KatG: Here's mine and it's a long one...DH and I met in 1994 at the fitness club where we work out. He eventually asked me out and our dating turned serious after only a few months. We talked about getting married and having children. My dh is divorced and has three kids from his previous marriage, all of whom he has custody of. After having his three kids he had a vasectomy. This was a concern to me, since I knew I wanted children. No problem, he’d just get it reversed and Boom! we’d be having kids in no time. I went off of the pill a few months before we got married, figuring even if I did get pregnant at least the wedding was close enough that I wouldn’t be showing by then. Four or five months had past since our wedding day and, much to my surprise, I still wasn’t pregnant. I just knew something was wrong. No one in my family had any history of IF. I made an appointment with my OB, who ordered some basic bloodwork for both me and my dh. As soon as those results came back she referred us to an RE. DH tested positive with anti-sperm antibodies, and it affected 98% of his sperm. This was caused by the vasectomy. We were referred to one of the top RE’s in Colorado and so began our journey. I was 26 years old when we went through our first IVF. It never occurred to either one of us that it wouldn’t work. After all, our doctor kept telling us that we were “perfect candidates.” When the test came back negative, I was in a state of shock, anger, and disbelief. I felt like a failure as a woman. Why couldn’t I get pregnant like any normal person? We quickly rushed into another cycle, but overdosed on Lupron, got too suppressed and ended up with another failed cycle. It occurred to me that we never should’ve proceeded with the IVF that time, and I was angry that my doctor went ahead with things. We took a little break and I spent some time researching our IF problems. Since now it was obvious to me that we had more than just ASA to be concerned with. During this time I was completing my degree in Molecular Biology, so I was quite familiar (maybe too familiar) with the delicate balance of human reproduction. With many questions in hand we returned to our RE. I asked for many additional tests, and asked about other procedures to try. My DH was becoming wary of our doctor and thought that he should be the one recommending a course of action, not us. Our doc assured us, yet again, that we were “perfect candidates,” and he was puzzled as to why it wasn’t working for us. So here we go with IVF #3, this time taking part in the new Blastocyst Transfer study. This was to be our worst cycle yet, and another failure. After so much disappointment, we looked for another RE. I was taking a class for my degree at the time called “Fertility, Sterility, and Mammalian Development.” Turns out my professor is an embryologist for a local RE (he was part of the very first IVF cycle ever done in Colorado). I speak with him one day after class and tell him about my situation. He tells me to make an appointment at the clinic he works with. Our new RE was a straight shooter and laid all of our options on the table during that first meeting. We decided to try another IVF with him; it too would be a failure. As would the ZIFT cycle we tried next. I was growing tired of the blood draws, injections, raised hopes, and devastating failed cycles. After many long talks, we decided to try a donor egg cycle. My youngest sister donated eggs for us. We were very excited! These were the best looking embryos we’d ever transferred. But, there was yet another failure. Our RE was baffled and so disappointed as well. It was a long time before we spoke about having a baby. We’d made the decision to move on to adoption. We were very excited as we began this process. We knew it may take up to three years, but at least we knew we were going to have our baby. For some reason, I began thinking about our three frozen embryos. I finally got the courage to talk to dh about them, since he had really put all of our IF treatment days behind him. I wanted to try one last cycle using our frozen embryos before we got approved with our adoption agency, as we knew this would take about a year. We ended up transferring all three embryos, two 10-celled and one 8-celled. All of the cycles before I just knew before my test that they had failed. This time it was different, I felt different. By about 6 dpt I noticed I had a heightened sense of smell. Surely this was a good sign. I told dh that I thought I was pregnant. He was excited! I went in to get my test at 10 dpt, and my RE called me several hours later. He was overjoyed to say the least. I remember that day and that conversation like it was yesterday. 7 months ago today, our beautiful daughter Katie was brought into this world via an emergency c-section. I never in my entire life would’ve thought I could love someone so completely! She is indeed the light of my life! I want to take this time to thank all of you wonderful ladies who held my hand during my darkest days, my frustration of being on bedrest due to complications that led to Katie’s early arrival, and helping me celebrate one of the most joyous times of my life so far! You guys are the best! Kathy & Katie 1/16/02 |