Krista Hayes finally got tired of being told she was too young to worry. Now, she takes every opportunity she can to let other young women in on what was news to her: sometimes, even 20-somethings need fertility treatment to have a baby.
“I had no idea there was anything wrong,” Krista, who is now 30, reflects on the struggles of her teens and early 20’s. “I had a lot of menstrual pain as a teenager and was always told it was expected.”
But We’re Too Young
Living in upstate New York and newly married, a then 24-year-old Krista started trying to conceive. After a year without conceiving on her own, she turned to her OB/Gyn, who performed three intrauterine inseminations (IUI). When all three were unsuccessful, Krista underwent ahysterosalpingogram (HSG) – or dye test – to see if there were any uterine or tubal problems. While the HSG reading indicated that Krista’s right tube was blocked, her OB/Gyn made the decision to continue with three more IUI’s over the next year, none of which resulted in pregnancy.
“That’s the point when I thought ‘I’m too young to be taking two years to get pregnant’ – even though everyone else was telling me ‘Just relax, you’re still young…’” Krista recalls.
But instead of relaxing, Krista took the next step in her fertility journey by deciding to seek out a fertility specialist on her own.
“This was back when there wasn’t as much on the Internet about when you should seek fertility treatment. Most of my information was coming from pregnancy books, and nowhere did I see mentioned that we should’ve sought help after a year of trying,” Krista said.
Already apprehensive about seeing a fertility specialist, a now 26-year-old Krista received the news that made her begin to panic. Without undergoing any ultrasounds, blood work or other tests, the fertility specialist whom she consulted with took one look at her HSG report and told Krista and her husband that IVF was their only option.
“It just didn’t seem possible that we actually needed fertility treatment,” she said. “We were so young.”
Moving In The Right Direction
Before she and her husband could resolve their hesitation about moving forward with IVF, he was transferred to Baltimore. This move turned out to be a very important part of their baby-making journey.
Krista’s cousin had a friend in Baltimore who had nothing but positive things to say about Shady Grove Fertility. Upon hearing that, Krista decided to schedule an appointment with Dr. Ricardo Yazigi at SGF’s Baltimore-GBMC office.
After he reviewed her previous medical history and conducted some additional blood work and a semen analysis, it was determined that Krista quite likely had endometriosis. The recommended laparoscopic surgery to both confirm and treat the common, often painful condition was carried out in a day.
Dr. Yazigi found that Krista’s endometriosis was quite extensive. It was during that surgery that Krista and her new treatment team also learned that the earlier HSG tests run by her old OB/Gyn were inaccurate, and she didn’t have a blocked fallopian tube.
Seeing as she had good tubal function, Dr. Yazigi decided to try two more cycles of IUI with clomiphene citrate. When those didn’t work he tried one cycles of IUI with injectable medications, but that wasn’t successful either. Krista was ready to head for IVF.
Prepared For Taking The Next Step
She cites two things as helping ease her toward that big step. First, she talked to her Episcopal priest because she was worried about how to discuss with loved ones her choice to use fertility treatment. He advised her to explain to others that infertility is a disease, and that she would seek treatment for any other medical condition.
“My priest explained to me that infertility is a disease,” Krista said. “He asked me whether I would wait to seek out treatment if I was diagnosed with cancer. He said I should do the same for my infertility.”
The second was the attention and support she felt from the entire GBMC office.
“I just felt so comfortable with Dr. Yazigi and Dr. Katz and their nursing staff,” she remarks.
Happily, Krista conceived on two separate IVF cycles. She now has two daughters, 5 and a half and 11 weeks old. She is ecstatic to have the family she always wanted and relieved to have found answers to her concerns.
“When I started out I knew nothing,” Krista says. “I had heard of endometriosis, and found out that my grandmother had it — but nobody learned about it until she had a hysterectomy. Now, I know tons of people who are going through infertility. We’ve been very vocal about the fact that this is what we had to do. So many won’t talk about it and will stay silent and frustrated, so we’ve shared our journey with a lot of people.”
Krista hopes that her story will encourage young women to be pro-active with their reproductive health, to not simply dismiss their pain or any other signs of possible fertility trouble, and to seek expert advice after a year of unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant.
“Had I known that after a year of trying that I should have gone to see a fertility specialist, I would have. No one ever told me about my options. So I hope people read this and know that there are options out there for them.”
To learn more about how Shady Grove Fertility can help you if you have endometriosis or toschedule an appointment with one of our physicians, please call 888-761-1967 to speak with one of our patient liaisons.
