Becky & Keith

My husband, Keith, and I got married in August 2011. We knew we wanted to have a family. We were also in the process of building our home. We had a lot of things going on and were very excited for the big things we’d worked for in life. We just had one thing missing …

We got married and began trying to get pregnant. After almost a year, we thought something was wrong so we decided to see our primary care doctor. That was in February 2012. We met with her and she suggested we be seen at an OB/GYN office and referred us to one. I made the call to set up a consult to see what may be wrong.

We met with the OB/GYN in April 2012. We explained to her that we had been planning and trying to get pregnant but were not having any luck. She set up testing for my husband and me to complete to see if she could get a picture as to what the issue might be. I completed the work-up and an ultrasound. My husband had to do a specimen collection to see if anything was going on with him. A week went by and we got the call with the results. I had a chocolate cyst on my left ovary. So from there we were referred to Shady Grove Fertility. I set up an appointment with Dr. Esposito to go more in-depth with my results. She felt that endometriosis was a factor, as well as a low ovarian reserve. My husband’s swimmers were good to go, though. We discussed our options and did further testing, such as bloodwork and a HSG to make sure my tubes were not blocked.

“In the end, all we wanted was a healthy baby.”

In September 2012, I started injections to get started for in vitro fertilization (IVF). I went into monitoring and we noticed that I didn’t have enough follicles to proceed with IVF. So Dr. Esposito suggested that we not waste this cycle and do an intrauterine insemination (IUI). We were all for it; it couldn’t hurt. We did IUI in the beginning of October and received a negative result.

I had genetic testing done since this cycle was unsuccessful. The results were fine. But our roller-coaster ride was going full steam ahead. At the end of October, my father passed away—another emotional hurdle that we had to deal with. We struggled to keep the faith, but we had a conference call with Dr. Esposito about our concerns moving forward. Financially, we couldn’t afford more medication since my insurance wouldn’t cover it. So the option of the Donor Egg Program was brought up.

At first, I wasn’t open to this. I had mixed emotions: the baby wouldn’t have any of me in him/her, how will we tell people (do we tell people?), and so on. So my husband and I sat down and did the pros and cons of going forward with another IVF attempt—noting that I didn’t produce many follicles and insurance coverage was running out—or moving forward with the Donor Egg Program. In the end, all we wanted was a healthy baby. So from there, I was very open to the option of donor egg and the pros definitely made it an easier choice.

We shared our decision with family and they were very supportive. They knew we just wanted to be able to love a child and it be ours. We called Dr. Esposito and decided to move forward with donor egg treatment. From there, we met with the social worker and proceeded with finding the right donor. We received our code to access the donor database; that night we were so excited to begin our search. We chose a donor with similar features to me and we also looked at the health history of her family. We found our donor and were matched.

We got updates daily from my nurse and we received a total of nine eggs, but only three made it. We did a transfer in March 2013 with one embryo. The cycle failed. We started another round for a May transfer with one embryo. Unfortunately, it failed again. My husband’s dad passed away around this time. Again, we were emotionally drained, dealing with infertility and now having both of our fathers pass within 6 months of each other. And we only had one frozen embryo left.

So we decided to take a break and enjoy life away from the infertility world. We booked a cruise in January 2014 and started our final cycle when we came back. We did some different things since this cycle was our last attempt. Dr. Esposito suggested that I have an endometrial biopsy done to make sure that there wasn’t anything preventing implantation. The results were normal and I had two “scrapings” completed. I was also put on blood thinners with all the regular injections. We decided to also do acupuncture pre- and post-transfer. We had the transfer in March 2014. We were very anxious and nervous to see what outcome this last cycle would bring us. Then we had the dreadful 2 week wait.

Becoming parents

Life is great. We had our baby girl in December 2014 and she’s healthy and lovable. The life we have with her is amazing. If it wasn’t for SGF and the Donor Egg Program, we wouldn’t have our little miracle. We are forever thankful.

Everyone at Shady Grove Fertility was awesome. They were very compassionate, caring, understanding and just great with the whole process.

Becky’s advice for future patients

Get the help; it’s out there. Ask questions and know what you want in the end.