the treatment, which caused her to be overstimulated. The condition can become serious, and Ellingsen was admitted to hospital for a week with a drain to be checked by professional personnel. – It is perhaps some of the worst pain I have experienced. In the end it worked, but shortly afterwards there were no more signs of life in the stomach. Part of the treatment involves taking hormone injections, which must be seen in the abdomen. That is what Ellingsen is doing here. Photo: Privat As a result of the two abortions, and especially the last one with infection and scraping, Ellingsen got Asherman syndrome. The condition is due to scar tissue in the uterus and thin mucosa in her case. Win or lose: – Like winning the lottery In Norway, you get three attempts with a test pipe in public. If that is not possible, private treatment is possible both here and abroad. It can cost several hundred thousand kroner and, in other words, is not worry-free. How test tube fertilization takes place Below you can read a little about how a typical test tube fertilization works. This summary is simplified: Assessment: First, the woman must be assessed with various examinations. Stimulation: The woman is stimulated with hormones so that several eggs mature in the same cycle. The treatment can be demanding. Follow-up: The woman is followed up with ultrasound examinations of the ovaries to monitor the response to the hormone stimulation. Egg retrieval: When the eggs are ripe, they are physically retrieved. It is an intervention that takes place under local anesthesia in the vagina. In vitro fertilization: In standard IVF, a few hundred intoxicated sperm are added from the woman’s partner or from a donor. Embryo reset. After cultivation in the laboratory, one of the embryos is selected and inserted into the woman’s uterus. The time before the pregnancy test: After embryo transfer, a supplement of the hormone progesterone is often given to make the conditions in the uterine lining as good as possible. Pregnancy test: After IVF treatment, a pregnancy test is performed two weeks after the embryo has been placed in the woman. If the test is positive, the woman will be followed up with an ultrasound examination. Source: Store norske lexikon But this time there was a happy message from St. Olavs hospital in Trondheim. The couple had been lucky with the last public egg retrieval and received a total of nine embryos in the freezer. Namely, not all embryos are good enough to take care of. But those that are are put in the freezer and can be used for future new trials. Previously they had had three or four. – Then when we got nine it felt like winning the lottery. We suddenly had nine new chances in the public sector that were in the freezer. The announcement was a big rift for the couple. – I think I almost shouted into the phone when I got the call from St. Olavs. In August that year, they put in the first of the nine, which was Ellingsen’s tenth put in. It resulted in the long-awaited daughter, Jennie Eline. One of Jennie Eline’s names is named after one of the doctors who accompanied the couple in the process. Photo: Private She came into the world on a Monday evening. But it wasn’t until Wednesday of that week that it dawned on Maria Louise that her daughter was actually there. – I think I spent the whole day just standing and laughing. I stood there by the bed in the morning and realized how beautiful I thought she was. Daniel entered the room and realized that Maria Louise had finally understood. The joy was great when it was Ellingsen’s turn to have a baby shower. Photo: Privat Perhaps with the help of Viagra At the hospital in Trondheim, Ellingsen heard in a short sentence that she was the first to have a child after testing a new medicine at the Fertility Department at St. Olav’s hospital in Trondheim. Senior doctor Camilla Kleveland tells news that they have now had more people who have had children after this treatment. – It is incredibly nice that Ellingsen and the family have finally had a child, perhaps with the help of Viagra. Yes, you read that right: Viagra. But: – You don’t use conventional Viagra tablets like in men, but specially adapted vaginal tablets, produced by the hospital pharmacy, and can only be used in consultation with a fertility doctor, says Kleveland. According to her, there are now several studies that have tested Viagra in relation to increasing the blood flow to the uterus and for women with thin mucous membranes they see an effect of this medicine. – The treatment can be a useful additional medicine for a small group of patients. She explains that some people can have a very thin endometrium, i.e. uterine lining, after, for example, scrapings or adhesions after childbirth or abortion. – This is not a large group, but it is very difficult for them to get pregnant. It is a challenging group to help, as we have few treatment options. This additional treatment involves building up the uterine lining as usual, with e.g. estrogen tablets or plasters, and adding vaginal Viagra tablets to improve the blood supply before the embryo is inserted. Because the treatment is so complex, doctors call it an additional treatment, and not a method. – You don’t give up believing that it will work, says Ellingsen, even if it hasn’t been easy. Photo: Private – Probably a bit unusual In Norway, almost 40,000 children have been born using the method during the 36 years that have passed since the first child was born. For young women, as Ellingsen was when she started, it is not usual to have to continue with test tube treatment for so long. – Six years is certainly longer than the average. Most of those that close, which is actually the majority, close within a two-year period. That’s according to gynecologist Liv Bente Romundstad at Volvat Spiren Trondheim. Since 2012, she has prepared the summary reports from all Norwegian clinics on behalf of the Directorate of Health. Liv Bente Romundstad has worked with assisted fertilization since 2002. Photo: Mari Svenning She adds that at the same time as the birth rate is decreasing, the number for assisted fertilization is increasing. This is partly connected with the fact that many people are waiting longer to have their first child. According to figures from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, approximately 3,000 children are born after assisted fertilization each year. Of those who received treatment in 2020, a third had children, says Liv Cecilie Vestrheim Thomsen at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI). The figure only shows those who have undergone treatment, with successful results: Exactly how many attempts the individual woman has before they succeed, or give up, does not exist today, says Thomsen. – For the time being, we are doing a lot of work to collect that data, says Thomsen. Found support in a social network Before the journey towards a family started, Ellingsen had never imagined it would last this long. – Then there are those who would like to hold on for ten years, and then you get like, oh my God, it’s not possible. You don’t imagine that it will be you. But it had actually been six Christmas Eves and six summers without Maria and Daniel closing. – And in the end, you were suddenly one of them. The couple have shared the process on the Instagram channel Ønskebarnreisen. It has made it easier to keep friends and acquaintances up to date without having to answer the same question over and over again. Ellingsen has shared the ups and downs on Instagram, and talked to people from Norway, Sweden and Denmark in the same situation. Here she sums up parts of it. Photo: Private – And then I have gained access to a great many stories via that account, which has given us the courage to continue. – Have you always, in other things also that do not apply to this journey towards becoming pregnant, been someone who thinks that this will work? – Yes, I have quite a high level of motivation, perhaps. Willpower to get things done. But what is perhaps most demanding in the test tube system is that you have no control. – And I am perhaps a person who has a rather high need for control in large parts of my life. Is it true? Now Maria Louise and Daniel are at home with their parents in Snåsa in Trøndelag, before the trip goes home to Molde. Maria’s parents in Vesterålen in Nordland also recovered this summer. They have landed, and feel that as a couple they have come out of it all stronger. But still, Ellingsen looks at Jennie Eline and wonders if she is really hers. – I think we have had a lifestyle for so many years and thought more about what life will be like if it doesn’t work out. That when it happened, it was almost too good to be true. What do they think about several rounds of treatment after all this? – If we have to try to get siblings, I think we will do it. Sometime this autumn, she will check how the uterus is doing. And they have several embryos in the freezer, from the successful egg retrieval. – But it won’t be the very first thing. Published 04.08.2024, at 10.34
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– Spent the whole day crying – news Nordland
