Kamryn and Abe's Infertility Story

My husband, Abe, and I met and dated all through high school, so by the time we got married it didn’t take us long at all to feel like we were ready to start a family. It started out as “let’s just not prevent” but after a few months and realizing my cycle was not functioning as it should, we were in a doctor’s office discussing what was happening and what we could do about it. After several unsuccessful rounds of Clomid, a mass was found on my ovary. I underwent laparoscopic surgery where I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Endometriosis. That surgery lead to another surgery, a laparotomy, where the majority of the endometriosis was scraped out or cauterized. This second surgery was supposed to have solved my inability to conceive. So, immediately after I healed from it we did several IUI’s, all of which failed. During an ultra sound in our last IUI we discovered another mass on my ovary and knew that the endometriosis was back. This was extremely discouraging for Abe and I and I remember feeling so defeated. It seemed like I had put my body through so much already and to not have success like we imagined we would was heartbreaking. It was at this point that we decided we would move to IVF, a step we were both excited and terrified to take.

            Our first round of IVF didn’t end how we had hoped it would. My body didn’t respond well to the stimulation meds and the doctors were only able to retrieve two eggs, one of which fertilized. We did a day three transfer for our one little embryo, which was graded B/C. We knew the odds were against us, but in the end when we didn’t achieve pregnancy, our hearts and hopes were still crushed. Despite this, we knew that trying again was essential. Therefore, we set up another consultation with our doctor. During that appointment, he brought up the idea of using an egg donor.

            Using an egg donor is something I never thought I would have to do, and at first I really struggled with the idea. It was an emotional process that took several weeks, but in the end, looking at the statistics, my husband and I both knew it was the best next step we could take to have a family. We selected a donor, which is actually very much like what you see on television. We were given a list of donors with their basic traits and told to select 10-12 potential donors. Then, we were given full profiles based on our selections. The profiles had just about everything one would ever need to know about the donors. From there, we narrow it down to one. For us, it was really simple. My husband and I immediately agreed on the same donor. Then, we found out she was available for the month we needed, which sealed the deal for us. Once we selected our donor, our second IVF journey began. It was much like our first round of IVF. I was still taking injections to make my body think I was going to ovulate, but really our donor was doing all the hard work. This cycle we had 28 eggs retrieved, 20 fertilized and by day five we had 11 perfect Grade A eggs. We transferred two and were lucky enough to have 9 embryos to freeze.

            Several months ago we found out that our second round of IVF using an egg donor was successful and we are expecting twins! A little girl and a little boy. After a two-year journey and so many struggles that sometimes I didn’t think we would make it through, we are finally going to have a family! We hope and pray every night that I continue to have a healthy pregnancy. Looking back I feel incredibly grateful for the journey that we took to have a family. But mostly, I feel extremely blessed to live in a world where medical advances are available, that make having children possible for couples like my husband and I.