Adoption

As some of you may have already heard, our IVF at Taichung was not successful. We tested negative for pregnancy. Dr Lee said everything is fine with me and hubby, embryos just did not implant this time, probably because they were not in the right place. We just need to keep trying.


For me and hubby, we planned to try IVF just once. If it didn't work out, we would continue just trying on our own and start exploring adoption as well. We talked to a friend of ours who adopted 2 of her kids several yrs ago. She referred us to the NGO from where she did the adoption. The NGO is called NORFIL, and is one of only 2 entities that are authorized to process adoptions aside from DSWD. So if you want to avoid the bureacracy and slowness of govt agencies like DSWD, going directly to an entity like NORFIL might be a good choice. NORFIL is located at:

#16 Mother Ignacia Ave., corner Roces Avenue,
Quezon City

If you wish to call them, their Tel. Nos are: 372-3577 to 79. Look for Cessna. She's in charge of adoptions.

You can also find out more about them thru their website:

http://www.norfil.com.ph


The first step is to set an appt with them for an orientation session (ours is this Dec 4). Usually lasts about 1 and a half hours. They will give an orientation on the process, reqts etc. There will be other couples there as well.

Will let you know more after we've gone through the session.

Yahoo Group

There's a wonderful IVF Yahoo group of Pinays (most of whom went to Taichung). It's called the Babae Yahoo Group. There's a wealth of knowledge, experience, and support that you can get from that group. If you wish to be part of the group, send me your email address (you can post it in the comments section) and I'll have the administrator add you.

IVF Clinic Tips

1) Getting to the clinic

On your first day/appt, the clinic will send a car to pick you up at your hotel. You'll have to walk or take a cab home though after. On the days after, you go on your own already.

2) Clinic payments

Your total IVF cost with the clinic will be about NT120,000-150,000. You don’t need to pay the total amt right away. You pay it in installments. The schedule of payments is more or less like this:

• Your 1st appt – About NT 10,000 (for your blood tests)
• Day 2 or 3 – NT 55,000 (for your fertility meds, shots etc)
• Day 8 til egg retrieval – You’ll be going to the clinic daily to have your follicles checked via ultrasound. The doctor may decide to extend your fertility shots from day to day, so you’ll need to pay about NT 4,000 per day for each additional shot.
• Egg retrieval day – NT 20,000
• Embryo transfer day - NT 40,000

Other possible costs:
• Embryo cryo storage – If you are fortunate enough to have extra good quality embryos that you can have frozen here at the clinic, storage is free for the first year, and NT 30,000/yr thereafter.
• IVIG treatment sessions - If you end up having an immunological problem like me, be prepared to pay upto NT 50,000 per treatment (IVIG) session. In my case, I’ll need to do 4 sessions. My 1st session was on Day 8. 2nd session is after I test positive for pregnancy. Not sure yet when exactly the 3rd and 4th sessions will be, but I heard they might be on my 6th and 10th weeks of pregnancy (counting from first day of your last period). If you test negative for pregnancy, then you don’t need to do IVIG sessions anymore beyond the 1st one

3) Egg retrieval - Shave the area of your private parts the day before egg retrieval. Otherwise they'll do it for you right before the procedure, and they're not as gentle. So you're better off doing it yourself. Egg retrieval is done under general anesthesia. When you wake up, they'll wait for you to go the bathroom to urinate at least 2 times before they discharge you. In the meantime, your hubby will be waiting for you at the VIP area. When you're ready to be discharged, they'll call him to come get you.

4) Embryo transfer - You first go to a room for a detailed ultrasound. Then you go to the private room where the transfer will be done. When Dr. Lee comes to do the transfer, he'll give you a printout/report which says how many eggs were fertlizied (incl pics of the embryos). He'll tell you how many embryos he'll transfer (unless you've had a previous discussion with him and advised him of how many you want transferred), and then do the transfer. After the transfer, you'll be asked to lie down in the clinic's room for 3 hours after embryo transfer. There's a TV in the room so you won't get bored. But I mostly slept and read magazines. Your hubby can stay with you in the room. You can leave after 3 hours and go back to your hotel. Some people prefer to stay til end of the day or even overnight. But this will depend on the availability of the room.

5) Injections

You can learn to do the injections yourself (which I did), have your hubby learn, or go to the clinic each time (which can be a hassle, esp when you have 3 injections per day). Most of the injections are subcutaneous and can be done on your tummy - these I learned to do myself. But a few are intramuscular (progesterone shots) and need to be done on your butt. It's hard to do yourself, so it's better to have the clinic teach your hubby or go to the clinic to have them do it.


Some injections come in tiny bottles which you need to break. First time we did it, the glass shattered - we broke it the wrong way pala. The way to do it is as follows. Look at the neck of the bottle. You'll see a small circle on the neck - this is the weakest point on the bottle neck. Make the circle face you. Then break the bottle top away from you. It should break easily.

Useful Chinese Phrases

Hello / how are you - ni hao
Thank you - sheh sheh
How much is this? - dor sheow chen
Toilet - tsur swoh
Water - shway
Rice - fan
Fish - yu
Beef - niu ryow
Chicken - ji ryow
Pork - chu ryow
Egg - dan
Vegetables - shu sai
Menu - sai dan
Bill - my dan
Exchange money - duy hwan

Shopping, Eating, Other Stuff To Do in Taichung

Shopping

1) Food/Grocery – Jasons (in Chungyo Dept Store), Carrefour (there are several branches including one in Taichung Central Dept Store), Capitan (wonderful supermarket behind Zhong Ke Hotel), convenience stores like 7-11, OK Mart, Family Mart (they have great frozen meals that you can have microwaved, such as pasta)

2) Clothes – Dept stores like Chungyo, Mitsukoshi, Tiger City, Sogo. Find English books and mags at Eslite Bookstore in Chungyo. If you love Muji, they have a branch in Chungyo. In case you see signs like 8, 7, 6 when you shop, these mean that they're 20%, 30% or 40% off respectively. We were trying to figure this out for the longest time. A salesperson who could speak English finally explained it to us.

3) Eating Out – Yakiniku next to Zhong Ke was our fave resto (all you can eat for just Ps700), but we recently heard that they've closed down :( Also try Napoli for their chicken and pizza. It's near the IVF Clinic. You can also have your hotel call them and order for delivery. Fastfood chains like McDonalds, Burger King, KFC (try their egg tarts). There's also Chilis and Cold Stone ice cream in Tiger City. Also Fridays across Chungyo. In front of Chungyo is a market area where you can enjoy dimsum, stinky tofu, etc. Enjoy bubble tea and the many bread stores in Taichung. Did you know that this is where bubble tea was invented? On our last night in Taichung, we went to Mr. Goose. It's near Tiger City. Order the goose and stinky tofu as pulutan, and enjoy with Taiwan beer.

4) Entertainment - You can watch English movies in Tiger City or Taichung Central. If you're booked at Zhong Ke Hotel, you can ask the lobby to print out the week's movie skeds for you.

5) Sightseeing - Check out the Museum of Natural Science (don't bother to watch the movies, they're all in Chinese), Botanical Garden. If you're willing to travel farther out of central Taichung, go see Sun Moon Lake and the Dakeng Scenic Area

6) Gym - This is especially useful for the husbands. There's Peri which is a 15 min walk from Alice Hotel (going towards the direction of Chungyo). You can sign up on a monthly basis (Ps2700/month). There's also California Fitness but I heard they're more expensive and are farther away from Alice Hotel.

7) Acupuncture - When I was in Taichung, a number of the Pinoy IVF couples were going for acupuncture at a clinic near Chungyo. Heard it's very good (both for wife and hubby), and pretty cheap (about Ps500/session lang). You can ask the lobby people at Alice Hotel for details (clinic location, number etc).

8) Mass - There's a Catholic Church that says Mass in English near Taichung Central. You can take a bus from Alice Hotel. Sunday Mass is at 11am. Mass is filled with Pinoy;s who work in Taichung.

Practical Info

Some random stuff to remember which are helpful to know:

1) Changing money
You can come here with US$ and Euros (just checked yday, bank saus they change Euros) and change them at a bank next to the clinic or Alice Hotel. They only allow a max of US$500/person/day to be changed, so time your exchanges carefully (so you have the money you need to pay the clinic – more info on that later).

2) Credit cards
Credit cards are widely accepted when you shop and eat. Alice Hotel and Zhong Ke accept credit cards too. Unfortunately, Dr. Lee’s clinic doesn’t – so be prepared with your NT cash.

3) ATMs

I unexpectedly needed additional treatments when I was here, which required additional money over what I brought. I was panicking trying to figure out how to get the extra money to Taiwan, knowing the funds were sitting in my BDO account in Manila.

Then I realized I could use my BDO ATM card in the ATM machines here. Banks in Manila have ATM cards that actually work abroad (they’re affiliated with either Cirrus or Plus). So you can withdraw money from your account here (even if your acct is a peso acct). The money the ATM will dispense to you is NT dollars. There’s just a maximum amt to withdraw per day (BDO’s was NT30,000/day). And your bank will usually charge you a transaction fee (probably around Ps50/transaction, but it differs per bank).

Just look for ATMs that have a Cirrus or Plus sign on them. Most 7-11 stores have these ATMs inside. If you stay in Alice, there’s one across the street, and also one in the 7-11 next to it.

4) How much money to bring during your clinic appts
Your total IVF cost with the clinic will be about NT120,000-150,000. You don’t need to pay the total amt right away. You pay it in installments. The schedule of payments is more or less like this:

• Your 1st appt – About NT 10,000 (for your blood tests)
• Day 2 or 3 – NT 55,000 (for your fertility meds, shots etc)
• Day 8 til egg retrieval – You’ll be going to the clinic daily to have your follicles checked via ultrasound. The doctor may decide to extend your fertility shots from day to day, so you’ll need to pay about NT 4,000 per day for each additional shot.
• Egg retrieval day – NT 20,000
• Embryo transfer day - NT 40,000

Other possible costs:
• Embryo cryo storage – If you are fortunate enough to have extra good quality embryos that you can have frozen here at the clinic, storage is free for the first year, and NT 30,000/yr thereafter.
• IVIG treatment sessions - If you end up having an immunological problem like me, be prepared to pay upto NT 50,000 per treatment (IVIG) session. In my case, I’ll need to do 4 sessions. My 1st session was on Day 8. 2nd session is after I test positive for pregnancy. Not sure yet when exactly the 3rd and 4th sessions will be, but I heard they might be on my 6th and 10th weeks of pregnancy (counting from first day of your last period). If you test negative for pregnancy, then you don’t need to do IVIG sessions anymore beyond the 1st one.

5) Weather

Taiwan has 4 seasons. The closest I can compare it to in terms of weather would be HK. It’s now late Oct (autumn), temperature ranges from 19 (late at night) to 28 degrees (middle of the day). I heard winter (Jan/Feb) can get pretty cold, upto 9 degrees. So if you’re not the type who likes the cold, it’s probably best to avoid winter. Plus that’s also the time of Chinese New Year, when Dr Lee is gone for a week.

6) Safety
In terms of safety, Taiwan is pretty safe, even at night. We noticed how we hardly saw any cops around here. Yet, crime rate seems low. Our friend who lives here explained to us that that’s because there are many cameras installed in every street corner, outside bldg etc. So less need for cops. Seems to work.

That doesn’t mean you should go around leaving your bag and belongings unattended. Always still practice caution. I always think we’re pretty well trained in Manila – we don’t leave our stuff unattended, always wary of pickpockets and snatchers etc. So we’re pretty much prepared to fare well here in Taiwan.

One thing though I’d probably watch out for though in terms of safety is pedestrian safety. Most traffic lights don’t have green signal lights for turning left. Cars turn left at their own caution. So even if you’ve got a WALK signal, watch out for cars that may be turning left. My general observation here is that drivers here care even less than Philippine drivers do. In the Philippines, if they see you in the middle of the road, the driver will at least finally yield to you. Here in Taiwan, when it would happen to us, the cars didn’t even seem to slow down. We had to run off the road, otherwise the cars would have run us down.


It’s also amazing how many scooters/mopeds there are in Taiwan. They outnumber cars! They go pretty fast, a number of them don’t follow the traffic lights, and they weave in and out of roads. So watch out for these too. Although they’re smaller than cars, being run down by one can’t be that much fun either.

7) The Taiwanese people
One thing we immediately noticed here is how nice, friendly, and helpful the Taiwanese are. I have yet to see one who is unpleasant. Even the cab drivers are good natured! Amazing. You should see the staff in the clinic – the nicest people in the world you’ll ever meet. Our friends from here tell us that they are especially nice to foreigners – isn’t that great?

8) Voltage
Taiwan’s voltage is 110V (like the States). Most of the chargers for my electrical/electronic stuff are dual voltage (100-240V), so I was fine. I didn’t have to bring a transformer or anything like that. Make sure you check the stuff you bring to make sure they’re dual voltage too.

Their outlets are pretty similar to the Philippines:

How to get around in Taichung

1) Taxi
Taxis are pretty easy to call and hail in Taichung, You can have your hotel or the clinic call you one – arrives in about 3 minutes. You’ll also usually see a taxi queue outside a mall. Flag down rate is NT85. If you’re a group of 3 or 4, and it’s a short trip, makes sense to just take a cab rather than the bus. Cost is about the same. Cabs will only take a max of 4 passengers (excluding the driver). It’s also adviseable to have a calling card of the place you’re going to (with the name of the place written down in Chinese). Or have your hotel write down the name of the place in Chinese. Then show this to the can driver.

2) Bus
Buses that travel within the city center cost NT20 per person, regardless of distance. Make sure to have exact change when you board the bus (save all your NT10 coins), the driver doesn’t give change.

The hotels have a bus map route. It’s pretty easy to master after a while. If in doubt, ask for the hotel lobby’s assistance.

Where to Stay (Hotels)

There are a number of hotel options that the clinic emailed us about: Alice Hotel, Zhong Ke Hotel, and Hotel Hugo Yarn. More details about these 3 hotels here.

ALICE HOTEL:

We opted for Alice Hotel because it seemed the cheapest (especially when you consider you’ll be staying in the hotel for 5-6 wks), was walking distance to the clinic, and it seemed to be the one the clinic was recommending. The clinic was offering to do the booking for us. When we arrived at Alice Hotel later on, we realized another perk of choosing this hotel is that most Pinoy couples will likely stay here (because of the good price) – so you have an instant support group here if you want one. Another thing we appreciated at the Alice Hotel is that it’s small and kinda cozy. You get to be friendly with the staff. Since you’ll be here for more than a month, they kinda become like family. The hotel is like your home. You can go down to the restaurant’s kitchen and use their microwave, toaster, and even cook if you want (just make sure to clean up after). Internet in the room is free. English cable TV is available (including a porn channel, go figure!). There’s a mini ref in the room. Hairdryer available in the bathroom. Laundry is NT 100/plastic bag. Leave it at the lobby in the morning, and it comes back afternoon of that same day. What are the negative points? The place is pretty much a motel, we gather, so it’s not as high class as it probably looks in their photos. But the rooms are pretty decent. If you can, try to get a room that has a window. Our room for the first few days didn't have one. We realized this could be quite depressing after 6 weeks (plus it was hard to wake up in the morning since there was no natural light). So we moved to a room that had a window. They only serve breakfast in the restaurant downstairs (no other meals). Breakfast is pretty much the same everyday. But somehow my husband never tired of it. I, on the other hand, would buy oatmeal, cheese, fruits, cereal from the supermarket and bring them down to the restaurant and eat them there for breakfast instead.

ZHONG KE HOTEL:

We were able to check out Zhong Ke Hotel later on, because a couple we met was staying there. The room’s really nice, more modern looking. The hotel is also more modern and the lobby staff are very concierge like in service (they’ll even print out the week’s movie schedules in the nearby mall for you). I hear they speak English much better too than the lobby staff at Alice Hotel. There are a lot more choices in terms of nearby restaurants (compared to Alice Hotel). We hear they have a wider breakfast selection, and they serve different food every day. Internet is also free. English cable TV available here (but no porn channel, sorry guys!). Mini ref and safe are avai in the room. Hairdryer in the bathroom. Laundry here is free. We were also surprised to see that the price difference vs Alice Hotel wasn’t huge. Needless to say, if we had to come to Taichung again, we will likely stay in Zhong Ke Hotel next time. The only negative thing about it is that it’s farther away from the clinic. You can’t walk it, have to take a short cab ride. But I think that’s a small price to pay for the extra comfort and convenience this hotel seems to offer.

HOTEL HUGO YARN:
We didn’t meet anyone who was staying in Hotel Hugo Yarn. So unfortunately, I can’t give you much fdbk on it.

Going to Taichung, Taiwan for IVF

If you’ve decided to go for it, there are several ways of doing it. Some couples we met came to Taichung for a few days to ocular the hotels and to do a consultation with Dr. Lee. Then they came back a few months after for the actual IVF procedure. In our case, we skipped the ocular and just came straight here.

When’s a good time to go? I would say anytime of the year is probably good except for Jan/Feb because it can get pretty cold (heard it can reach 9 degrees) plus there’s a 1 wk Chinese New Year holiday around that time too (so Dr Lee is away then).

1) Getting Here

You can fly Cebu Pacific, PAL, China Airlines coming here. We opted to take PAL because we felt it would be more flexible to change the flight dates coming home if needed. But in retrospect, the price difference of PAL vs Cebu Pac was so big, I think we should have just gone Cebu Pac. What you can do is book your Mla-Taipei flight first online on Cebu Pac’s site. Then just book your flight home later on when you have a more definitive idea of when you plan to come home. In my case, I thought we would stay just for 3 wks. But in the end, we extended to 7 weeks. Several factors can come into play and affect when you plan to go home:

- When will your period arrive (mine was 5 days late)?
- Do you have extra treatments you need to undergo (I found out I have immunological problems, so I needed treatment for that which will extend my stay – more on that later)?
- Do you plan to go home a few days after embryo transfer or wait til the pregnancy test (we originally planned to go home right after the embryo transfer, but later on decided to just stay the extra 2 wks til the pregnancy test to not risk the pregnancy)?

The planes arrive in Taipei’s Intl Airport.

- It’s about 2 hours away from Taichung via car (NT 2000/car; NT 1 = Ps 1.50) - You can arrange for a car to take you to Taichung through your hotel.
- Also 2 hours away via bus (NT 200/person) – Have the airport direct you to where the buses to Taichung are. There’s an information desk in the airport at the right side when you come out of the arrival area. Then when you get to Taichung (buses stop at Taichung’s Railway Station), take a cab to your hotel. Flag down rate for cabs start at NT 85.
- It’s 1 hour away via High Speed Rail (about NT 600/person) – Check with airport info desk on how to get to the high speed rail station. The high speed railway is pretty new in Taiwan (only a few yrs old) and is very impressive. Even their stations are spectacular. They look even better than our airports. The high speed rail station in Taichung is about 25 mins away from Taichung’s city center via cab.


2) Getting a Taiwan Visa

It’s best to get a visa that’s at least 60 days. We made a mistake and only got 30 days. We ended up having to go to the Natl Immigration Agency here in Taichung to get ours extended.

If you have a US Visa, the next time you plan to come to Taiwan, you can just apply for a Taiwan Visa online for free. You’ll automatically get a free 30 days visa. If you need a visa longer than that though, then you have to get the visa from the Taiwan embassy.

3) What to Bring to Taiwan

- Clothes – We ended up bringing too many clothes, probably good for 2-3 wks, because we didn’t know how efficient the laundry system would be. Turns out the hotel laundry was pretty efficient. In Alice Hotel, a grocery bag filled with dirty clothes costs about NT100 to have cleaned. You leave it at the lobby in the morning, and you get them back in the afternoon. If I knew that, I would have just brought a week’s worth of clothes. In Zhong Ke Hotel, laundry service is free (good deal!). It gets pretty cool here during autumn and winter, so bring some jackets with you.
- Extension cords or surge protectors - Some hotel rooms don’t have enough outlets to support the eqpt you might bring (laptops, cellphone chargers etc), so this is useful to have.
- Books, magazines – These will keep you entertained when you have to rest for hours in the clinic or are bored resting in your hotel room during the 2 week rest period after the embryo transfer.
- Media player – We weren’t sure if their cable TV here had English channels, so we brought our media player that contained downloaded TV shows and movies. Just connect it to your hotel TV and you’re off to being a couch potato! I initially had some compatibility problems with the hotel TV. But after fiddling around with my media player's settings, problem was solved.

By the way, turns out they do have English cable TV channels here, so you’ll be OK even if you don’t bring a media player. There are about 5 movie channels (incl HBO, Cinemax), AXN and CNN.

- Wifi router – I use an Apple Express for wifi because it’s easy to plug and use right away. I usually bring it when we travel. I plug it into our hotel room’s internet and electrical outlet and our room is automatically wifi ready! Very useful if both you and your husband bring your own laptops. You can share the internet.
- Medicines/vitamins – If you have medicines or vitamins you regularly take, make sure you bring enough (for 6-7 weeks). We found it pretty hard to replenish some of our meds here because the pharmacies and medicines are in Chinese and they can’t understand what we need.
- Medical records – Bring documents from your OB or previous procedures so you can show these to Dr Lee.
- Marriage certificate – Bring a copy just in case you need to work on extending your visa here. The Natl Immigration Agency here will ask for a copy of this.

Getting Ready for IVF (In Vitro Fertilization)

Hi everyone. Our journey to having a little bundle of joy is one we are still on. I’ve decided to start this blog somewhere towards the latter part of our journey (i.e. I’ve skipped the months I went on fertility pills/shots and went through IUI – Intrauterine Insemination). We’re now in the part where we’ve decided to try out IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).

First off, a number of people have asked me why I named this blog "Lucy in the Making". Well, Lucy is the name my hubby and I have always liked for a girl. So if we're ever lucky to have a daughter, that's what we would name her. What happens if we end up having a boy? Hmm, would a change in blog name be in order? Ha ha, let's see....First things first.....

We’ve come to Lee Women’s Hospital (Division of Infertility) in Taichung, Taiwan for the IVF procedure. This clinic was recommended to us by my OB. Aside from being referred by my OB, we also opted for this clinic because we heard their success rate was higher than other clinics in other countries (50% vs 40%), plus they are much cheaper (around Ps250K vs Ps500-700K in other clinics). Before coming here, I communicated to them via email to find out more info about them, the procedure, the costs etc. Their website is also very helpful. Click here for more details. If you wish to email them, their email address is: ivftaiwan@gmail.com

You can address the email to Dr. Lee or Mr. Hung.

I had to prep myself a month before going there. There are meds you will need to take a month before. The clinic will send you their bank info, and you wire them about Ps10,000 to cover the costs of the meds. Within 10 days, you’ll receive the meds via courier. Some meds are to be taken orally, some are to be injected. At this point, it’s probably good to learn to inject yourself in the tummy (or have your husband learn), because you’ll be doing injections practically everyday. I went to my OB and she taught me how. But I also found a link that I was very helpful. Click here.

There are a number of videos on Youtube which are helpful too (just search for subcutaneous or intramuscular injections, Lupron injections). Here's a sample:

- Lupron injection (subcutaneous)

Go to the drugstore too and buy your syringes. You’ll need to get the ones usually used for insulin. Get the ones tat already come with needles, so you can just dispose them after. I get the U-100 Insulin, 1cc, 29G.