Update – November 26, 2024
“I still can’t believe it really – it’s crazy!”
Carrie and Justin got the best early Christmas present they could have ever wished for when Carrie discovered she was pregnant following treatment at Next Fertility Nordic in Tallinn.
Although she didn’t “feel” pregnant, when she took the pregnancy test, Carrie felt an aura of calmness that wasn’t there after previous rounds of IVF.
“It felt very different to previous tests, in that I felt calm and more positive,” recalled Carrie.
“I had a calm feeling that we were in really good hands even if it didn’t work. I kind of felt that what will be, will be.
“I didn’t feel that I was pregnant – I didn’t dare to think that. But I definitely felt happier and at peace with myself.”
Carrie and Justin had travelled to the Estonian capital for the transfer on October 17th. Carrie said it was very different from her experiences in the UK.
Speaking about the embryo transfer, she said: “The actual procedure itself was really moving and beautiful. I’ve never experienced anything like it when I’ve had embryo transfers in the UK.
“The previous clinics all sedated me. Because I have a tilted cervix, smear tests are quite awkward, so I think they just thought it would be easier to knock me out as if it was going to be tricky, it would be stressful.”
Carrie had travelled to Tallinn earlier in the month so Dr Helen Liis could carry out a mock transfer ahead of the treatment date. As a result of this tailored approach, Carrie did not require sedation during the actual transfer, making for a wonderful, memorable experience for Carrie and Justin.
Carrie said: “To not have to have the anesthetic and to be awake through it all was really special.
“They put music on, Justin came in with me, and there was just Helen, the nurse, and the embryologists showed me it all on the screen. It was lovely. Relaxing and very easy.”
She added: “There’s something about Estonian culture. They’re very calm people, unruffled, but very warm. It was the perfect combination of confidence in their clinical abilities, but also really caring. They all hugged us. I felt like they all really wanted it to work for us as people. It’s nothing like we’ve experienced before.”
An embryo transfer had initially been pencilled in for September, but Carrie ovulated prior to the appointment, so the transfer had to be pushed back by a month.
“That was the only stumbling block, to be honest, everything else just went so smoothly,” said Carrie.
Carrie has been experiencing pregnancy-related nausea and some nervousness during this early stage, but the seven-week scan put the couple’s mind at rest.
Carrie said: “I’ve been keeping my head down and my social life has just gone. I’ve just been staying in feeling very sick.
“I was really nervous and I wanted to make sure that everything was okay. We’ve seen the heartbeat now, so I feel a lot more confident.
“We told very close friends and family last week and they were delighted.”
Once again Carrie has sung the praises of the team at Next Fertility Nordic and says she wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Tallinn to UK couples seeking fertility treatment abroad.
Carrie said: “I see women asking for clinic recommendations all the time.
“In the UK, we see Greece, Cyprus and Spain as the places to go, but more people should check out Estonia
“It’s just so convenient, a beautiful city, and easy to get to.
“The prices are still the same as in the Czech Republic, for example, so it’s not like it’s any more expensive.
“It’s a secret little gem!”
Carrie is due to give birth in July 2025.
Congratulations to Carrie and Justin from the whole team here at Fertility Road.
Update – August 30, 2024
Carrie and Justin were greeted with hugs when they arrived at Next Fertility Nordic in Tallinn as they took the next step on their fertility journey.
The couple travelled from their home near Wakefield in the UK to the Estonian capital earlier this month to meet the team at the clinic.
Carrie said: “Everyone was really friendly, and it’s such a lovely clinic. It’s amazing. They gave us a tour, and it’s so compact, but everything’s there. I’ve been to clinics in England where you have to go to different sites for different procedures.
“It was such a positive trip. And Tallinn is beautiful, it’s a lovely place to relax and to have IVF. It’s quite a small city, so getting around is easy. The clinic itself is a nine-minute taxi ride from the airport, which was just so convenient. The clinic is only a few minutes from the centre of town.”
It was the first time Carrie had returned to the city after holidaying there with her sister Lydia, who sadly passed away in May 2020.
Carrie said: “It was fine during the day, but we went out for dinner one evening and I got quite emotional because I recognised a bar that we had gone to together. It was bittersweet, but overall it really did feel right. I felt like my sister was with us. Being selected as a finalist in the Fertility Journey Project is like Lydia’s gift to us.”
Carrie and Justin spent two nights in Tallinn. Originally Justin was going over alone to give his sperm sample, as Carrie was busy at work, but thanks to remote working, she was able to join him for the visit.
The couple had previously had a lengthy video call with Next Fertility Nordic’s donor coordinator.
Unlike some clinics in the UK, where women can face a wait of many weeks or even months for a suitable donor to come along, the Estonian clinic was able to offer Carrie a selection of potential donors.
She said: “I’m very fair-skinned, blonde, with blue eyes, and I know it’s harder to find that if you go to Spain or Greece. But here the vast majority of the donors had light eyes, light-coloured hair and that was more what I look like.
“For women coming from the UK who have got that colouring, there’s a lot more choice of donors in Estonia.”
After seeing photos of Carrie and her sister, the coordinator put forward a donor that they felt was a perfect match.
Egg donation in Estonia is anonymous, so Carrie and Justin were given only basic information about their donor.
Carrie said: “My main thing was that I wanted someone who would possibly share my hobbies or background. I hope she does.”
“At the beginning of August she was really happy to start treatment, so everything aligned, and it was great. She produced 12 eggs.”
Although Carrie lives almost 1,070 miles away from the clinic, she was able to keep track of the embryos’ progress using the innovative CHLOE™ (Cultivating Human Life Through Optimal Embryos) system.
She said: “I could log into the app anytime, as many times as I want, any time of the day, and watch live videos of the embryos developing.
“I could see what stage they were at, all the T-levels, when they were becoming blastocysts.
“It took so much stress out of it, because waiting for that phone call from the embryologist is just horrible. I used to dread talking to someone on the phone with bad news.
“This way I felt like I had a little bit more control over the situation. It’s a game changer. Every clinic should get it.”
Carrie also feels that using the app helped her to feel closer to her embryos.
She said: “Although they are donor eggs, it made me feel closer to them, that they are my embryos, with my name on them. And I’m right there at the beginning, watching them grow. It made me feel protective of them and helped develop a maternal bond.”
Carrie is due to start taking medication shortly, with an embryo transfer pencilled in for September.
Update – June 13, 2024
“We’re so over the moon with this news!”
Carrie Carfrae and Justin Smith were overjoyed to be chosen for the latest Fertility Journey Project. The couple will head to Next Fertility Nordic in Tallinn, Estonia, later this summer for egg donation IVF.
Carrie previously underwent IVF with her former partner, but a personal tragedy brought her world crashing down.
Carrie explains: “I had IVF in my mid-30s with my ex-partner. We did two rounds on the NHS, and they didn’t work. In between these, my sister Lydia was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She died in May 2020.”
“She left me some money in her will to try privately with IVF. We did get blastocysts from those cycles, but then my partner and I split up. So even though those embryos were frozen, we didn’t use those, which was really difficult for me to deal with.”
Carrie, now 43, said the following years were “incredibly difficult” until she met Justin.
The couple met when they worked at Production Park in Wakefield, England, a purpose-built studio facility used for major film, TV and commercial productions.
“Justin ran the big bar and restaurant there, where I used to go and get my lunch, and we used to chat,” Carrie recalls. “That’s how we met each other.”
She added: “I had been so down since my sister died, but meeting someone like him has completely changed my life. He’s wonderful.”
“Justin is 10 years older than me and has never had children before. He had a really difficult upbringing, as he went into care when he was three years old.”
“So I think that makes him want to give a child an amazing home even more, because he never had that.”
“We have both been through our tragedies in life, but in very different ways. It’s drawn us together, and made us want this happy family.”
Fast forward two years and the couple live together in a beautiful cottage in a small village just outside of Wakefield, and Carrie has changed careers and now works for a copywriting agency, which counts supermarket giant Asda as one of its clients. With the couple’s impending treatment at Next Fertility Nordic, Carrie says: “I feel like everything in my life is coming together.”
Tallinn holds a special place in Carrie’s heart, as she has fond memories of holidaying with Lydia in the Estonian capital.
“To get this opportunity in Tallinn is really special. This feels right. I remember we had such a lovely holiday, just the two of us, a few years ago,” she says.
Carrie and Justin met the Next Fertility Nordic team during an online consultation last week and they are already feeling positive about the journey ahead.
“I’ve had a couple of meetings with them now. Everyone at the clinic is so friendly and we’ve met all the team, the embryologist, the donor coordinator.”
Carrie added: “I sent photos of me and my sister to match with the donor, because it is important for me to have that resemblance to my sister.”
Thankfully, the clinic has already managed to find a suitable donor for the couple, and she will start treatment in June.
Carrie and Justin plan to fly out to Tallinn in August or September for a frozen embryo transfer.
Carrie added: “We’re really, really happy together, and we just want to be parents now.”
“This is just an amazing opportunity for us.”
