1 in 6 My Journey So Far With Navigating Infertility

Our losses and knowledge of my remaining tube then led us to our journey beginning to meet with RE (reproductive endocrinologist) at IVF MI; where we are currently a patient. I/We have been diagnosed infertile due to tubal issues. That’s a pill I am still learning to swallow, I in fact can get and have been pregnant, in the last case, had a sweet baby who was trying to thrive, but was stuck in the wrong place. At times, it can still be a hard concept to wrap your head around, while others are holding their babies, you can’t help but think about the friends that were pregnant with you, who’s baby was born close to our due date, it’s an incredibly humbling and hard place to live in. So, you can choose to sit and be stuck in it, or move forward. You choose to pull yourself out of the darkness or let it consume you.

My RE had multiple tests and work ups my husband and I both needed to have done. When I was able to have another HSG to confirm what we were told previously, my RE asked to have my left tube removed as well, once again, prepping myself for surgery. We would be moving forward down the route of IVF and PGTA testing. I am not a good candidate for IUI as, my left tube is not healthy enough and has the potential to have another ectopic pregnancy.

October 2022, I went in for my first appointment called “baseline” for our Egg Retrieval Cycle, this is when women go through a procedure to be able to gather eggs to fertilize and test them to provide the most information we can get regarding viability. The original game plan was that we would have retrieval in October, we would have another surgery to remove my left tube in November and follow up with transfer cycle after healing properly.

That first baseline appointment, we found I had a cyst on my ovary, which can be fine to proceed forward as long as it is not producing any hormones. Well as you might guess, mine was producing estrogen. As you are taking shots during the egg retrieval cycle, to promote growth of your follicles and to gather more eggs than a normal un-medicated cycle, too much estrogen is considered dangerous and we were then told we would be delayed. My doctor felt it was best to proceed with tubal removal in November and call after that to begin our next egg retrieval cycle. Again, lots of emotions were had after that first delay, you get excited and hopeful, only to then be told you have to wait. Again…

November 2022, I was scheduled with my amazing OB to have her remove my last remaining tube, which means, I will never have an accidental pregnancy, I no longer will have a vessel to which the egg can travel down to my uterus to fertilize. We will forever need the help of a RE to be able to have children, my uterus is still able to carry and my ovaries can still produce the eggs, but the highway needed for it to come together naturally will be removed. While waiting for this surgery, we also had my OB drain that pesky cyst on my ovary to ensure it was gone for next cycle.

January 2023, after the holidays impeded our timeline, we were finally able to go get the first baseline appointment on the books and attended. This time, I was green lighted to start the cycle for egg retrieval. This is incredibly important because if you do not have any viable embryos to transfer than you have no chances to try to get pregnant. This cycle, I heard, can be brutal with all the injections and uncomfortable nature of multiple follicles growing, truly I was at peace and excited during this process.

I did feel anxious the two days leading up to retrieval though.Everything is very time sensitive for IVF, and if we blew any time, it could mean I could ovulate and lose all the eggs we had been waiting to retrieve. I woke up from egg retrieval, feeling some discomfort which brought me joy to know they removed something from me, so I definitely didn’t lose all my eggs. I was told how many they retrieved, which was such amazing news and a relief for me and my husband.

Now we had the grueling wait of getting calls on how many fertilized and then how many made it. We were originally told 50% make it from the number retrieved, so we were braced for this. We finally received the phone call letting us know, we had a couple embryos on ice, we received good grading and good stage of development. At this point, we chose to have our eggs genetically tested to help to ensure they were normal and less likely to miscarry, we also were given the option to find out gender as well. So now you wait, again…

I got the call around 11am on a Tuesday, February 21st, my nurse was so sweet to share our good news, we had healthy little chances to become parents, we also chose to know the genders and which embryo is which gender as well. This is an option with PGT-A testing, if you do not wish to know the genders of your embryos you do not have to find out, we just chose to know.

The hardest part was over, some couples continue to build up their chances by doing numerous rounds of egg retrievals before starting a transfer cycle, we had already decided we wanted to move forward with transfer cycle and this was agreed upon with our care team. Our office always has you start with “prep” month before a cycle. This is basically birth control to manipulate your dates, or estrogen priming along with other possible cycle manipulation. I began the prep month with birth control and the aim was to have a transfer cycle March 2023. I was scheduled for a hysteroscopy; this checks to make sure your uterus is clear, healthy and ready for implantation. We passed this with flying colors. I also had an endo scratch, which promotes healing of the lining of the uterus to again help it be receptive for implantation of an embryo as well as check for any infections. It was discovered I have a small case of endometritis; which is an infection usually due to birth, miscarriages, surgeries and inflammation (hello my tubes were shot and I also have an autoimmune disorder). We were still given the green light with a month-long course of antibiotics to help to remove this.

We had an updated baseline for our transfer cycle April 7th 2023. We again saw a pesky cyst on my left ovary, and it was producing a hormone. Guess what...? We were told we were delayed once again for this month.

Currently, I am in prep for a second month in a row and we now have our next baseline scheduled for May 12th, we are hoping the cyst has been taken care of and dissolved so we can finally begin our transfer cycle in hopes to have our double rainbow baby.

It has been a long journey to get to this point… I have lost a lot but have gained so much in my relationship with my husband. Our faith has grown deeper together and I found a new group of women who have been nothing short of amazing. Infertility does not care about age, race, color, creed or socioeconomic class, it effects anyone no matter what you eat, where you grew up, how you’ve lived or taken care of yourself... Since opening up on our journey, I have met some amazing women, reconnected with peers and heard countless women secrets, have been given and have given out many encouragements, I have felt seen, heard and supported by so many amazing women who have gone through similar journeys.

If you are currently in this season of life, trying to navigate, feeling alone, I promise you, you are not alone. I share this all so you don’t have too, but so you can also feel seen. I am here to help and support in any way I can. Please feel free to send me emails, schedule a session, send me a DM on Instagram. I have found power in sharing my story along with vulnerability. Every person’s journey is different and neither is easier, harder, better or worse, we are all just trying to survive on this path of infertility to one day have a family.