My husband and I met and married later in life and we knew would immediately try to have children. At the time I was 40 and my husband was 36 years old. Shortly after the wedding I became pregnant but it ended in an early miscarriage. My OB/GYN suggested we try an IUI, which we did with no success. We knew then that we would have to find a specialist to assist us with our desire to have a family.
Someone suggested a new doctor and after our first meeting, we left impressed not only with his credentials, but with his personality, the compassion he displayed and personal attention he gave to our specific needs. He was extremely down to earth and up front with procedure details, success rate statistics and costs.
My husband and I completed all of the necessary tests. My husband was fine but my FSH level was high and my AMH level was low. My age was definitely a factor and my eggs were showing it. The doctor explained that our best bet of becoming pregnant would be to use an egg donor. He explained that the outcomes of women getting pregnant and bringing home a baby using egg donors were very positive. However, because of financial and insurance reasons along with the hope of conceiving using my own eggs, we decided to proceed with stimulated IUI cycles before moving on to IVF using donor eggs. Multiple IUI attempts were unsuccessful.
Our next obvious step would be to try and begin our family by IVF with an egg donor. It was important to me to be able to go through the process of being pregnant and giving birth even if it was with the use of a donor egg. Being pregnant would allow me to experience that special connection. We wanted to be sure my uterus was as healthy as possible before proceeding with the IVF cycle and decided it was best to remove a few fibroids. Then the bombshell hit us, our doctor was moving to pursue an opportunity in Cincinnati, OH. Initially, it was a shock to our system but it didn’t take much thought or discussion to decide that following him, where ever he chooses to practice, was the best choice for us in our pursuit of having a baby. Luckily for me he was able to perform the laparoscopic myomectomy before he left. I was extremely happy about that because he was the only doctor in the clinic who was skilled in robotic assisted surgery. The surgery was minimally invasive with only 5 very small incisions and a recovery time of only a day or two, compared to a laparotomy which is an invasive surgery and requires an incision in the abdomen and weeks to recover.
We had to wait a few months after the surgery to allow my uterus to heal before starting the IVF process. A donor was selected and we booked our flights to Cincinnati. The transfer went as planned and after a few days of rest got back on a plane to head home with prayers and hope in our hearts for success. Unfortunately, that cycle did not work and we planned for our next trip out for the FET. My uterine lining was so much thicker for this transfer and the embryos were excellent, I just knew it was going to work this time. Once again we were unsuccessful and extremely disappointed. After much thought, my husband and I decided we would give it another try and will be heading out to Cincinnati again in a few months.
I know that ultimately God is in control and that gives us much comfort.
Follow Mothering