Real Patient Stories | Fertility Resources

Sep 30, 2016 | Real Patient Stories

Bryony & Ryan

Ryan and I got married in 2011. Ryan had a wonderful son from a previous relationship who was five at the time. We wanted to wait to have a baby until our new family was more stable and finances were better. I had always had cramping and irregular, heavy periods so went to my OB/GYN for answers about that. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2009 and had surgery to get some of it removed. This stuck in the back of my mind after my marriage but I figured I was still young (26) so there wasn't much to worry about.

In 2013, we decided to officially start trying to get pregnant. We didn't do anything special, just waited to see. My periods were irregular, though, so I went through literally hundreds of pregnancy tests, and never saw that double blue line. My OB/GYN prescribed Clomid for 3 months in June of 2013 (because of my history with endo). I never ovulated. In January, 2014 my OB/GYN referred me to Dr. Alison Zimon. The first appointment, I met her nurse, Karen - and burst into tears. It was really hard to think I couldn't get pregnant on my own. I felt terrible. Like I wasn't a woman. I was embarrassed and I felt awful for my husband, who had had a child so easily before he was married to me. Karen gave me Kleenex and a hug and told me it would be OK. She really put me at ease.

Dr. Zimon was the same way. She was wonderful. She agreed to skip IUI's since I had had trouble ovulating with Clomid and we went right to IVF. It took me 6 months to get my baseline blood work because my hormones were so out of control and my cycles were so irregular. I finally got my baseline blood work completed and we started prepping for our fresh cycle. I was so excited and optimistic.

In October, 2014 I started injections. I was terrified to give myself a shot, but let me tell you, I got over that quickly. My ovaries were so bloated and I felt like a beached whale but I kept the optimism going, knowing that this was my only chance for a baby. In late October, I had my retrieval and the doctor managed to get 5 good embryos. Three days later, I went for implantation. Then....the two week wait. It was terrible. I swore I wouldn't get a home pregnancy test and I didn't. The day came for my blood work and Karen called with my results. Anything over 25 was pregnant. I was 29. I was pregnant. But, Karen warned me, my numbers were low. I'd have to get re-tested in two days. The next check, my numbers were still low but had risen enough that it seemed to be a good sign. I told everyone. I told my parents, my siblings, coworkers, friends etc. I was ecstatic. Two weeks later, I was feeling off. It was a Sunday and my husband was bringing my stepson home. I went to the bathroom and saw blood in my underwear. I immediately called Karen who told me to go get blood the next morning. I remember my husband was home from work with me when we got the call. My HCG levels weren't high enough. It was not a viable pregnancy. I was devastated. All of my hard work and sticking myself with needles and bloating was for nothing. I felt as though a piece of me had died. Even sitting here writing this, I still get sad for that loss.

I told my husband that day that I was done. I wasn't doing it again. Two weeks later we went to see Dr. Zimon. Of course, I cried as we discussed my miscarriage. She urged me to try again using one of the frozen embryos we had. I agreed that I would try one more time, but that was it. On January 19, 2015 we went for a frozen embryo implant. The prep was so easy! No shots, no bloating. It was a breeze. Then another two week wait. On the day of my blood test we got hit with 3 feet of snow. The labs, naturally, were closed. I had one home pregnancy test left, so i figured "what the heck." I waited my five minutes, looked down and burst into tears. There they were. Two, bold blue lines. I was pregnant. When I finally got my blood work done, my HCG levels were so high, we thought it could be twins (one embryo split after implantation). 41 weeks later, and I gave birth to the most amazing baby, Quinten. My husband and I joke that he's so advanced (in many ways) because he was frozen for 3 months.

Anita & Jason

All my life I knew I wanted to be a mommy. When I met my husband, who had the same dream to have a family, I never would have guessed this would be our journey. There were many tears and a few laughs (especially for my husbands tests) but through it all I was so grateful for the Boston IVF doctors and nurses because I was not just a patient but a person with a dream.

My infertility journey is an enormous part of my life and even now I wonder what it would be like just to "get" pregnant without assistance! I hear of people planning exactly when they are going to have their children and I sit makes me think about my own experiences, Sometimes it happens for them and and other times, when months pass, nothing happens. You truly never can predict anything. My husband, the people of Boston IVF, and most importantly my faith got me through those very dark days.

Jillian & Eric

My husband and I had been actively trying without success. We visited my OB/GYN and after a few tests found out that my tubes were not viable for some reason. It was unknown how or why this had happened. I was referred to Dr. Kim Thornton and following successful treatment, we had our first son a little over 2.5 yrs ago. We had 4 frozen embryos so we tried for our second child. As I mentioned, we experienced 3 unsuccessful cycles before we got lucky on cycle #4.