Tying the knot after 40 made celebrity baby photographer of The Stork Studio, Sofia Genato Schoonmaker, feel that her pregnancy journey needed to begin sooner rather than later. Knowing herself to also have APAS, she and her husband decided that they would try their best to become pregnant. They also considered the possibility of adoption, but before doing so decided to try IVF.
Sofia Genato Schoonmaker is the camera genius behind some of the most cherished baby and family photos of Manila’s influencers and elite. For thirteen years she has captured precious moments, smiles, and milestones for so many, always dreaming that she would be able to capture these for her own child one day. “I always wanted to be a mom,” shares Sofia. “Working with kids for the last decade, it’s been a dream of mine since forever.” When the timing for pregnancy came, however, Sofia faced the challenge that many moms have–being older.
“Egg quality depletes as you get older so it’s harder to conceive,” she explains.
Faced with both the challenge of age and APAS, she and her husband decided to try in vitro fertilization, commonly known as IVF. Considered a method of assistive reproductive technology, the process involves retrieving eggs from a woman’s ovaries and fertilising it with sperm before transferring the embryo into a woman’s uterus. In some cases, the fertilised embryo is frozen for future use.
Initially Sofia tried to do it in Manila, but the egg retrieval failed. “It was devastating,” she says.
At the time, Sofia’s husband was in the United States, and she shared feeling very alone. “I was pretty down and depressed. What got me through it were two friends I had going through the same journey and two local APAS and IVF support groups on Facebook. I also had an old dear friend that I reconnected with at the local clinic here as she was going through treatment and another was someone I met at the clinic and became fast friends and became a little support group for this journey.”
It was this support that gave her the courage to try again. She noted how important it was to be around positive and supportive people throughout the journey because the IVF journey can be an isolating one. “We don’t really want to tell everyone we are going through it [IVF] because of the risks of failure, the stigma, the unsolicited advice, and emotional toll etc. can actually make things worse in an already stressful and emotional period,” she said. “Coupled with hormones, we are really sensitive during this time.
The local FB support groups gave me hope. It felt good to know there were others out there going through the same journey.”
Mustering up the courage, she began to do more research on IVF. After extensive research on IVF success rates around the world, and also taking costs into consideration, she and her husband decided on the Czech Republic. According to her research, the Czech Republic has very high success rates for IVF and IVF for older women. Her clinic has two branches with a whole building and over 20 specialist doctors onboard.
“Surprisingly, the rates in Czech are the same as doing it in Manila if not even cheaper, but with better tech, so we opted for it instead.” Sofia shares that her cost comparison included the cost of AirBnb and food, making the IVF procedure itself cheaper in the Czech Republic.
She described the experience as a crazy journey. They left right before the lockdown or quarantine in Manila, March of 2020. “We almost didn’t make it out of Manila, then almost got stuck in Prague!”
Luckily, fate was on their side, and they were able to travel to the Czech Republic, do their procedure, and go through all necessary tests and checkpoints to make it back to Manila, where Sofia proceeded to have her pregnancy during the COVID-19 quarantine. Not the pregnancy experience she’d hoped to have–she described it as lonely, especially when she realised she and her friends would not be able to celebrate her pregnant belly and whenever her husband wasn’t let into the ultrasound room–but it was a happy experience just the same. She did her baby shower and her gender reveal parties online, via Zoom, allowing all friends and family members, including those in other countries, to attend.
Another year, another blooming season of summer. This same time last year Jordan and I were on a plane to Prague just as the world was shutting down. We didn’t know if we would be stuck there or what since the whole Czech Republic was also on lockdown, but we agreed that as long as doors and windows were open for us, we would go through them and hope we made it back. We arrived in Prague at 6pm and they were closing their borders to outsiders at midnight! We were just glad we made it in time for the IVF (our clinic literally told us if we made it, we could proceed but that they were also starting to minimize operations). We almost didn’t make it back because our flights were being cancelled as airports started shutting down by the end of March. What was supposed to be a month long Europe medical + vacation became a 9 day medical only trip. We went home to Manila with 8 people on the plane from Prague to Doha and then a plane full of returning OFWs from Doha to Manila wearing N95 masks and constantly disinfecting everything we touched and our hands with a hope and a prayer that our little one was also onboard despite the STRESS we went through and praying that we weren’t infected. 2 weeks later after quarantine, we learned the good news and were ecstatic! Hudson was on the way I can’t imagine how life would have been had we not said Yes to the trip, Yes to giving it our best shot, Yes to trying despite people telling me we were crazy or that it wasn’t the right time. Yes to surrendering and leaving it in Jesus’ hands. It was ALL Worth it. Because it all worked out in God’s Perfect Timing. From a little embryo to a baby growing inside me for 9 months, to this smiling happy guy who’s almost 4 months old… some days I still can’t believe it. #theschoonies
Taken from Sofia’s Instagram page.
“We celebrated these intimate parties with our small quaranteam family members present. I’m lucky to have a small support chat group of Pandemic Mama friends (we call ourselves Pandemamas)–our babies are born more or less the same time. It’s been a great help to have moms going through the same things.”
Hudson, her son, is now six months old, and Sofia could not be more grateful. When asked what advice she could give to other couples considering IVF, she says, “If a couple was to consider it, I think mindset is really important. It’s tough–the mental pressure is really tough, and so is the disappointment, the waiting; the multiple appointments can really take their toll. As a couple you need to be strong for each other and supportive. I really also believe that only God can give you a baby, so prayer and complete surrender to His will is really the most important. Surrender but also put your best effort in to research and interview doctors and go with the one you feel most comfortable with. I believe that in my case, it was at the point of surrendering that made it happen.”
About the writer
Rachel Kelly Davis has been a published writer since the age of 14, often writing features, essays, and cover pieces. In 2016 she started writing poetry, leaving index cards of her poems all over the world and posting the photos she is sent by the people who find them. She has worked in communications for over a decade, wearing various hats ranging from digital marketing and SEO practitioner, brand strategist, and investor relations officer. Most recently she was the Associate Vice President for Customer Experience (Public Affairs) at WSP Inc., a public relations company based in the Philippines. Currently she is happily raising 5-year-old Valentina and 2-month old Levi Grey while taking charge of Mommy Mundo’s web content. Find her and more of her recipes on Instagram @arkaydee
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