Physiotherapist Īrisa Vidauska on ectopic pregnancy, failed IVF and a new life between Latvia and Spain

Physiotherapist Īrisa Vidauska spoke to the Latvian portal Delfi a day before her 34th birthday about hard experiences and the changes that followed. After an ectopic pregnancy, a lost baby and unsuccessful IVF attempts (IVF, or in vitro fertilisation, is an assisted reproduction method in which an embryo is created in a laboratory and placed in the uterus), she divorced, found new love and began living between Latvia and Spain.

Advice for women

Vidauska urges women to dare: to cut their hair, change where they live, move to another country or travel alone. For those who do not yet feel confident, she suggests starting with a single pillar – simply moving, training two or three times a week. In her words, once a person feels that a half-hour workout was hard, their attitude toward nutrition changes too, and the next step can follow: seeing a nutritionist or adding a proper portion of vegetables once a week.

Ectopic pregnancy

Vidauska openly shares her experience on social media. In 2020 she ended up in hospital: she was almost a month pregnant but had not yet realised it. One morning she collapsed with very sharp abdominal pain. Doctors diagnosed an ectopic pregnancy, and surgery removed one of her fallopian tubes.

The IVF process

Six months later the couple began IVF. At the clinic, she says, everyone seemed happy, so it felt that she would succeed too, but reality was different. After the first embryo transfer the embryo lived for almost two months before its heartbeat stopped, and a uterine curettage was needed. Getting into hospital during the Covid-19 period was difficult: Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital turned her away because the gynaecology department was under quarantine. Vidauska recalls being in a panic at the time.