The first Ecuadorian to be conceived with in vitro fertilization turns 30

Ivan Arthur Padilla Nunez is the first Ecuadorian conceived under in vitro fertilization in the country. Today Iván is 30 years old, he is a father, a veterinary doctor and an agricultural administrator who is preparing to celebrate his birthday on June 10 and on the same day he celebrates having been the first person to be born in an assisted manner in Ecuador.

In 1992 gynecologist and obstetrician Ivan Valencia He was the medical professional who successfully applied in vitro fertilization for the first time at the Fertility and Sterility Medical Center in Quito.

In vitro fertilization is the medical procedure that consists of the union of a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm in a laboratory dish. Thus, the technique achieves fertilization of the oocytes outside the mother’s body.

The story of Iván Arturo responds to the second pregnancy effort of his parents, Carmen and Arthur. Both are from Chimborazo, a province at 3,900 meters above sea level. This is where the homonymous volcano is located, which reaches 6,263 meters above sea level and whose summit is the point of the planet farthest from its center. In this province, which reaches temperatures of up to -5 degrees Celsius in the central Ecuadorian Andes, Carmen and Arturo insisted on getting pregnant, according to a daily note The universe.

His first attempt at IVF happened with the assistance of medical professionals from Bogotá, Colombia. After the procedures applied in the Colombian capital, Carmen managed to get pregnant, but two and a half months later she suffered a miscarriage.

However, the couple did not lose hope of conceiving and made a new effort in the Ecuadorian capital. For that year, the conceptual assistance system was a real novelty because there had been no significant advances in this field of knowledge. in Ecuador in which the obstetrician-gynecologist Iván Valencia Madera was the pioneer.

On this eve of his birthday, Iván Arturo, namesake of the professional who assisted his parents, is preparing to celebrate his third decade of healthy life. He led the festivities in Riobamba, capital of the Chimborazo province located 210 kilometers south of Quito. The meeting was attended by his parents, relatives, friends and, of course, his doctor, Dr. Iván. They gathered to celebrate this important event for the Padilla Núñez family and for medical science in Ecuador.

At the meeting, Iván Arturo recalled his life during all these years and what it means to him to have been the first ‘test tube baby’ in the country. He confirmed being happy and grateful to his parents for persisting in his pregnancy.

Due to his affinity with organisms, genetics and animals, he studies veterinary medicine and today works in this field. In addition, he manages the agricultural and livestock properties of his parents, and strives to find the best genetic variants in the veterinary inseminations that he practices.

Iván is the father of three children, a two-month-old, an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old. There were no conceptional difficulties in any of these pregnancies.

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