My Fertility Journey: 6 IUIs, 2 IVFs & 1 Big Blue-Eyed Miracle
The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult your doctor for the most appropriate treatment.
Our story is one with ups, downs, hard truths, a hopeful twist, heartbreak, and one big blue-eyed miracle.
After about a year of trying to conceive, I knew something wasn’t quite right. We were finally referred to a fertility clinic for initial testing to see why we weren’t getting pregnant on our own. At first, this was just blood work to check hormone levels and an ultrasound to check for cysts—the basics.
Everything from my own tests and the semen analysis were normal. On paper we were young, healthy, and seemingly fertile. Those results left us feeling hopeful. We thought maybe they were right, maybe it was just bad luck.
After a few more months of failed attempts on our own, we discussed treatment options with our fertility specialist (reproductive endocrinologist) based on our diagnosis of “unexplained infertility,” eventually leading to our first intrauterine insemination (IUI).
I remember feeling nervous, but excited to try something more than what we’d been doing. After all, everything sounded so promising since there wasn’t an obvious diagnosis.
It all went as planned. I responded well to the medication, grew a few follicles, and timed the trigger shot perfectly. We let that feeling of hope back in again.
Unfortunately, that IUI wasn’t successful. Fast forward through the next 5 IUIs and we FINALLY got pregnant. During our sixth and final IUI, we conceived! We had already planned to start in vitro fertilization (IVF) the following month, assuming there was no way the sixth IUI would actually work. But it did—what a miracle.
The next week we lost that pregnancy. We were devastated. Yet, it gave us the tiniest little glimmer of hope that we needed to keep going, just like we had planned.
We were able to start the IVF process shortly after miscarrying. That’s the thing with chemical pregnancies—they’re cruel but quick.
We started our first IVF cycle on St Patrick’s day of 2021. That has to be lucky, right? In the end, we got our rainbow baby, and a big pot of gold, but it wasn’t from our first round of IVF. We got one single embryo that first round.
Still hopeful, we sent that little embryo off for genetic testing, a decision we made based on our inability to get and stay pregnant. I’m so glad we did because those results determined our little embryo wasn’t genetically normal, something that can happen even to two perfectly healthy people. It was a hard pill to swallow.
With broken hearts, we decided to take a break from trying for a few months. The process was emotionally exhausting and financially draining. We knew this wasn’t the end, it was just a pause.
After a few months, we had another consultation with our doctor and decided to pursue a second IVF cycle in June 2021. We added a new medication to my protocol, making us feel hopeful yet again. This time we got 3 embryos and sent those off for genetic testing. The results from that testing were the lifeline of hope we needed. Two of the three were normal embryos, which could become two healthy babies, one boy and one girl.
We let the team of embryologists choose which embryo to transfer. Our frozen embryo transfer (FET) was on November 2, 2021, which happened to be World Fertility Day.
The next nine days were the longest of my life. I then did the pregnancy blood test at the fertility clinic. We finally got to the good part: our transfer worked and I was pregnant!
It still gives me chills thinking about that moment. I never thought it would actually work.
It still gives me chills thinking about that moment. I never thought it would actually work. At that point, we had hope the size of a mustard seed.
But I stayed pregnant and on July 12, 2022, we welcomed our blue-eyed baby boy with open arms and haven’t let go since.
The journey to start a family isn’t always an easy one. Add in years of trying, treatments, and heartaches and it can be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do. Every time I look at my son I’m reminded that the power of your hard days shows up as gratitude on the other side.
