Story of Linda — It took me 10 years of IVF and infertility to give up the idea of my genes and my eggs. After ten years, we made an egg donation

Linda, Instagram: @lindaammitzboll:

My name is Linda and this is my son, little Henry.

We tried to get a baby for ten years — ten years of struggling, tears, of seeing my sisters and friends getting children. We also lost a couple of children, so this one is my fifth pregnancy. He is my only child and he is my entire world.

I was a little bit afraid to do this journey: I had concerns about egg donation and how Henry would feel growing up, how I would feel if he didn’t look like me.
My heritage, my name and my family are immensely important to me. But when he was born and they put him on my chest, at once it was everything to me, he became my entire world. He even looks like two of my sister’s children. In our family we have seven small children: Henry is the youngest, then my sister has a child who is only 3 months older than him and the oldest children are 13. I love all of them so much and I think it is great and fantastic that even if these are not my genes Henry looks like two of my sister’s siblings.

When you read about epigenetics, you can see that the mother who carries the baby triggers which part of the donor's heritage will be turned on or turned off. So just many things about a way he looks and about his personality come from me. Since he was born, I have had no doubt that he is mine.

I am so grateful to OLGA's team and to Elena, the doctor who helped me to get this baby, and to my coordinator and all of the team who helped us. I had almost stopped believing and stopped hoping because after ten years of trying to get the child in Sweden, I thought that if they can't make it happen, maybe no one can. And now Henry is here and he is absolutely perfect and I am his mother.

There is one thing that I want to tell you – “Don't wait!” I waited for ten entire years. I hope that you all will get your little miracles in the future. It is worth everything.

Another one testimonial from Linda:

Linda

For those of you who still keep in mind: "Am I really ready to give up my eggs?" or "How important is it to me that my child has my genes?" etc. I can tell you that my family, my relatives and my origin mean the world to me. I told my husband when we met that you marry me and you become an Ammitzball. It is my family name from the 13th century. I also told my husband that Ivar is another family name so I wanted that as the third name of the child. My husband said I could get the last name. (He had a regular name). But he then wanted his first name after his grandfather. So for ten years we dreamed of Henry. I wanted the child to look like me, walk like me, be like me. It took me 10 years of IVF and infertility to give up the idea of my genes and my eggs. After ten years, we made an egg donation.

If you would learn about epigenetics you will see that the mother who carries the baby triggers which genes of the donor should be turned off and put on. So the baby becomes part of the mother, the father and the donor. During the pregnancy, I wondered how this would affect me. When Henry arrived — he was just mine. I loved him from the first second. He is a copy of two of my nephews. So I have triggered genes that I and the donor have in common. He is also very similar to his dad some days, so he is a mixture of us. I love him above everything! I've got everything I've ever dreamed of. Hope you who are in the thoughts and doubts do not wait as long as I do. Genes are crap the same. You carry the baby. He becomes exactly like you. You trigger his DNA. You have him in the stomach. You characterize him for the rest of his life. Hope you get your wonders in the future.

Here's my Mowgli cocoon baby.
Henry Matteus Ivar Ammitzboll