Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

We always dreamed of having a family and thought it would happen quickly and easily. I would discuss family planning with my OB/GYN and was told repeatedly that I was “healthy and young and it’ll happen.” I left every appointment feeling discouraged.

Everyone always said, “It will happen if you stop stressing” but that was the most frustrating piece of “advice.” How can you not stress or worry about the unknown of whether you can start a family? We needed to get answers and weren’t going to give up.

At one point, I did test positive for pregnancy, but the next day my menstrual cycle began. Looking back, this was more than likely a miscarriage.

Finding fertility care at SGF

After a few years of trying, I went to a different OB/GYN who took me seriously and she suggested finding a fertility center to help. My doctor then started the process of running tests to see what the issue(s) may be. I went straight home to research fertility centers near me and found Shady Grove Fertility. I called the office that day and our journey started. Everyone should advocate for their own health and push if you truly think there is an issue. I wish I would have sooner.

We started the process with SGF and had a consult with Dr. Nguyen, she was so compassionate and really listened to our struggles. We put a plan in place and got started. We started to feel some relief and hope as we knew we were on the right path.

After my results came back, it was discovered that I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as well as a uterine condition that could cause miscarriages and difficulty getting pregnant. These were both conditions that had gone undetected for years.

Making a personalized treatment plan

We proceeded with the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process, had an egg retrieval, and then ultimately did a frozen embryo transfer. To our relief, it was a success. However, a few weeks later, we suffered a devastating miscarriage. Dr. Nguyen was extremely compassionate as well as the entire staff at the Wexford location. This miscarriage was the worst time of our lives.

Dr. Nguyen suggested surgery to fix the uterine issues. We traveled from Pittsburgh to UMPC in Mechanicsburg for the surgery. The problem was more severe than we thought, and I underwent a second surgery two months later.

After healing from surgeries, we prepared for our second frozen embryo transfer.

Our chance again

After this transfer, I just started crying tears of happiness and of hope as I felt like this was our second chance. The staff who performed the transfer were so happy for us, gave us the biggest hugs and were rooting for us. It truly felt like all the years of trying, the years of grief, and all the shots, medications, and procedures just washed away.  

After bloodwork, it was confirmed that I was pregnant!  

We felt so incredibly excited but in the back of our minds we worried about our past miscarriages – which I’m sure many couples who’ve experienced pregnancy loss can relate. 

After a few weeks, we graduated from SGF in Wexford and the entire staff had a graduation ceremony for us. This brought us to tears as we had come to know everyone and just felt so supported by them. It truly felt surreal as we walked out of the door. My husband and I hugged and cried in the parking lot as we couldn’t believe this was really happening.  

When we graduated, our little baby was the size of a gummy bear and we nicknamed our little one, “baby bear.” 

We wanted to be surprised, so didn’t find out the gender ahead of time. It was fun guessing who our little one would be and fun to see our family and friends guess as well.  

At 39 weeks, our baby bear was measuring big and around 8 pounds, and so we were induced ahead of our due date.  

The joy of our lives

On April 10, 2024, our perfect son was born. Hearing my husband tell me, “It’s a boy” is a memory I will always cherish. Holding my son in my arms took away all of the pain that we endured over the years. We never felt love like that in our lives.  
 
We named our son Rogan – 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and 21 inches of just pure perfection. He is the joy of our lives, with big blue eyes, the sweetest smile, and the curliest hair (which is so wild, it can’t be tamed).  

All of the heartache, struggles, stress, were well worth it. We would do it all a million times over if it meant we could have our Rogan. He is the love of our life. We truly are blessed that he chose us to be his parents.  

I never knew how common infertility is before enduring it, and hope that those going through infertility keep their heads up, lean on others for support, and that their dreams come true. We couldn’t have done this without Shady Grove Fertility and are beyond thankful for our miracle baby, Rogan. 

My husband Dominique and I are high school sweethearts, been together since 2009. We got married in 2019 and knew we wanted children. Our journey began in 2020 shortly after we were married. A few months went by, and I hadn’t become pregnant, but didn’t think much of it.

I talked with my regular OB/GYN who said we should do some testing. A few days later, my world was flipped upside down when I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and was told it may be difficult to get pregnant. We tried Clomid and Letrozole with no luck and were referred to a fertility specialist.

Finding fertility care at SGF

This began our long journey to parenthood. We attempted multiple intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) with no success and the words in vitro fertilization (IVF) were starting to be the talk. I remember thinking how in the world can we do this?

Well life happened and then a pandemic and a few years went by. I transferred jobs and found out my insurance would cover IVF, so the planning began.

Everything was going great; the medications were working, and it was good news after good news.

It came time for transfer and the first one failed.

Cue the tears, but our faith in God remained. Let’s try again … fast forward and another big negative. At this point, I thought I would never be a mom.

More testing revealed I needed one more day of medications prior to transfer, so we tried again. Well .. another negative. We were heartbroken.

Adjusting our personalized treatment plan

My amazing doctor, Dr. Emily Evans-Hoeker, had no explanation but wasn’t giving up and suggested a new protocol with aspirin, a steroid, and an antibiotic prior to transfer. We agreed and prayed hard on it.

Fast forward to June 26th and I got my first positive! We were pregnant! Pregnancy went great and in February 2024, we had our miracle baby boy Donte.

I am so thankful for Dr. Evans-Hoeker and her staff who never gave up on us and encouraged us every step of the way. Our lives were forever changed because of them, and I’ll never have the words to thank them enough.