Kris and I married very quickly at age 22 after only knowing each other for only a year and a half. We knew right away we wanted kids. We didn’t prevent anything from happening and thought perfect timing, it would happen quickly. We couldn’t understand why things weren’t “normal.” We knew my periods were all over the place, and when they did come were very heavy and unpredictable.
We finally had a VERY faint positive pregnancy test after about 2.5 years of us trying on our own, went to my local clinic and was told it was chemical. At that point, I began to work with the OB/GYN in the clinic. At that point, we found out I had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and insulin resistant.
Nothing worked after 6 months. Not clomid, not letrozole, temperature charts or ovulation tests. Switched doctors, same exact thing. Everyone said I’m the poster child for what clomid was made for. Well, we still had nothing over a year and half later. All I had was moodiness, hot flashes, lack of sanity and negative pregnancy tests to show for it. I never ovulated even with all the medications.
Kris joined the military in 2018, and we began to try things on our own and visit the OB/GYN in the process periodically. Kris was in and out of training, so we didn’t have a regular “home” for well over a year. We finally met a doctor around year 5 who would refer us out and not keep us, and this happened to be at the first permanent base we were stationed at. The doctor had been through infertility treatments himself (extremely empathetic) and told us it was time to be referred and finally get some answers. At this point, we were tired, angry, and hopeless. We didn’t think we would ever be parents.
Finding fertility care at SGF Colorado
I researched on social media groups with other military spouses who had gone through infertility, and several had recommended Dr. Alex Polotsky.
We decided to send the referral to him. One of our first meetings, I remember bawling my eyes out how I just wanted one kid at this point, and he said I was going to walk out with a baby. Within 8 months at the height of COVID (delaying treatment 2-3 months), I was pregnant. We had a healthy beautiful 8.5lb boy at 37 weeks, named Wolfgang August. It was a family name from my German side I’ve waited a near decade to use.
Trying for a sibling
Once little man turned a year old, we wanted to use one of our remaining embryos from our original egg retrieval in July 2020. With pre-testing for our frozen embryo transfer (FET), it was discovered I had several polyps that needed to be removed. It took two polyp removal surgeries, and we took a rest cycle. I never thought the day would come for a FET since things have never been easy for us throughout this entire journey.
We transferred in November of 2022, and unfortunately, it failed. Dr. Polotsky personally called us, offered his condolences, and talked us through what options we had. Words can’t describe how low and depressed I was seeing another pregnancy fail, even with a tested embryo. I felt a lot of guilt during this time as well … due to already having a child and knowing many peers without one yet whom I grown close to in the many years in the infertility community. After much discussion, and both of us still actively grieving, we decided to immediately go into the next cycle and do another FET.
In December 2022, we transferred our last remaining normal embryo. It happened to also be our only female embryo. On New Year’s Day I tested at home since the clinic was closed at 9 days post transfer. We saw a positive pregnancy test. A few days later, our beta confirmed the pregnancy.
Rosalind Florence was born in August 2023. She was healthy and born at 38 weeks. Wolfgang now has a sibling, and our family is complete.
Two beautiful miracles
I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever be a mother after so many years of looking at blank single-line pregnancy tests and failed fertility treatments … and here I am with two beautiful miracles.
Never give up hope. I still tear up looking at our babies, I sincerely thought we would never have them. Trust your treatment team. They truly are miracle workers and know what they are doing.
