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Stephanie's Story
Posted Nov 4,
2008
My husband and I married young, we were
21yrs. old. We wanted to make sure all our ducks were
in a row before having kids. We wanted to have a house
and finish school. Four years later I graduated from
nursing school, we had a house and good jobs, we were
ready to have kids. How hard could it be, right??
I went off the pill in August of 2003 and figured we
would get pregnant right away. After 7 months of trying
I was really paranoid that something was wrong. I am
an OB nurse and have seen many couples struggle to conceive.
My doctor gave me Clomid to try and said if I didn't
ovulate to call her. I took Clomid for 3 months and
according to my ovulating predictor kit I ovulated.
I still did not get pregnant. After another 3 months
which totaled a year of trying I went back to the doctor
and had blood work drawn, everything came back fine.
We continued to try on our own. After another year I
had an HSG done which showed my tubes were open and
had no problems with my anatomy. At this point my doctor
recommended my husband to get a semen
analysis. It was another 6 months before he got
it done. In his mind since everything checked out okay
for me that it must be his "fault." His test
came back fine. At this point in time we were considered
"unexplained infertility."
| We were in the middle of building a new house
and did not have money to pursue further infertility
testing or treatment. In the state I live in insurance
companies don't pay for this. We kept hoping we
would fall pregnant on our own but never did.
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Every month seemed like a loss. In 2005 we met with
a reproductive endocrinologist who said our best option
was IVF. Even
though I was unexplained infertility she said that there
is something wrong that just hasn't been found. At that
point in time we started to focus on how we would come
up with the thousands of dollars it would cost to attempt
IVF. Luckily, in January of 2006 my husband landed a
job that had insurance that paid for IVF, we were elated!!
They did a new test on me which checked my anti-mullerian
hormone which can indicate egg quality. Normal is <1.
The nurse called and said mine was 2.8 and didn't think
we could use my eggs. I was horrified! I talked with
the doctor the next day and she said we could still
use my eggs but research is showing that I may have
a harder time getting pregnant.
I immediately started on my IVF regimen and was so
hopeful. Suddenly in March of 2006, only 3 months after
starting, my husband lost his job. We were heartbroken.
We decided to pay out of pocket for COBRA insurance
because it would still be cheaper and we could continue
with treatment. In May of 2006 we had our first retrieval,
22 follicles were taken. We did ICSI fertilization and
had 3 fertilized embryo's which we put back all 3 on
transfer day #3. We waited the horrible two weeks and
were crushed to get the call that my pregnancy test
was negative. We didn't know what to do, my husband
was still out of work and financially we were having
a hard time. I was so depressed and felt so lost in
life. I wanted so bad to be a mom.
We decided that we would give IVF one last shot and
stayed on COBRA to do another round even though we were
paying $1000 a month for insurance. We decided after
this attempt we would stop and look into adoption. I
went on another round of meds and in late August of
2007 had another retrievel done. We were crushed to
find out we only had 8 follicles this time, 3 fertilized.
I knew this was not going to work, our numbers were
so low. The endocrinologist suggested a 2 day transfer
because the embryo's were not dividing well. I went
in the next day for the transfer and cried the whole
time knowing that this wasn't going to work.
We transfered all 3 embryo's. I was convinced I would
never be a mom. The transfer went well and I put myself
on strict bed rest for 5 days. The two week wait was
horrible and I looked for any sign of pregnancy. I didn't
take a home pregnancy test the first round, I just waited
for the blood test. This time I wanted to be prepared
for a negative blood test so the night before the blood
test so I decided to take a home pregnancy test. We
were shocked to see two pink lines saying I was pregnant!!
I was so scared at what my HCG level would be, was it
going to be high enough to be an actual pregnancy and
not a chemical one? I went the next morning and had
my blood drawn, then the long wait. At 11am the phone
rang and my results were in, I was definitely pregnant!!
I went back 2 days later and my numbers doubled and
again a few more days later and my numbers were rising.
At 6 weeks I had my first ultrasound and found we were
pregnant with one baby and there was a beautiful heart
beat! Then the worry set in, what if I miscarry?? We
got to 12 weeks and everything looked good and at 24
weeks we felt pretty good about everything.
My husband still didn't have a job and we were using
credit cards to help pay bills. I was so stressed about
our finances. I ended up taking on a 2nd job to help
us out and was working 4-5 twelve hour night shifts.
At 27 weeks I noticed my legs were getting really swollen
but figured it was normal since I was on my feet so
much. At work I noticed I was getting horrible headaches
along with my swelling and took my blood pressure and
it was high. My blood pressure is always very low. I
called my doctor and got in to see her. I was immediately
put on bed rest for pre-eclampsia. My stress level went
sky high now that my husband was still out of work and
I was now on bed rest and wouldn't be making my normal
pay. I was hoping this would be short lived but also
knew I had to do what was necessary for my baby. We
were afraid we would be delivering a 29 week baby if
I didn't comply with the doctors orders. I listened
to my doctor and stayed on bed rest for 8 weeks.
We got great news when I was 36 weeks pregnant that
my husband got a job, some stress was lifted! We had
some scares in between but managed to get to 37 weeks.
I was induced for my blood pressure at 37 weeks but
the induction lasted 3 days of labor! After pushing
for 3 1/2 hours and developing an infection our beautiful
baby girl was born at a healthy 6lbs 11 oz. I cried
hysterically after delivery, I finally had my baby!
After everything we went through to get pregnant and
everything to maintain the pregnancy the end result
was amazing. No dollar value could be placed on her,
I don't care how much debt we have, I would do it all
over again. I never thought I would get to experience
being a mom, it is an awesome feeling. For those of
you dealing with infertility keep you head up, all things
are possible. Try all avenues, don't give up!!
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