With Tony Michelson
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be two things: a nurse and a mom. I hit the first goal at 28 and started focusing on being a mom right away. I knew from birth that I had a Robertsonian translocation. In other words, I am a short chromosome but considered balanced because the missing chromosome contains no information. This shouldn’t have any effect on me getting pregnant, but it greatly increases my chances of miscarriage.
After my husband and I hadn’t tried to conceive on our own for 2 years, we decided to look into fertility options.
We had a successful IUI with my obstetrician but it ended in a miscarriage. Subsequent IUIs were unsuccessful. Then we mentioned Fertility Answers where we proceeded with IVF. This process was a rollercoaster that I was not prepared for. Because of my known translocation, we were encouraged to do genetic testing on our embryos. The beauty of science today has allowed us to do PGT-SR (pre-implantation genetic testing for structural chromosomal rearrangements). This is a genetic test performed on embryos created through IVF to screen for chromosomal structural rearrangements that are usually caused by balanced translocations and inversions.
The first round of IVF produced 2 embryos that we were able to use. Our first transfer failed. We were devastated. Why didn’t it work? We did genetic testing and all my blood tests and ultrasounds were perfect. It should have worked. It seemed like everyone around us was getting pregnant at that moment and we felt defeated. I’m also a high-risk obstetrics nurse, so I’m around pregnant women all the time.
From there we did ERA (Endometial Receptivity Analysis). This is a biopsy that determines whether the endometrium accepts an embryo at the right time. To our surprise, my results came back that my receptive window is not the “normal” time frame. That was good news!! We had a reason why our transfer didn’t work the first time! We then began to prepare for the second and final embryo transfer from this cycle. After the transfer, you have the long and dreaded two-week wait to find out if it worked. Of course I tested at home in the meantime and was ecstatic to see 2 pink lines and my blood test confirmed I was pregnant. We were blessed with our first baby girl!!! We couldn’t believe it worked! Our first miracle baby was born on March 26, 2019, one day before my birthday.
Fast forward 2 years and we decided he needed a brother.
We always said we would never go through IVF again as it was draining and an emotional rollercoaster. In the previous 2 years, we unfortunately had no luck getting pregnant on our own. So we fearfully began the IVF process again in hopes of having our second miracle baby. We did genetic testing again, went through all the feels and this time we were able to bypass the ERA since these results don’t change. After the transfer, the blood test confirmed that I was pregnant, but the hcg levels were a little low. After 72 hours you take another blood test and hope that these results have doubled from the first test. My number doubled but was still low. We went to our first ultrasound horrified by the results. We left listening for the heartbeat but were told the growth was very slow and we should check again in a week. This has been the longest week of my life. Every ultrasound after that showed growth which was positive but still counted small until about 10 weeks. Once we hit the second trimester, we could breathe a little easier and were blessed with our second miracle baby girl on March 7, 2022. Although she started small, she was born at 9 pounds 2 ounces!
There were many times when we thought that being parents wasn’t part of our story.
We might never get the chance to see those two pink lines show up on a pregnancy test. Perhaps we would never be able to experience the overwhelming joy of the birth of our own child. But we were wrong.
For us, infertility was a time of waiting. It is difficult, long and exhausting. A roller coaster full of ups and downs. Waiting, more waiting and more waiting. Disappointments. Heartbreaks. Confusion. Worry. Emotional and physical pain. Financial stress. Worry. Doubt. Fear.
My personal advice to anyone dealing with an infertility diagnosis is to not give up and not lose hope.
Your miracle is possible.
Thanks to Fertility Answers, we were able to make our dream of becoming parents a reality. They have seen me through the darkest times of my life and celebrated with me through the brightest. I am grateful for the care and compassion shown to us every step of the way.
