Dana & Dave

A mutual friend set David and me up on a date in 2010. Flash forward to 2013 and we were married. We always knew we wanted a family, but first spent time being newlyweds and working on our careers. Once we bought a house, we knew it was time to start trying.

After six months of trying to conceive, I just felt something was off and decided to make an appointment with a fertility specialist. My experience with this doctor wasn’t a positive one. I underwent three egg retrievals and after all that, we only got two embryos. The doctor suspected a problem with my fallopian tubes, but the referrals they gave me for a surgeon left me uneasy.

We still went ahead and did our transfer, but it failed. We were feeling discouraged and unsure of how to move forward after struggling for results.

Late-night Instagram scroll

One night while I was scrolling through Instagram, I ended up in the “explore” tab where Instagram serves you posts you might like. I stopped on a photo of twins in blue onesies that said “Good Egg.” It was posted by former ESPN Anchor, Sara Walsh. I had never heard of her before, but I started reading her posts about struggling with infertility. I appreciated how open and honest she was about her journey. Sara spoke so highly of her doctor, Dr. Ryan Martin, and mentioned he relocated to the Philadelphia area with Shady Grove Fertility.

I immediately started researching Dr. Martin and Shady Grove Fertility. The Warrington, PA office was closest to me, but it was still a 45-minute drive. Dr. Martin had to be special though. He was able to turn Sara Walsh’s two good eggs into two babies, so I decided he was the doctor I had to see.

The second opinion that changed everything

When we met with Dr. Martin, we instantly connected with him. It didn’t feel like a typical doctor-patient conversation. He truly cared about us and our journey. Dr. Martin looked at all our files and felt confident that he would get us our baby. We felt like we belonged at SGF.

Dr. Martin recommended we do an egg retrieval before I have both my tubes removed. He gave me a great referral to a surgeon at a nearby hospital and I finally felt hopeful in our plan.

Treatment at SGF

Dr. Martin’s bedside manner was incredible and during this IVF cycle, I felt informed because the results were explained to me every step of the way. Even when I had to visit the Chesterbrook office, the doctors there were amazing and took excellent care. At my old center, I felt like I never saw a doctor but at SGF, there was always a physician there to answer my questions and review my results.

After my retrieval, we ended up with NINE healthy embryos. We were so excited at these results and I underwent my surgery to remove my tubes.

Dr. Martin had us undergo a mock transfer and biopsy to know the best time to perform the frozen embryo transfer. It really felt like he was going the extra step for us to make it work.

Unfortunately, our first FET failed and I immediately felt discouraged, but Dr. Martin called me and let me decide whether to do another transfer or take some time off. This call made me feel positive and we tried again. The second FET was a success! We were finally pregnant!

A shared birthday

I reached out to Sara Walsh on Instagram when I was 12 weeks pregnant to thank her. I would have never heard of Dr. Martin or SGF had I not seen her Instagram post. I truly feel like I was MEANT to see her post. Sara was so kind in her responses back to me and we messaged back and forth.

On July 7th, my miracle girl came into this world. She was a week late, but it turned out July 7th was also Dr. Martin’s birthday! He said he was “that precise.”

I messaged Sara Walsh again to let her know my daughter was born and to tell her about the shared birthday with Dr. Martin. Sara asked if she could repost my message to her Instagram because she wanted our story to help others. With social media, you never know who might be seeing that post and who may need to hear your story, which is why we decided to share ours.

Advice to others

If you’re trying to conceive, don’t keep waiting or putting it off to make that call. Go see a fertility specialist and get the help and answers you deserve. If you are seeing a specialist and you don’t feel that connection, don’t be afraid to get a second opinion. Getting a second opinion here at SGF changed everything for me. Lastly, stay positive. I know it’s a hard journey, but you cannot lose faith. Never give up on your dream.