Aria & Scott

Scott and I met in 2007 right after I moved to Nashville. At the time, Scott was a culinary instructor and I worked in admissions at a local school. After seeing each other in the hallways and break room for several months, we finally started talking. It was an instant connection, and we knew fairly soon after we started dating that we wanted to get married and have a family together. We got married in 2009, when I was 24 and he was 30. We decided to start trying to have a baby about five months later.

I knew something was wrong

Since I was young and had extremely regular cycles and no problems whatsoever, I just assumed we would become pregnant within the first month or two of trying to conceive. After about six months, I had a sense that something was wrong, but since they say to give it 12 months, that is what we did. In December of 2010, after talking to my OBGYN, we decided to have Scott tested. We found out that his sperm had issues with both mobility and motility.

The first person we talked to about infertility was a nurse practitioner at my OBGYN’s office who relayed very little hope to us – saying that our only option was In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and that it was extremely expensive. In hindsight, I wish we had been at a fertility center when we learned all of this so we could have been informed about all of our options and had more realistic cost expectations. We started off doing fertility treatments in Nashville, where we live. We did four failed Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)’s, one failed fresh IVF cycle, and then a failed frozen embryo transfer.

Traveling for fertility treatment

We had a good experience at the clinic in Nashville, but after so many failed attempts, we were worried about the money we were losing. That’s when my mother-in-law’s friend told her about Shady Grove Fertility and how HER best friend’s daughter, who also lived out of state, did treatment there and became pregnant with twins. My gracious in-laws offered to pay for everything if we could get accepted in the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program at Shady Grove Fertility. We did get accepted and started in March of 2012.

We loved SGF from the onset. I honestly felt like our nurse, Jessica Buggs, was one of my friends and that she genuinely cared for our well-being. The traveling back and forth was a little stressful at times, but nothing I wouldn’t do again. I had a chemical pregnancy on our first IVF cycle, but we had one frozen embryo left. It was really the only time I just assumed it wouldn’t work, and so, I didn’t get my hopes up.

Emotionally, it was hard. I wanted a baby more than anything in the entire world and knew I was meant to be a mother. I would have done literally anything to get pregnant, even if it meant TEN cycles of IVF! Scott, I am proud to say, was my rock. I cannot imagine a more supportive partner. He had faith that this would happen for us, and whenever I felt down and discouraged he would just say over, and over again, “This is going to happen. This is going to happen.” There were times when my emotions and hormones got the best of me, but Scott never made me feel anything but normal and loved.

The news we had been waiting for!

But after the two-week wait, Jessica called, and I will never forget what she told us. Scott and I own a chocolate company, and we were at the factory when my cell phone rang with SGF’s number. Since we had received bad news the past three times, I braced myself and shakily walked outside. Scott was a few steps behind me, and as soon as he walked out the door, he said he just saw me doing this super weird jump/dance combo thing in the parking lot. He knew that meant good news – we were FINALLY pregnant! The next thing I remember, we were sitting in my car, both just crying and thanking God. We immediately called all of our friends and family that had been praying for us. It was one of the most joyous moments of our lives!

Ten days after we found out I was pregnant, I started bleeding pretty heavily. I talked to the nurses at Shady Grove Fertility, but since it was a Saturday and I was back in Tennessee, we had to wait until Monday to go to the doctor. I was devastated and assumed I was miscarrying. By the time Monday rolled around, I was prepared for the worst. Jessica had told me that it might be too early to see a heartbeat regardless, so I was aware of that going into the appointment. As soon as we started, the ultrasound tech showed us the gestational sac and the yolk sac, and I was elated! She said there wasn’t a heartbeat yet, but I remembered what Jessica said and stayed calm. Then the tech said, “Wait a second….I think the heart literally just started beating.” And we saw our future baby’s little heart beating away.

Smooth sailing

After that, it was smooth sailing. I loved being pregnant and felt great. I literally enjoyed every second of it. When I went to my OBGYN for my 37-week checkup, my blood pressure had skyrocketed out of nowhere. I was scheduled to be induced two days later, but when I woke up in the morning to go to the hospital, I found I was already in labor naturally!

Now we have a 10-month-old little girl named Rose who we love more than life itself. Every day is a joy with her and I would do it all 100 times again just to have this one precious life. Being a mother is such a blessing and I’m so thankful we went to Shady Grove Fertility!

My advice to a friend

Don’t give up hope!!! Look into your options and don’t get freaked out by the cost if you don’t have insurance coverage. There are so many options, and you’ll be amazed at everyone that wants to help you. There are a lot of people who won’t understand what you are going through, but a lot of people that will. Seek out the ones that do, and shake off the ones that don’t.