Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

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Jon and I love kids and we both grew up with dreams of one day getting married and having a big family. When we met online, I was a college senior in Texas and Jon was working in Virginia, so we had a long-distance relationship for the first 6 months, only meeting twice in person. But we knew that we were meant for each other and soon after my graduation, Jon proposed at a beautiful overlook in Sky Meadows State Park. Of course, I said yes, and we were married four months later on October 24th.

Trying to conceive

After our wedding, we were so excited to start a family. We knew it might take a while because I had been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as a teenager and never had regular cycles. After trying to conceive naturally without any signs of ovulating, we were referred to a reproductive endocrinologist. Over the next 9 months we were diagnosed with severe male factor infertility, underwent unsuccessful treatments with a urologist, and had 3 failed IUI cycles because my body didn’t respond to any of the ovulation medication. At that point, our fertility doctor told us he was retiring from his practice and our best chance of ever getting pregnant was to do IVF with ICSI.
This was disheartening to hear. We longed for a baby but questioned whether we could justify the cost of IVF when there were so many children waiting for a forever family. However, every adoption route we looked into didn’t seem like a good fit either. During this time of uncertainty, there were many emotional ups and downs, but we had peace and hope knowing God was in control.

Looking into embryo adoption

Several months later, I heard a woman’s story about embryo adoption. People who have embryos leftover from IVF can donate them to another couple. Although not legally an adoption, embryo donation is often called embryo adoption because you are bringing a child into your family that is not genetically related to either you or your partner. I had never heard of it before but the more we thought and prayed about how to grow our family, the more the idea grew on us. We realized that what was important to us in having children was love, not genetics. Also, we felt comfortable investing financially because it honors life and gives embryos a chance to be born.

Coming to Shady Grove Fertility

I started looking for fertility clinics that had embryo donation programs. Some programs had up to two-year wait lists and others never returned my emails or calls. Shady Grove Fertility responded to me quickly with the details of the embryo donation program. The best part was that they had many embryos available with no wait list! Before our first appointment, I was nervous that the doctor would judge us for wanting to use donor embryos instead of doing IVF. However, Dr. Khan was nothing but kind. He respected our convictions and didn’t ask us to defend our choice. He was happy to help us start our family through embryo donation.
We were blessed with a smooth process. The time from our consultation appointment to transfer day was only 6 weeks. The SGF donor embryo program allows you to choose two embryos from an unidentified couple. When choosing our donors, we didn’t know their identity, but we were still given lots of information such as age, ethnicity, height, eye/hair color, medical history and even childhood pictures. Before we knew it, transfer day was here, and it was so special to receive a picture of our embryo. It was our snowflake baby: tiny, frozen and unique!

The good news

Two weeks later, we were shocked and so excited to find out we were pregnant! After an amazing and healthy pregnancy, Boaz Alexander was born on May 2, 2018. We are so thankful for Dr. Khan and the SGF donor embryo program. Our sweet little boy is an answer to many prayers.
Being parents has been a dream come true. Boaz is now 9 months old and such a happy baby. He recently started giving kisses (sloppy ones, of course!) and it melts my heart every time. Boaz brings so much joy to our lives and we love him more than we ever thought possible.

Advice to future patients

For those considering SGF’s Embryo Donation Program, I know that it can seem weird or scary at first. In the beginning, I was worried what people would think if I gave birth to a child that didn’t look like us and how we would explain embryo donation to our kids. In our experience, people are usually curious and supportive when we talk about it. And we have found creative ways to explain it to Boaz, like making a photobook that uses family pictures and kid-friendly language to tell his unique story. Embryo donation is a beautiful gift that should be celebrated, and we pray that our story gives you hope!



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Diagnosis and treatment

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Infertility terms
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Donor embryo treatment
Male factor infertility

Receiving care

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Dr. Naveed Khan
Leesburg, Virginia location
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Michael and I got married in October of 2011. When we got married – I was 34 and Michael was 39 so I guess we were considered “older!” We both knew we wanted children right away. We even joked that we wanted to get pregnant on our honeymoon! For our honeymoon, we traveled to Washington D.C. from upstate NY. Michael’s favorite President is President Reagan so we said if we got pregnant and the baby was a boy then his middle name would be Reagan.
All our siblings had children and we just loved our nieces and nephews so much that we didn’t want to wait to become parents. Needless to say, it did not happen for us as quickly as we would have liked.

Why am I not getting pregnant?

I had never had a normal period and was on birth control for a number of years. I guess I was naive thinking that when the time came to get pregnant it would just happen like everyone else! I knew there were issues with my body but no doctor seemed concerned about it so I guess I wasn’t concerned either. After some months of trying and not getting a normal period I went to my OB/GYN who suggested we try two rounds of Clomid. I did not respond at all. This doctor didn’t want to waste our time because of my age, so he referred us to an IVF clinic in our hometown area. I couldn’t even process this.
Why couldn’t I just be like everyone else? Why did my body have to fail me? What was wrong with me? We went to that initial appointment at the IVF clinic and were so overwhelmed with all the information thrown at us and all the tests they wanted to do. We were grateful they could help but felt like it was information overload! Plus we had no insurance coverage. So not only are you trying to process all the procedures but the enormous financial burden you are about to take on. We were definitely not prepared for that.
During those initial tests I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and I also learned that I am a carrier for Fragile X. What on earth is that and why am I just learning about this? I didn’t know anyone in my family affected by this but it did explain a lot as to why I was having trouble conceiving. I had the full mutation, which meant there was a high probability I would pass this gene on to my offspring. If we were to have a boy affected by this he could have physical and social disabilities. If we had a girl she may just be a carrier like I was.
We didn’t want to burden our child with this issue so we decided to jump right to IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Looking back, it was just so hard to hear all these terrible diagnoses and challenges we would face. The only thing that kept us going was our faith that one day we would be parents. We did not pursue any further treatments at this particular center because I got a promotion and we moved to Northern Virginia in March of 2014.

Discovering SGF

Michael heard a radio commercial for Shady Grove Fertility one day so we made an appointment at the Fair Oaks location with Dr. Malik in January of 2015. I knew the moment we walked into the lobby this was a special place. Dr. Malik was honest with our challenges but she had a plan for us to move forward. We just clicked right away from that first meeting and she never lost faith in our dream! We did repeat all the initial blood tests, which confirmed I was, in fact, a carrier of Fragile X.
We jumped right into IVF in March of 2015. Our first round gave us three embryos. My estrogen tanked right before retrieval so it was suggested this was a sign of poor egg quality so we decided to do one more cycle to bank as many embryos as we could for the genetic testing. Our second round gave us two more embryos in September of 2015.
The second IVF cycle seemed pretty perfect on paper. I was monitored very closely so the doctor could adjust the dosages of medicine as needed to yield the best results. We had 15 eggs of which only three were mature and ultimately only two made it to Day 5. I still remember that call from the nurse – I was so devastated! But we had five embryos and we had to believe we would get some normal embryos. The IVF cycles were not easy. I over-stimulated both times ending up having to have surgery to drain excess fluid.
While this was a slight setback in our journey, we knew we had to keep going. We proceeded with the genetic testing and waited for the call to find out if any of the embryos were genetically normal. I felt as if we had done all we could and it was in G-d’s hands now. In October of 2015 Dr. Malik called to say we had one normal embryo and it was a girl. I was so excited and hopeful in my heart; the joy I felt was overwhelming.
Here was our chance and it just had to work! We transferred this beautiful embryo on 12/18/2015 and Michael and I just cried. I put my hand on my stomach and said welcome home baby. That 2 week wait was the hardest of my life! It was a cloudy day the day of our beta test and we wanted to go to downtown D.C. to walk around and try to distract ourselves.
When we walked out of the clinic after our blood test the sun was shining right through the clouds right at us. I had lost my mom to cancer and Michael had lost his dad to cancer too but in that moment we felt their presence so strongly! While we waited for the call we were sitting on a bench on the Tidal Basin looking at the Jefferson Memorial. I remember looking at the water and trying to just remain calm. The call finally came in and Dr. Malik and our nurses, Marci and Jenn, were all on the phone. To this day I can’t even remember what was said. We were all just crying. We did it!!!

Our miracle

Emily Marlene Silverman was born on September 9, 2016. To meet her and hold her for the first time was the greatest moment of our lives. The love and joy we feel for this precious baby is overwhelming. She is the most precious gift we could have ever asked for and being her parents is our greatest honor! I look at her each day and I just thank G-d for her.

My advice to current and future patients

Never give up on your dream! Don’t think for a second that miracles cannot happen. That feeling inside of you that you long to be a parent is there for a reason. Trust in that! The road is not easy and it’s probably the hardest road you will ever travel but being a parent is the most incredible thing we have ever done.
The treatments are intense and will take over your life but still find time to enjoy life and each other. Do what you enjoy doing, take trips, be silly and laugh. Take one day at a time and just breathe! Find a support group whether in person or online – they are invaluable. And remember you are stronger than you think! We never know why things happen to us but there is always a reason. If our story helps just one person then I am very grateful my journey brought me to a place to help someone else!
Dr. Malik, Marci, and Jenn were not just my doctor and nurses, they became our friends. There are not enough words to express how awesome they are. Without them, we wouldn’t have our miracle! We love them dearly and Emily will know who played such a huge role in helping to get her to us. They laughed, cried, and most importantly supported me and never gave up on us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!



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Diagnosis and treatment

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Infertility terms
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
Polycystic ovary syndrome

Receiving care

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Dr. Shruti Malik
Fair Oaks, Virginia location
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My husband and I met each other in 2009. We always knew we wanted a family and to start trying before we turned 30. We were both young so I thought having kids wouldn’t be an issue. I never thought I’d have trouble at 22 years old. Two years passed and I was still not pregnant. I also gained 50 lbs in a year out of nowhere. I knew something wasn’t right and it was time to see a doctor. I got diagnosed with PCOS from my OB/GYN. We decided to seek treatment at Johns Hopkins. We tried six rounds of Clomid with timed intercourse and 1-2 cycles of Femara. All of which were not successful.

Discovering Shady Grove Fertility

After 6 months, I was still not pregnant, so I decided to look up the nearest fertility center with the highest success rates, which is how I discovered Shady Grove Fertility. I live not even 10 minutes away from the Towson, MD office so I was grateful that we were so close and they have so many convenient locations.
I met with my nurse Bernie and Dr. Stephanie Beall, who immediately provided me with a game plan. We decided to try again with some basic treatments before going to IUI. We did six cycles of Clomid, then 6 cycles of Femara, but nothing seemed to work. We did 2 IUIs with Femara, still no success. It was finally time for some more aggressive treatment. Dr. Beall said let’s try IVF and I was all for it. The IVF process was hard on the body and mind but if you have a positive attitude you can get through it. On my first retrieval I was so nervous and scared but I knew that I had come this far and needed to go through with it. The injections weren’t too hard but I never thought I’d have to take so many! Eventually, I got used to it, and my husband even gave me my progesterone injections every night.
In our first IVF cycle, I got the news that only one embryo made it to day 5 blastocyst. We transferred the embryo, but unfortunately, it didn’t end up implanting. We decided to try again. Dr. Beall reviewed my last cycle and made changes to our next cycle, but we were slightly worried about ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHHS) since the treatment protocol was a little more aggressive. This time, we got the amazing news that we had 35 eggs and 30 fertilized with ICSI. Five days later we found out that we had 10 embryos that made it to day 5 blastocysts. We transferred two embryos on 02/14/2016 and decided to freeze the remaining embryos.

The two-week wait

The two-week wait was dreadful. I just kept thinking I’d never get pregnant. Two days before my Beta blood test I took a home pregnancy test. I walked away from it thinking it would be a negative, however, I came back in 5 minutes later and there it was, a big fat positive!
We went in for our Beta blood test and it did come back that we were pregnant. I went in for my 4-week ultrasound and saw the heartbeat and we were so incredibly happy. To our surprise, we came back a week later and Dr. Beall goes “there are two sacs and two heartbeats, you’re having twins!” We couldn’t believe we were having twins. I really couldn’t believe it.

Our experience at SGF

Our nurse Bernie and everyone at the Towson, MD office gave me so much hope through the entire process. Dr. Beall was so nice and understanding. She never turned me away because I was “too young” to do fertility treatment. She knew I was serious about this and it wasn’t a joke and that I wanted a family so badly. She listened to my concerns and my husband’s as well. If I needed her she was just an email away, which was amazing.
I now have two fraternal boys named Roanen and Matthias. They did come early and stayed a month in the NICU but they’re healthy as can be. They’re now 6 months and growing like weeds. We love them so much. I would tell future patients please don’t ever give up. As soon as you’re about to give up something amazing happens. I would tell future patients to go to Shady Grove Fertility because they gave me my miracles.



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Diagnosis and treatment

We understand you may have questions about infertility and how it’s treated. Gain answers from the diagnosis and treatments shared in this story.
Infertility terms
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
Polycystic ovary syndrome

Receiving care

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Dr. Stephanie Beall
Towson, Maryland location
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by

I was diagnosed very early in adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). I was overweight in the midsection, had discolored skin on my neck, never had regular periods, and had difficulty losing weight. Treatment at the time was birth control. I had known since puberty that becoming pregnant could be difficult. I didn’t truly understand how devastating that would become.
My husband and I went to the same elementary school and grew up on the same street in Central Pennsylvania. We didn’t connect until after high school, he had a previous relationship that resulted in a child and, like our relationship, I was young and babies weren’t a priority at the time. We were married in 2010 and decided to try to get pregnant 2 years later. We weren’t aggressive, I just stopped birth control and we crossed our fingers. After nothing happened, we sought medical advice.

Finding answers

I visited my local fertility specialist who said I could try to induce ovulation through exercise and diet. The plan was to lose weight and hopefully, my cycle would start regulating itself. For nearly 14 months, I ran every day and ate cucumbers for lunch. I didn’t lose any weight. Then the doctor recommended I begin tracking my ovulation. After tracking for 4 or 5 months with one actual ovulation, my fertility specialist put me on Femara. I ended up getting pregnant and miscarried at 6 weeks. It was one of the most emotional things I’ve ever dealt with. After the miscarriage, my husband and I took a year off. Trying to conceive is draining, emotionally and financially. The two-week wait between ovulation and a pregnancy test was torment, the only thing worse was an inconclusive blood test! Your home pregnancy test says positive and your in-office blood test resulted in a retest. Two days later, you’re officially gut-punched with a negative result. Needless to say, all the little hopeful thoughts and the list of baby names you’ve been drafting for 2 days goes painfully out the window.
We began toying with the idea of adopting. We got approval to adopt and fostered siblings for 14 months. During that time, I had an annual checkup where I learned if I truly wanted to become pregnant it needed to happen now. My biological clock was ticking. After 30, things become even more challenging. The specialist I had been seeing was my local OB/GYN and he recommended Shady Grove Fertility. I called and we made an appointment with Dr. Bromer in the Harrisburg, PA, office.

Starting treatment

Treatment was definitely aggressive. I started with a few more cycles of Femara and timed intercourse. When that didn’t work, we then moved to injectables and IUI. After the first failed cycled, we did another. The second cycle resulted in an “inconclusive pregnancy test,” which turned out to be negative.
I felt stressed throughout the process, now looking back I can see with each cycle we did make progress. Each cycle shed light on new information. The first cycle of injectables helped identify the right dosage, the second cycle helped pinpoint the best day to trigger, and so on. Every night, I’d go into the bathroom and use my expensive little pen to administer my dose. After the first cycle, the entire process was just part of our daily routine. In the evenings I’d give myself a shot then in the mornings I’d get an ultrasound.
Our last cycle required the IUI to be administered on a Sunday. Only one of the Shady Grove Fertility offices performs IUIs on Sundays – the Rockville, Maryland location. My husband and I just happened to travel to Rockville the night before the procedure, which was incredibly smooth and easy, then before we could head home a huge snowstorm hit the area and we had to stay an additional night. Luckily, there was a fantastic mall within walking distance!
Our trip to Maryland in a snowstorm was worth it when we got the news that we were pregnant! I got the call the day after my 30th birthday.

My life now

Miles was born on November 16, 2015. Miles looks like his daddy and acts like his mommy. He is perfect and the center of our family. He has three older sisters, Mavalynn who showed up in the delivery room with his first balloon and has been snuggling her little brother since she first laid eyes on him. Abby and Karri, our foster daughters, spend every minute they can playing with him and love showing him new things.
I’ve been a mother in almost every definition of the word, Miles is the icing on my cake.

Working with SGF team

My experience with the SGF medical team was amazing! The nursing staff answered every single neurotic email I sent. I’ve been to the Shady Grove Fertility offices in Fredrick, Rockville, Towson, Chesterbrook, and Harrisburg. We had HSGs, IUIs, bloodwork, and semen analyses all over the east coast. Some of these procedures were nerve-wracking for me, but every individual we met with was very understanding.

Advice to other patients

Don’t quit. Exhaust all your options, because living with regret will be more painful. Progress comes in baby steps; sometimes we only focus on our end game and miss signs of incremental success. Infertility isn’t a journey for the weak. This is a ride for the strong of faith. Isolation, loss, hormones, highs, and lows can only be endured by those made powerful through God.



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Diagnosis and treatment

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Infertility terms
Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
Polycystic ovary syndrome

Receiving care

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Dr. Jason Bromer
Annapolis, Maryland location
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by

After suffering from classic symptoms since I was teenager, I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 26 and single. Since I was a teenager, I had never had a regular menstrual cycle unless I was on birth control. When I was 25, I went off birth control for approximately 1 year and started to experience even more symptoms. I put on over 50 lbs, experienced androgenized facial hair growth, and moderate acne on my body/face. Once I finished with grad school and moved to the D.C. area, my new PCP took one look at my recent history and tentatively diagnosed me with PCOS. She referred me to my OB/GYN who confirmed the diagnosis and immediately put me on birth control and Metformin.
After the diagnosis, I quickly learned that I would probably need some help to get pregnant but that it would be pretty easy. Over the next 9 years, I met my husband via internet dating and we married when I was almost 30. We enjoyed being married, traveling, and weren’t focused on children until I turned 35. When I turned 35, I knew that if we were going to have children, we needed to start. However, due to insurance requirements, I had to go for 6 months with no birth control and no pregnancy.

Starting a family

Despite knowing that nothing would happen from the unprotected sex (except for a return of the PCOS symptoms), we waited out the 6 months and I went off to the OB/GYN for some tests and initial treatment. My OB/GYN confirmed the PCOS diagnosis via bloodwork and ultrasound. She also ordered an HSG, which revealed a uterine polyp growing in-between my Fallopian tube openings. My OB/GYN removed the polyp via a D/C and sent me off to Shady Grove Fertility. Dr. Browne also confirmed my PCOS diagnosis when I underwent the diagnosis testing at Shady Grove Fertility.
At the same time, Matt was undergoing treatment with an endocrinologist for chronically low testosterone. The first course of treatment was T injections, once a week. However, Matt forget to tell his endocrinologist that we were trying to conceive. One main side effect of T injections is that it shuts down sperm production, resulting in no sperm. As such, when Matt took his first sperm test, no sperm were present. Dr. Browne sent Matt back to his endocrinologist for a change of medication. Matt’s endocrinologist moved him to 3x weekly HCG injections and we waited 3 months for another sperm check. The 2nd sperm check showed some sperm, not a great count but not horrible either.

Beginning treatment

We felt most comfortable starting with IUIs, so we started our first IUI cycle in late July 2013. When that didn’t work, we started the second cycle in late October 2013. During the IUI time period, I also spent 2 months on the bench due to developing cysts and had to deal with two rounds of Clomid-induced rage (short fuse on my emotions) and hot flashes. After the 2nd IUI failed, Dr. Browne recommended IVF/ICSI due to the erratic sperm counts that Matt was having.
Knowing several people who had success with IVF, we decided to forge ahead. We were very lucky in terms of timing as we learned about the second failed IUI just after Thanksgiving and started our IVF cycle at the very end of December. Despite all of the daily injections needed, I felt better going through the IVF process as the hormones didn’t cause as many side effects as the Clomid did (my main side effect was some mild abdominal pain around the ovaries). With each ultrasound, we got more and more excited as the egg count kept growing and growing. On retrieval day, they retrieved 23 eggs with 16 of them developing normally. Then, it suddenly became much more real as we got daily updates on the growth. We ended up transferring 1 “perfect” embryo 5 days later (and freezing six others).

The two week wait

During our 2 week wait, we were fairly positive, knowing that with our diagnosis we had approximately a 50% chance of being pregnant once a 5-day blastocyst was transferred. It helped to know that we had six frozen embryos so if something did happen to the first transfer, we had “backup” and could undergo several rounds of frozen transfers. I was starting to experience side effects (bloating and sensitivity to certain food smells) but wasn’t sure if they were due to the progesterone suppositories or pregnancy.
14 days later, the beta came back positive. But we did cheat and I took a pregnancy test the day prior. I was so excited to see the second line and ran down to Matt and showed him. After we got our beta test back with good numbers, we started taking our weekly pictures.
One day before my due date, I gave birth to our little girl. Our little girl is almost 2 years old and the light of our lives. We are still deciding if we want to have additional children with the embryos that we have frozen or donate them to other infertile people. Regardless of what that decision will be, we will always be grateful to Shady Grove Fertility for their giant role in helping us achieve our family.

Working with Dr. Browne and team

We loved working with Dr. Browne and her team. She allowed us to move at the speed that we were comfortable with. Initially, Matt was opposed to IVF due to fears of a high-order multiple pregnancy but through education provided by Shady Grove Fertility, he realized that IVF is very different today than it was 10 years ago and it offered us our best chance to conceive.
For other people struggling with infertility, I encourage them to seek help early. The earlier someone emotionally accepts that they need help, the better it is. Reach out to other people going through infertility as well. One of my biggest sources of encouragement came from one of my managers as she had twins a few years before via IVF. Lastly, maintain a good relationship with your partner. Infertility is very stressful on a relationship, so pay attention to your partner and take a break from treatment if one of you needs to do so.



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Diagnosis and treatment

We understand you may have questions about infertility and how it’s treated. Gain answers from the diagnosis and treatments shared in this story.
Infertility terms
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Sperm production disorders

Receiving care

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Dr. Paulette E. Browne
Fair Oaks, Virginia location
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by

My husband and I met in 1995 when we were teenagers. We became best friends, spent every day together, and fell in love. We got married in 2003 and planned to start a family immediately. I never thought there would be an issue since I was the oldest of six children, I assumed it would be easy to get pregnant since my mother didn’t have any problems.
A few years went by and no pregnancy. Not even close. Finally, we decided to both get tests done to discover what the issue was and why we were not getting pregnant. I have always dreamed of being a mother and giving my husband children one day. The idea of not having a child never crossed our minds.

Finding a diagnosis

Our testing revealed that I had PCOS and my husband had issues himself. It was determined that we needed help and that conceiving naturally was not in the cards. As a teenager I didn’t get a regular period, however, I didn’t think much of it at the time. When we found out that my husband’s sperm had low motility, low count, and morphology issues, our dreams of having a child soon began to seem like an impossible reality. We began at a different infertility treatment center and after 8 years of injections, tests, procedures, countless IUIs, and two IVF procedures and absolutely no success, we took a break.
During that break, we discovered Shady Grove Fertility. We went to one of their seminars and decided to try again. We met with Dr. Sasson and knew right away we were in the right place with the right doctor. After meeting with Dr. Sasson, we walked away truly believing that what seemed impossible was going to finally be possible. Dr. Sasson was not only confident that we would have a child, but provided us with the hope and encouragement that we needed to continue our fight against infertility. He was going to be the one to make our dreams of having a child come true. We were accepted into the 100% Shared Risk Program.

Beginning treatment

After a failed and disappointing fresh IVF cycle, Dr. Sasson suggested that we have our embryos genetically tested to see if we were even implanting normal embryos. He believed that if we were implanting normal embryos we would have success in getting pregnant. Therefore, we paid to have the genetic testing done. As a result, we were left with 7 normal embryos out of 15. We then decided to transfer two embryos, which resulted in a positive pregnancy test. We were head over heels excited and could not believe that it was positive.
Unfortunately, when I went in for the 6-week ultrasound it was determined that there was only an empty sac and nothing else. I had a D&C a few days later. Even though we were heartbroken, Dr. Sasson and his staff were there with hugs and words of hope. He convinced us that this journey wasn’t over and he still believed we would have a child. We pushed forward with another transfer shortly after my miscarriage. Again, resulting in a positive pregnancy test, we thought for sure this time was the one that would work. However, again we experienced the same heartbreaking news, only an empty sac and nothing else.
Another D&C was performed, and our hopes and dreams started to diminish, but Dr. Sasson and his staff again provided us with such overwhelming support and encouragement, we decided to give it another shot. This time was going to be our last; we would look into surrogacy or donor embryo if this were to fail again. At this point, we had tried for over 12 years to conceive a child. I’ve had more than enough injections to last a lifetime, multiple scrapings of the uterine wall to help with implantation, and countless nights of wondering if it was all worth the emotional and physical toll this journey has taken on us. Never had we thought it would be so difficult to have a child. Never would we have imagined that we would watch everyone else around us have multiple kids and make it seem so easy.

Moving forward

Infertility had beaten me down to a point where I didn’t feel like a woman because my body was not doing its job. Why couldn’t I get pregnant? My husband and I felt like we had been through hell over and over again and if it wasn’t for my husband and the confidence Dr. Sasson had, I would have probably given up.
We had our third FET, and transferred two embryos again. When Dr. Sasson called with the news that my pregnancy test was positive, we were optimistically cautious. When I went in for the 6 week ultrasound, I couldn’t even look at the screen. Then Dr. Sasson and Jami happily and excitedly said there was a baby! The next few ultrasounds continued to show a growing fetus. My husband and I felt like we were on cloud nine. It was all surreal. We left Shady Grove Fertility after week 9, and that day was an amazing day of celebration and joy.

Working with Dr. Sasson and team

Dr. Sasson and his staff shared tears of joy and excited hugs with us! We were sad to leave them but we knew that they would always be a part of our family because they too shared in our heartbreak, tears, and sadness, but also shared in our triumph victory over infertility! Dr. Sasson had done what seemed impossible.
After 12 years, we were going to have a child. Going to Shady Grove Fertility changed my husband and me forever. Dr. Sasson and his staff demonstrated such compassion and understanding and more than anything his overwhelming support for us. We could not be more grateful. They helped us through the devastating disappointments and heartbreaks, held my hand through the painful scrapings, and always had a comforting hug and encouraging words.

Our infertility journey

Our journey to parenthood was not only long, painful, heartbreaking, and filled with sadness and desperation, but it was also filled with joy, happiness, and most importantly hope. Our relationship has forever been changed by our infertility struggle.
Our bond is more solid than a rock and we feel together we can conquer any challenge or obstacle. Our daughter was born on Valentine’s Day, a day that we had only dreamed of for so long, but now it was finally a reality.
We had a baby to call our own. I remember sending Dr. Sasson a picture of our family and he was so beyond happy for us and said it was one of the best pictures he ever saw. We were even more excited to have our daughter meet Dr. Sasson and his staff so she could see who helped make our dream a reality. Miracles really do happen and Shady Grove Fertility helped our miracle happen!



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Diagnosis and treatment

We understand you may have questions about infertility and how it’s treated. Gain answers from the diagnosis and treatments shared in this story.
Infertility terms
Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
Polycystic ovary syndrome

Receiving care

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Dr. Isaac Sasson
Chesterbook, Pennsylvania location
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