Shani-Lee & Brian

My husband and I met in 1995 when we were teenagers. We became best friends, spent every day together, and fell in love. We got married in 2003 and planned to start a family immediately. I never thought there would be an issue since I was the oldest of six children, I assumed it would be easy to get pregnant since my mother didn’t have any problems.

A few years went by and no pregnancy. Not even close. Finally, we decided to both get tests done to discover what the issue was and why we were not getting pregnant. I have always dreamed of being a mother and giving my husband children one day. The idea of not having a child never crossed our minds.

Finding a diagnosis

Our testing revealed that I had PCOS and my husband had issues himself. It was determined that we needed help and that conceiving naturally was not in the cards. As a teenager I didn’t get a regular period, however, I didn’t think much of it at the time. When we found out that my husband’s sperm had low motility, low count, and morphology issues, our dreams of having a child soon began to seem like an impossible reality. We began at a different infertility treatment center and after 8 years of injections, tests, procedures, countless IUIs, and two IVF procedures and absolutely no success, we took a break.

During that break, we discovered Shady Grove Fertility. We went to one of their seminars and decided to try again. We met with Dr. Sasson and knew right away we were in the right place with the right doctor. After meeting with Dr. Sasson, we walked away truly believing that what seemed impossible was going to finally be possible. Dr. Sasson was not only confident that we would have a child, but provided us with the hope and encouragement that we needed to continue our fight against infertility. He was going to be the one to make our dreams of having a child come true. We were accepted into the 100% Shared Risk Program.

Beginning treatment

After a failed and disappointing fresh IVF cycle, Dr. Sasson suggested that we have our embryos genetically tested to see if we were even implanting normal embryos. He believed that if we were implanting normal embryos we would have success in getting pregnant. Therefore, we paid to have the genetic testing done. As a result, we were left with 7 normal embryos out of 15. We then decided to transfer two embryos, which resulted in a positive pregnancy test. We were head over heels excited and could not believe that it was positive.

Unfortunately, when I went in for the 6-week ultrasound it was determined that there was only an empty sac and nothing else. I had a D&C a few days later. Even though we were heartbroken, Dr. Sasson and his staff were there with hugs and words of hope. He convinced us that this journey wasn’t over and he still believed we would have a child. We pushed forward with another transfer shortly after my miscarriage. Again, resulting in a positive pregnancy test, we thought for sure this time was the one that would work. However, again we experienced the same heartbreaking news, only an empty sac and nothing else.

Another D&C was performed, and our hopes and dreams started to diminish, but Dr. Sasson and his staff again provided us with such overwhelming support and encouragement, we decided to give it another shot. This time was going to be our last; we would look into surrogacy or donor embryo if this were to fail again. At this point, we had tried for over 12 years to conceive a child. I’ve had more than enough injections to last a lifetime, multiple scrapings of the uterine wall to help with implantation, and countless nights of wondering if it was all worth the emotional and physical toll this journey has taken on us. Never had we thought it would be so difficult to have a child. Never would we have imagined that we would watch everyone else around us have multiple kids and make it seem so easy.

Moving forward

Infertility had beaten me down to a point where I didn’t feel like a woman because my body was not doing its job. Why couldn’t I get pregnant? My husband and I felt like we had been through hell over and over again and if it wasn’t for my husband and the confidence Dr. Sasson had, I would have probably given up.

We had our third FET, and transferred two embryos again. When Dr. Sasson called with the news that my pregnancy test was positive, we were optimistically cautious. When I went in for the 6 week ultrasound, I couldn’t even look at the screen. Then Dr. Sasson and Jami happily and excitedly said there was a baby! The next few ultrasounds continued to show a growing fetus. My husband and I felt like we were on cloud nine. It was all surreal. We left Shady Grove Fertility after week 9, and that day was an amazing day of celebration and joy.

Working with Dr. Sasson and team

Dr. Sasson and his staff shared tears of joy and excited hugs with us! We were sad to leave them but we knew that they would always be a part of our family because they too shared in our heartbreak, tears, and sadness, but also shared in our triumph victory over infertility! Dr. Sasson had done what seemed impossible.

After 12 years, we were going to have a child. Going to Shady Grove Fertility changed my husband and me forever. Dr. Sasson and his staff demonstrated such compassion and understanding and more than anything his overwhelming support for us. We could not be more grateful. They helped us through the devastating disappointments and heartbreaks, held my hand through the painful scrapings, and always had a comforting hug and encouraging words.

Our infertility journey

Our journey to parenthood was not only long, painful, heartbreaking, and filled with sadness and desperation, but it was also filled with joy, happiness, and most importantly hope. Our relationship has forever been changed by our infertility struggle.

Our bond is more solid than a rock and we feel together we can conquer any challenge or obstacle. Our daughter was born on Valentine’s Day, a day that we had only dreamed of for so long, but now it was finally a reality.

We had a baby to call our own. I remember sending Dr. Sasson a picture of our family and he was so beyond happy for us and said it was one of the best pictures he ever saw. We were even more excited to have our daughter meet Dr. Sasson and his staff so she could see who helped make our dream a reality. Miracles really do happen and Shady Grove Fertility helped our miracle happen!