Andreia & Thomas

Twelve years ago I met my husband, the love of my life. I am Brazilian, he is German and it was love at first sight. Soon we were married and making plans to extend our family. Two years after our wedding we started trying to conceive, and in few months we got the news that I was pregnant.

It was the best sensation ever, but it did not last long. We had a miscarriage, but we decided to try again. Soon enough we got pregnant again, but once more we lost our baby. After several tries and losses, we found out that my tubes were obstructed and the baby could not reach my womb, so that’s why I would lose them every time.

We were still living in Brazil and decided to give in vitro fertilization (IVF) a shot, but since the treatment was so expensive, we could not afford the pre-implantation genetic testing. We did IVF and we transferred an embryo and we got a positive pregnancy test! What an amazing sensation!

But a few weeks later, once again I had another miscarriage. Clueless about the reason, we decided to analyze the baby for genetic diseases and we found out she had trisomy in one pair of her chromosomes. We were so devastated that we decided to stop trying. It was too hard to take: emotionally and financially.

Traveling to Shady Grove Fertility

A few years later we moved to Michigan here in the U.S. In talking to a friend we found out about Shady Grove Fertility and all their programs to help families suffering from infertility. We chose the Towson, MD, location and Dr. Yazigi to restart our journey. Dr. Yazigi’s nurse Stephanie was assigned to us.

It did not matter the distance we had to drive—almost 10 hours in one direction—we knew we were doing the right thing. In our first encounter, we knew it was the best decision we could have taken. Love, compassion, attention, everything we could ever expect—and more—was provided to us. We then decided to go with the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program, which made us very relaxed throughout the entire process. The emotional part was still there, but at least we knew that financially we would be covered if anything went wrong.

The day of the egg retrieval had come and it was incredible, we had more than 40 eggs retrieved! Dr. Yazigi told us that only the best of the best would be used, so we ended up with four beautiful 5-day embryos. Since we did not want to make the same mistake again, this time we decided to do genetic testing on all four embryos, making sure we would transfer only if they were healthy. The results came a few days later and three of them were perfect! We were thrilled, knowing it takes only one to be successful.

Taking the next step

Since we had the embryos tested and the results came only a few days after, we had to undergo a frozen embryo transfer (FET). One month had passed and after a lot of shots—which by the way is scary but we got used to it, knowing that it’s all worth it in the end—we finally decided to transfer two out of our three embryos. We came back to Michigan and the 15-day waiting period seemed endless!

We tried to keep ourselves busy, not really thinking about it, but it was almost impossible not to. Every time we were about to freak out, there was our nurse Stephanie to calm us down. Finally, the 15 days were over and we got the so expected call: HCG positive! We were pregnant!

A few weeks later we could hear the baby’s heartbeat and that was the most amazing sensation ever! One out of the two embryos managed to implant and it was beautifully growing! When we were close to 8 weeks I started bleeding. I knew everything was over. We were devastated and could not stop crying for one second. We went to the hospital prepared for the bad news. We did an ultrasound and the doctor told us our baby was still there, fighting for her life! Then our tears became tears of joy!

We came back home still extremely worried, but very hopeful. I was on bed rest for 8 weeks in a row, bleeding the entire time. One day I woke up and suddenly no more blood. We were almost 16 weeks pregnant and we knew that our baby was a fighter. The rest of the pregnancy was much smoother and we finally started enjoying it, even if we were constantly worried about everything (almost paranoid I would say)!

We kept in touch with our nurse Stephanie the entire time, sending pictures of the ultrasound and my belly bump. She was the most amazing person ever and, even so far away, I could constantly feel her love and good vibrations from here.

Our life now

Then, at 37 weeks we gave birth to our little miracle: 6 pounds 9 ounces and 19 inches of total cuteness! Baby Victoria arrived in this world on December 30, 2015, and we are now home with our little bundle of joy! We chose her name to express our victory: the victory of our love, the victory of life! We are so thankful we found Shady Grove Fertility! Without them, we could not be living our dreams!

My advice to future patients

For the future and present patients we want to say: never give up! With the knowledge, technology, and dedication of Shady Grove Fertility, you are in the best hands. If we believe, we can make it happen! Our story had a happy ending, but we can say that actually, this is just the beginning of an even happier life! Thanks, Shady Grove Fertility, Dr. Yazigi, and our more than special nurse Stephanie for everything!