If you frequent my blog site you have probably read a bit here and there about my friend Kelly. Well, as I mentioned in my post on July 17th I wanted to share a couple different stories with all of you as to how infertility can affect you in many different ways. You now know that I conceived Cameron through IVF after an ectopic in 2004 which resulted in the loss of my right tube and a baby. Seems as though the infertility problem was with me and my lack of ovulating. Here is my friend Kelly's story...... she was gracious enough to share it with everyone with hopes that it would help many other couples going through the same struggles that her and her hubby went through. *Thanks for reading*
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I also attached a few pictures of her and that cute little baby belly.
IT CAN HAPPEN SO NEVER GIVE UP ON
YOUR DREAMS OF BECOMING A PARENT!!
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So here's my journey through IVF. When I was married at 24 (in 2006) I was aware that if I wanted to have children I was going to have to go through IVF since my husband had already had a vasectomy years ago after he had his two children. Before we were married he went and had his sperm aspirated and so we had I believe about seven vials of sperm frozen. We decided to start trying soon after we were married. In the beginning I was a little nervous because I had no known problems of conceiving and I was definitely young for a typical IVF patient, so I thought for sure multiples would probably be in my future and how would I handle that??. Boy was I wrong.....
IVF #1 (Oct.-Nov. 2006) Had 11 eggs retrieved, 4 fertilized, all 4 were transferred. No pregnancy.
IVF #2 (Jan.-Feb. 2007) 18 eggs retrieved, 6 fertilized, 4 transferred, none able to be frozen. Pregnancy test came back as a maybe (HCG started at 21, continued to rise). After ultrasound found out the embryo was not developing correctly, miscarried at about 8 weeks. Devastation! I was not sure if I could go through IVF again.
IVF #3 (June-July 2007) 14 eggs retrieved, 7 fertilized, 4 transferred, none able to be frozen. Positive pregnancy test (HCG 149, rose but didn't always double). Saw fetus at 7 week ultrasound, doctor wanted me to come back in a week for another ultrasound. 8 week ultrasound fetus had stopped developing, had a D&C the next week :(. That was it! I was going to have to come to terms with the fact that I was not going to have a child of my own. I was only 25 years old!! Would I be ok with that??? The doctors gave us no answers, said it was just the roll of the dice. All testing came back from the D&C, we both had blood work done, no known cause of why we hadn't been able to conceive. Each IVF took about 1 vial of the frozen sperm so we had 4 left.
IVF #4 (Nov.-Dec. 2007) I gave up recording all the numbers for this one. Pretty much went though the procedure knowing what the end result would be. I believe we had about 12 eggs retrieved, most of which they said didn't look very good. In the end there were only 2 that were able to be transferred. Pregnancy test came back positive but didn't always double like it had in the past. There wasn't much excitement as the thought of another miscarriage was too much. At the 8 week ultrasound we saw a heartbeat and were actually dismissed from the IVF doctors to my OBGYN! I am now 36 weeks pregnant with a little boy! That equals a total of 14 embryos placed in me and only ONE survived! And I am only 26 years old! One of the hardest parts of going through IVF is wondering how long your journey will be. For some it only takes one round, for many others they are still waiting. I know I have been lucky to be able to have this many chances, it is very expensive and emotionally draining. I'm not sure how I got the courage to try a fourth time, but as many know, the drive/desire to have children I believe only grows and grows. I hope my story can give at least someone some HOPE somewhere. In the beginning multiples were my biggest concern. Little did I know how my life was about to go. Very, very excited to meet this miracle child!
-Kelly
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