Our Fertility Story
By C.W.

Our fertility journey (or should I say roller coaster?) started in January, 2005. After eight months of trying to conceive, we were elated to find out we were pregnant. This excitement quickly turned to despair when we miscarried at 6.5 weeks.

We began to try again for another seven months with no luck. Since both of us were 40, we decided to schedule an appointment with Dr. Sweet. After a month or so of comprehensive fertility testing, we learned that I had a decreased ovarian reserve. This meant that I could possibly get pregnant; but, if I did, the quality of the eggs would be questionable. We opted to the least invasive treatment first and scheduled our initial attempt with Clomid and IUI.

My body responded well to the Clomid and on the day of the procedure, my husband’s sperm results were optimal. Our optimistic outlook was crushed 14 days later when we didn’t become pregnant. We schedule a subsequent Clomid/IUI cycle the next month and the results were the same – not pregnant. At this point, we decided to move toward IVF with donated eggs.

We were so excited to learn about our first selected donor. She seemed so perfect – with proven fertility of her own and also as a successful donor. We began the process only to be crushed that she was unable to donate for the August 2006 cycle we had planned. Within days, Pam found us another donor, who also seemed perfect. We proceeded as scheduled for the August 2006 cycle. We were excited yet guarded, during the entire first month of injections, blood work and ultrasounds. We were religious about following the month’s protocol and were again excited on the day of our schedule egg retrieval. On one hand, we were a little disappointed to learn our donor only produced seven eggs what approximately 12-15 had been expected. On the other had, we were hopeful when we learned that all seven eggs fertilized and were of excellent quality. We quickly remembered that it was quality over quantity!

On our transfer day, we had two embryos transferred. Now came the dreaded nine day wait for our pregnancy blood work. We found the place with the earliest available blood draw (6:00 am) and headed there in hopeful anticipation. We received a call later that morning that we were pregnant! Words cannot describe the emotions we flelt at this time. We had the initial good news; bet knew we had two more blood draws and an ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy was progressing. Five days later, our pregnancy numbers had tripled and the same was true six days after that. Now came the wait for the ultrasound appointment to check for the heartbeat/heartbeats. Still not feeling pregnant yet, we headed to our appointment at 6 seeks, 1 day. Again we ere thrilled to hear we had one strong beating heart inside of me. The next couple weeks of injections and blood draws continued to go well. We continued to he seen by Dr. Sweet and his staff until 9 weeks of pregnancy where we were then released to our OB/GYN.

The first 20 weeks of pregnancy were uneventful and fantastic. We felt great, emotionally, physically and spiritually. At the 20 week ultrasound, we received both good and not so good news. The good news was we were expecting a girl and she looked perfect. The not-so-good news was that my cervix was short which may create my inability to carry the baby to term. On this day, I was hospitalized and subsequently received a cerclage (stitch) in an attempt to prevent my cervix from opening prematurely. Another roller coaster of emotions emerged, as the pregnancy was not viable at this point and, therefore, I was placed on complete bed rest for the duration (4.5 months) of the pregnancy.

Long story short, the last 4.5 months of pregnancy including complete bed rest and bi-weekly appointments/ultrasounds went smoothly and successfully. As hard as it was to lie on the couch night and day for what seemed like an eternity, I knew each day would bring our dream closer to a reality. At 38 weeks and 5 days, our little angel blessed our lives on May 1st, 2007. She weighed 7 pounds and 3 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. From her button nose to her tinkle toes, she was and is perfect and healthy in every way!

Now, a year later from the anniversary of our embryo transfer, not a day goes by that we don’t thank God and the incredible staff at SRMS for making our most precious “dream-a-baby” a true reality. Dr. Sweet, Dr. Bhatnagar and the staff of SRMS are miracle workers!

We have decided to donate our remaining cryopreserved embryos to another needy couple. Our hope is that this couple receives the same blessed miracle as we did. We are forever thankful and grateful for your little angel and want another couple to experience the same.

So as you enter your own personal fertility journey, just remain faithful and positive. Miracles happened every day. I’m holding ours in my arms as you read this today…