Mary & Eric

My husband and I had been trying to start our family for over 10 years when we decided it was time to seek professional help. I was in my late thirties, and my husband was in his early forties and it was time to make a decision. That is when we went to Shady Grove Fertility and met with Eric D. Levens, MD. He is a very compassionate doctor and gave us hope right away.

Once we began testing and received the results we were beyond disappointed. Our diagnosis was unexplained infertility. This had to be the most frustrating diagnosis because we were left without any real answers, which means there are not any real solutions. So we decided to move forward with IVF using the Shared Risk Program. I just met the deadline for the age requirement and believed this to be a great blessing.

During the testing for the IVF and the necessary mock embryo transfer, my doctor found uterine polyps that had to be removed before moving forward. The day of my surgery to have the polyps removed while I was literally about to be wheeled into the operating room when Dr. Levens informed me that we had been accepted into a clinical trial which would give us a free round of IVF.

Shared Risk Program vs. clinical trial

I needed to make the decision then whether to accept the offer for the trial or move forward with the scheduled IVF cycle, which was a part of the Shared Risk Program. I was scheduled to begin the IVF cycle through the Shared Risk program within the next few days so there was no time to waste in making a decision.

If I opted to move forward with the clinical trial, I would forego the Shared Risk Program and would no longer be eligible for it if the clinical trial did not work due to my age. Needless to say, this was a big financial risk for us. We painstakingly weighed our options and decided to move forward with the clinical trial.

The trial produced 6 embryos. Two of the embryos were transferred and only one was frozen. The rest did not survive. Sadly, the transfer did not work. We were heartbroken! We had yet another setback in our quest to start a family.

We chose to take a month off to decide whether to move forward with the frozen embryo transfer (FET), acknowledging that was our last shot. I began going to weekly acupuncture appointments during this time to prepare my body and mind.

The lone embryo

We decided to move forward. If this didn’t work, that would be it. We would not attempt another round of IVF.

After the FET, the two week wait was painfully slow. Finally, the time had come to find out if we were successful, and we took the test. A few hours later my nurse called to inform us that we were pregnant!

It worked! I was driving at the time and had to pull my car over to digest the news. I was really pregnant! I laughed and cried hysterically and couldn’t wait to share the news with my husband, my family, and my closest friends.

I was actually pregnant with the lone frozen embryo – this would be our miracle baby!

Nine months later after an easy and wonderful pregnancy, we welcomed into the world our little angel, Amelia Piper Cook on May 1, 2012, weighing in at 8lbs 6oz and almost 20 inches long. Our little miracle is thriving, healthy, and possibly the most beautiful baby in the whole world!