Recurrent Pregnancy Loss

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“The universe unfolds exactly as it should”…quoted from THE DESIDERATA (meaning the “desired life”), this is our fundamental belief. So much so, that we have it inscribed in our wedding bands and both have it etched into our skin with matching tattoos. Blessed we were to find one another in life…albeit LATER in life, we finally found the perfect partner that we both prayed to find. The universe brought us together exactly when we were to find one another and when we were ready to begin the adventures that awaited us. 3 years after marrying, our adventures finally lead us to passionate pursuit of parenthood and PASSIONATE we were! Admittedly, we both took for granted that the sounds of angelic baby cries and toddling footsteps in our home would come quickly and easily, but we found those assumptions to be painstakingly UNTRUE.
Fast forward to 2017, 5 early-pregnancy losses and finally a diagnosis of “POOR EGG QUALITY”, we found ourselves MORE ENERGIZED and CONFIDENT in the promises of becoming parents. With that energy, we opened new doors with Shady Grove, per the support of a friend that had TWO successful pregnancies (thanks to Shady Grove) after many years of struggling. We started our journey with DONOR EGGS with a sense of grace and faith knowing that ONCE AGAIN, the universe would unfold exactly as it should. First Donor: ONLY ONE EGG: FET=no pregnancy. Second Donor: ONLY ONE EGG: FET= no pregnancy. A fleeting moment of sadness came over us and yet we never hit a wall; we never had any doubt that we would continue with our passionate search for the little one that was equally searching for us. While the FET’s never resulted in a pregnancy, we were relieved that we were not experiencing yet another loss. Third Donor: ONLY ONE EGG: FET=a truly GOLDEN egg…PREGNANCY…and an abundantly beautiful and healthy (42 weeks) one at that!
At the wise ages of 43 and many YEARS into our adventure, OUR GREATEST, Magnolia Grace finally arrived. Our arms that remained outstretched and hopeful were generously filled. Treatments that we had to go through (easy and simple and became a routine part of our day), the many miles we had to travel (we made those days into exciting “day dates”), and the time it took for “us TWO” to become a “we THREE” (many years total, but only ONE at Shady Grove)…ALL very insignificant in the grand scheme of things when it comes down to… Hearing those toddling footsteps echoing through our home. We love our perfectly imperfect story…that an IMPOSSIBLE turned into an “I’M POSSIBLE”…at Shady Grove. For others that are struggling with the journey to become parents…take a breath and throw open the windows to what Shady Grove can do for you. Don’t lose hope. Stay focused. Stay healthy. Be patient with yourselves and with one another. Know that “the universe unfolds exactly as it should”… May you find your arms and your lives forever full. Cups running over, Michael and Ashley.



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Infertility terms
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
Shared donor egg

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Dr. Naveed Khan
Rockville, Maryland location
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Becoming a mother was always something I assumed would happen in my life. One of those things that would naturally occur with little effort on my part and little drama. I was an editor and photographer in D.C. and was ready to have a family of my own, even if it meant going a more untraditional route to motherhood.

Coming to Shady Grove Fertility

For years, I had thought about becoming a single mother by choice. When I finally made the decision to use donor sperm and head to Shady Grove Fertility, I was 33 years old and fairly confident that it would be a simple and easy process. Instead, my journey took me through two heartbreaking miscarriages before I was able to have my little baby girl.
I was disappointed my first IUI with donor sperm didn’t work, but I reminded myself of the statistics–5 to 25% chance based on age. The second IUI failed as well, and then, to my delight, I was pregnant on my third IUI. I went through the beta tests and saw the heart rate, seemingly beating so strongly. I “graduated” from Shady Grove Fertility and had my first pregnancy appointment with an OB/GYN where I saw the baby’s heartbeat again.
Everything was going well until I was 11 weeks pregnant and light bleeding started. That happens, and I had no other symptoms besides back pain. I scheduled an appointment for the next day, expecting to be told “not to worry.” Instead, the doctor paused the ultrasound and said there was no heartbeat. The baby had stopped growing over a week ago. I had a missed miscarriage and would need a D&C.
It’s hard to describe just how painful it is when a life you’re carrying just stops, even at that relatively early stage. The names I had already written out, the pregnancy announcement I was already working on, the phrasing of telling my boss. And the tiny sound of a heartbeat that never had a chance to thrive in the world outside, to live and grow up.
I took 3 months off from trying to get pregnant again, but two IUI’s and several months later, I was once again pregnant. But this pregnancy ended much sooner. I was just over 7 weeks when it happened and this time it was quicker. The bleeding was stronger and more intense, the cramping much more painful.

Trying again

I would try twice more, several months apart. On what would be my seventh IUI, just over a year from my first miscarriage, I would become pregnant for the third time. And this time, I would carry the baby girl 40 weeks and 3 days, and she would be born a healthy 8 lbs and 13 oz a few weeks after I turned 36.
Throughout the process, Dr. Doyle would call me and check in on me. We discussed moving to IVF before my last IUI, but I am thankful I was able to get pregnant successfully with an IUI. Aside from the painful miscarriages, the months and expenses of trying to conceive have run together, the memories have faded into blurry recollections. They have been overshadowed by new memories and moments of my beautiful little girl I get to hold in my arms every day.

Being a new mom

Being a new mom has its challenges, and a first-time mom more so as you try to figure things out. Between worrying if the diapers are too tight or too loose, or if the baby is getting enough food if her room is too warm or too cold, there are the little moments that make your heart swell. The toothless smile, the laughter that can stop a room. And just lying on the floor next to her, helping her discover her toys – and hands and toes and learning to sit up and rollover.
You know priorities will shift before the little one is born, but only poets have gotten it right in describing just how much bliss can be achieved from a sloppy, wet hand touching your face or how it feels when your daughter smiles at you when you get home from work. So being a new mom is chaotic, exhausting, filled with worry and anxiety, but also eclipses any other moment.










Staying strong throughout treatment

After the physical aspects of the miscarriages were over, the emotional healing took a long time. Even now I can still struggle to describe the emotional toll the first one took on me. But my family has been a never-ending support system.
As a single mom by choice, I didn’t have a husband to share my grief with. But my parents and siblings were there for me the entire time. They texted and called for updates on procedures and test results, offered advice, and opened ears. I leaned heavily into comedy shows like Schitt’s Creek and Brooklyn 99 for mental distractions at night, the light-hearted comedies a welcome reprieve from the darker feelings of failure.
Dr. Doyle was also amazing and supportive throughout the process, always taking the time to answer questions. He never rushed me, and we talked about all my options and how they would go and proceed. With miscarriages, it can feel like a successful pregnancy will never happen. But Dr. Doyle’s calm assurance that it would happen, that we would find a way for me to have a child, was a great support. The last two nurses I had before my successful pregnancy, were kind and supportive, answering all my questions quickly even as I sometimes barraged them with emails.

Advice to future patients

There are times when trying to conceive can be difficult and frustrating. And there are times after conception during pregnancy that are scary. None of my pregnancies, even the one that lasted until 40 weeks, were blissful walks through forests of flowers. But the little girl I get to read to sleep every night, that I get to hold in my arms and soothe away tears and watch her laugh at peek-a-boo and see her eyes widen as she tries a new solid food, those moments make everything worth it.
So, during the times when it gets bleak, take a short break if needed, take a deep breath, treat yourself to something you may not have, and then take a step forward again to trying. And repeat if needed. The end goal is worth it, trust me.



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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.
Recurrent pregnancy loss
Single mother by choice
Donor sperm
Intrauterine insemination (IUI)

Receiving care

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Dr. Joseph Doyle
Rockville, Maryland location
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My husband, Michael, and I were married in 2014 at the ages of 28. We wanted to travel before having children, so we took some amazing trips to Hawaii, Ireland, Alaska, and Scotland. We were ready to start trying when some concerning tests came back for Michael. We were told to try on our own for 6 months, but that the odds of us conceiving were less than 5%. To hear this before we even started trying was discouraging. After 6 months, we decided to see a fertility doctor. At our first practice, they confirmed the male factor infertility diagnosis and we went through more invasive testing. We endured one failed round of timed intercourse and seven failed medicated IUI cycles. We were facing IVF and decided that Shady Grove Fertility was a better fit for our needs. I thank God every day for that decision. As soon as we met Dr. Sasson, I knew we were in the best hands.
Michael and I started IVF after more testing. We went through our first retrieval and had one failed fresh transfer and three failed frozen embryo transfers (FETs). One was an early miscarriage. We also went through an endometrial receptivity analysis (ERA) cycle to see if the timing of transfer was correct. From those results, we fixed the amount of medication I needed. We also found out my husband’s diagnosis was worse than we thought with 66% DNA fragmentation.
After much consideration, we moved forward with a sperm donor and did another retrieval. Additionally, we went through PGS testing this time. I will never forget the call that we had SIX normal PGS embryos. We were thrilled. Unfortunately, we had two more early miscarriages, and three more failed FETs. During all of this, I had laparoscopic surgery and discovered scar tissue thought to be from endometriosis. We had two embryos left and very little answers as to why this was not working. There were no more tests to run or medications to try. We had tried steroids, vitamins, supplements, herbs, acupuncture, etc. Michael and I were seriously considering looking into adoption or a gestational carrier. Dr. Sasson suggested we try a natural transfer cycle and forget the ERA data/FET cycle before we moved onto other options.
Michael and I were scared since this was so different from what we had been doing, but we were also ready for something new. We had two embryos left and we went all in and transferred them both. On December 11th, 2018, we took a leap of faith with Dr. Sasson by our side. To our shock, one embryo stuck and my numbers were looking great. On August 23rd, 2019, our daughter Brynn was born at 8lbs 7oz.
Our journey was the hardest, most grueling time in our lives. I really cannot put into words what it was like. It went on for years and affected every single aspect of our lives. What gave us hope was the unwavering support of our family and friends and the unmatched care and knowledge of Lisa and Dr. Sasson and so many others at the Chesterbrook office. We will never forget them.
I would tell future patients to advocate for themselves, do your research, ask questions, and seek a second opinion if you do not feel comfortable. Additionally, I would tell them to seek support. In the online support groups, I met some amazing women who I still keep in touch with today. By sharing our story, friends and family came forward and shared their stories as well. Not only were we able to help others during their journey, but we found friendship and support as well. Finally, if you have a partner on this journey, lean on one another and remember that you are in this together. It is not anyone’s fault.
Shady Grove Fertility gave us the gift of a family and they never gave up on us, even when the odds were not in our favor. They are truly amazing, and we will never be able to thank them enough.



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Diagnosis and treatment

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Infertility terms
Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
Male factor infertility
Endometriosis

Receiving care

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Dr. Isaac E. Sasson
Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania location
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We started our journey at Shady Grove Fertility after three miscarriages even though we had our first son naturally. We did not have any difficulty getting pregnant the first time – in fact, we got pregnant within a month of trying.
During the preliminary stages, we became pregnant naturally with twins…which I subsequently miscarried. We continued screenings and tests at our OB/GYN and saw a perinatologist. I was diagnosed with a MTHFR gene mutation, insufficient Fallopian tubes, and antiphospholipid syndrome.
During the time I was seeing the perinatologist, I decided to make an appointment at Shady Grove Fertility because I knew I would need help if I wanted to become pregnant and stay pregnant again. When I came to Shady Grove Fertility, we did some more screening/testing to help our physician determine a complete diagnosis. We qualified for the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program and were ready to get started.

Getting started at SGF

Because of my diagnosis, Dr. Esposito recommended moving straight to IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).
I am an RN, so needles are not a problem for me. There were many subcutaneous needles, which were not a problem for me. I did ALL of my needles myself. The most difficult needle for me, overall, was the “trigger” HCG needle at 2:00 a.m. the night prior to the egg retrieval. That was an IM injection and for some reason, it just really hit home to me how real it all was.
I had to constantly keep my emotions in check, keep things in perspective, and focus on life. I was in my last semester of graduate school, plus working 32 hours per week, so it was definitely a time where I forced myself to focus on other things and keep busy.
Our egg retrieval day came and we got the news that out of 12 eggs retrieved, only 2 fertilized normally. We decided to transfer both of our embryos. I was never really concerned about getting pregnant. I was concerned about staying pregnant. So, the 2-week wait wasn’t really difficult. I had plenty of stress and things in my life that helped distract me.

The news we were waiting for

Dr. Esposito and Betsy, our RN, called me with the results—we we’re pregnant! I purposely tried not to get excited. Again, getting pregnant wasn’t the problem—it was staying pregnant.
The whole pregnancy was an emotional roller coaster that didn’t end until I held my baby in my arms. I was on IM progesterone and Lovenox the entire pregnancy…endured subchorionic bleed and 13 weeks of bedrest. Our amazing daughter was born on 8/13/07.
We are forever grateful to SGF—Dr. Esposito and Dr. Chang…the nurses and other staff. We paid $42,000 out of pocket, cried many tears, and endured a lot of stress and anxiety, but would do it all again!

My advice to current and future patients

Fertility issues can consume you if you let them. My first piece of advice is to keep your regular routine as normal as possible. I hear stories about women avoiding things, people, and places they enjoy because they want to avoid contact with families or babies, or children. That’s a mistake. The last thing you want to remember about your journey is what you didn’t do. If you are struggling that much that you are withdrawing or manipulating your life, you need to seek therapy.
The second piece of advice is to stay busy. After my first miscarriage, I started sewing a quilt. I still call this quilt my “therapy quilt.” The quilt is a king-sized hand-sewn quilt made from flannel sheet scraps. It was part of the reason I stayed sane throughout the process. Find a great support system—whether it’s family, friends, professionals, or a support group. Find a great support system and keep in close, regular contact with them. Start a journal and write every day. I started graduate school after my first miscarriage, so I worked towards something and stayed focused on other goals and being productive.
My third piece of advice is to have faith. Pray often and count your blessings and feel thankful every day. If nothing else, this fertility journey taught me how strong my faith really is. It taught me that all struggles and challenges eventually turn into blessings and that I may not be in control and that is OK. I never once stopped believing that my dream would come true. I just knew it would. Nothing is impossible.



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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
Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
Secondary Infertility

Receiving care

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Dr. Melissa Esposito
Frederick, Maryland location
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Daniel and I were married out of college and we had always dreamed of having a family. We wanted to be married for a few years to enjoy married life and to be who we wanted to be before we had babies. We traveled and went on some great vacations and led mission trips to Japan and Brazil. We really lived life!
We started trying to have a baby after 3 years of marriage. We tried for a year on our own, knowing it might take a little bit, however, we didn’t worry too much. After a year of trying to conceive, my OB tested me and told me I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and put me on Clomid. I did 6 months on Clomid, but we didn’t have any luck. My OB then referred us to a fertility center in TN, where we lived. We had high hopes to conceive after our first appointment.

Beginning treatment

We were tested at the fertility clinic and everything looked good. We started with intrauterine insemination (IUI). We were thrilled because we had lots of excellent swimmers each time we tried, and it was the closest we had gotten to maybe getting pregnant. All four rounds of IUI were negative.
We were told it was time for in vitro fertilization (IVF). We had more testing done and found out that I have a layer of protection around my eggs that fights away sperm. So, we would need intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) done on our eggs—where the embryologist inserts a healthy sperm into the egg.
We began raising money to go forward with our first round of IVF. We had three viable embryos. We decided to transfer two embryos and freeze the other, just in case. We got pregnant, but it was deemed a chemical pregnancy. Our second round of IVF resulted in the same. We were devastated. We had exhausted all of our options and came away with nothing but heartache.

Discovering Shady Grove Fertility

I reached out to a lady who is now one of my dearest friends, who told me about Shady Grove Fertility and their Shared Risk 100% Refund Program. If you do not have a baby at the end of six fresh cycles and as many frozen cycles that you have embryos for, you get your money back! This was a no-brainer for us!
Our clinic here didn’t have any kind of program like this and seemed to treat us like just another money-making endeavor, instead of being invested in us getting pregnant. We did the first couple of monitoring visits at our clinic in town, but once we were getting to the everyday monitoring, we flew up to Washington, D.C., and stayed until our egg retrieval and embryo transfer.
We started at Shady Grove Fertility in January of 2015 and went through a round of IVF. During our IVF process, we did daily injections and oral medications. I was able to do the smaller injections myself, but once we got to the bigger intramuscular ones, that job went to my amazing husband!
He was my biggest supporter through all of this, and when things would seem to be just “too much” he was right there, telling me that we could do this. It definitely helped to have a great team of people there to help us along the way. Dr. Chang and his staff were AMAZING. They were always there to answer any questions and help us. They were invested in getting us to the end of this journey with healthy baby/babies.
During treatment, I found out that I needed surgery to remove a fluid-filled tube, so I had this done and then we went ahead with the frozen embryo transfer. We ended up transferring 2 beautiful embryos.

The call we’ve waited for

The 2 week wait was so long! I tried to fill my days with visits from friends, and light work; we own a bakery, and so I was able to do a few weddings with the help of a dear friend, to keep my mind off of the waiting. During the wait, I was feeling good, with slight twinges here and there, and I just kept praying it was our embryos settling in for the next 9 months.
I was able to go to a friend, who is a doctor, and she did my bloodwork for my pregnancy test, and we got the lab results the next day. As soon as they came in, she texted me the results and my HCG levels were off the charts! It was so surreal to know we were pregnant and possibly pregnant with twins. Dr. Chang called within the next hour after he got the results and congratulated us!
We got pregnant and were overjoyed to learn that they both had implanted and we were having twins! A boy and a girl! Our twins were born at 36 weeks and were absolutely perfect in every way. They are our greatest joy!

Advice to other SGF patients

Our road to parenthood was long and tiring, but keep going if this is truly something you desire. Align yourself with people who understand. Unless you’ve walked this scary road, you don’t fully understand and know what to say to others. It’s ok to cry and it’s ok to fall apart when things don’t go as you planned or hoped— just don’t stay there. Pick yourself up and keep going. It is worth every needle and pain!



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

Receiving care

Assemble your fertility care team close to home. Explore our different locations and physicians who will provide guidance along your journey.
Dr. Frank Chang
Rockville, Maryland location
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Our story is a little different than the beautiful ones of high school sweethearts or those couples meeting in college knowing they were destined to be together, although I love reading those stories. After college, I began teaching school (kindergarten and first grade). I enjoyed babysitting as a teenager and loved my job as a teacher – I always looked forward to becoming a mother.
When I met my husband-to-be, he had a previous marriage and two children. We married when I was 29, and within our first year of marriage, we moved out of state to Florida (my husband was in the Navy at the time, and he received orders to Jacksonville).
Within a month of living there, knowing no one, with a new job, two step-children to take care of on my own (they were older, 8 and 10), my husband was deployed. During our six-year stay there my husband was deployed twice overseas and we lived apart for about a year for another job assignment within the states. During those years I did talk to a doctor about really wanting to have a baby and was told I would have to wait until my husband was in the country for at least a year. After meeting with another doctor who understood my increasing longing for a baby, we tried several rounds of Clomid without success.
After being married for six years and never getting pregnant I began to wonder. Even through the deployments, you would have thought at least once we might have gotten pregnant. Finally, after moving back to Maryland and living all together again under the same roof, I was 35 now and knew I was getting “older” for having babies but certainly didn’t think of myself as “ancient.”
I will never forget going to the doctor on base here and she looked me straight in the eye and said, “35 is practically a dinosaur to be having a baby. If there is any trouble, you need to get help and you need it now!” Of course, at the time this hurt my feelings, scared me some, but in retrospect made me think, ‘finally someone is taking me seriously!’ She called and scheduled an appointment for us at Walter Reed within a week.

Seeking a diagnosis

After several months of testing, I was diagnosed with PCOS and unexplained infertility, but because of a variety of reasons we were not able to make it all the way through a cycle there. We made it as far as a mock transfer. By now I finally started doing more reading and realized how much there is to learn. Interestingly we found out at the same time my insurance through the school system covered 3 cycles of IVF. I picked up this insurance and we made an appointment at Shady Grove Fertility within a week of being on the new insurance. We were so excited!
When we pursued our treatment at Shady Grove Fertility they did all of their own tests (blood tests, HSG, etc) and shared the same diagnosis of PCOS and unexplained infertility. Following our first IVF cycle, we were filled with joy. It was all so new to us. The meds, the blood tests, the sonogram, etc. After our 2 week wait we received the call we were pregnant! It was just amazing!
But a few days later the numbers still went up but were not as high as they hoped. Needless to say about 2 weeks later I miscarried. I remember clearly when I started bleeding on my 36th birthday. Pain and grief filled our hearts.

The ups and downs of treatment

By this time our children (my stepchildren) were in high school, and my mother-in-law moved in with us. Dr. Kipersztok suggested I lose some weight and, well, life just got busy. I took care of a family member with cancer, I took care of the kids, and then one day John and I realized (when I was 39) if we are going to do this it needed to be now.
We then made the commitment to focus on this because it was important to us. We would accept what happened—well at least try. We had two frozen embryos from the previous cycle but decided to try a fresh cycle. It was in the fall of 2013 when we went back to Dr. Kipersztok to do another round of IVF. This cycle was unsuccessful.
That December I had some polyps removed and we were cleared to try another fresh cycle in January. I lost about 20 pounds and began to take Metformin before this next cycle. This was our last cycle covered by insurance. We were so nervous yet full of hope and excitement. I will never forget the two week wait call for this cycle because we received it on Valentine’s Day– we were pregnant!
The next day I started bleeding. This was a weekend so we went up to Rockville and they did a sonogram and took our blood. The minutes seemed to literally tick as slow as possible that day. That evening we heard my numbers had gone up a good amount! Things were looking good!
Our six-week sonogram was terrific and seeing that heartbeat for the first time still brings tears to my eyes. At age 40, after 11 years of marriage– I was really pregnant and was looking at the precious miracle’s heartbeat.
My husband was not able to be with me for that appointment, but I shared the wonderful experience with him and showed him the pictures. He could not wait for our next appointment!
By now it was March and I was just about 10 weeks along. I had a due date: October 21st! As we got started with the sonogram the room was very quiet and my husband and I were squeezing our hands together with excitement. Then I saw my nurse look away and knew at that moment something was very wrong.
It fills me with grief and to this day. I still cry when I think about it. There was no heartbeat. I had to go back to school that day and remember feeling frozen and numb. Over the course of that weekend, my husband and I went on a trip that we had previously planned and I sobbed and he cried for our unborn miracle. That next Monday I was scheduled for a D and C. Very late that Sunday evening I woke up in a lot of pain and began to miscarry. It was painful—both physically and emotionally.
At this point, my husband made it happen and found a way for us to try those two little darling frozen embryos that were left. Dr. Kipersztok wanted me to put it on hold until life was a little less stressful so we waited until school was out for the summer. I had lost a little more weight and came back ready to try again. We knew we had to at least try. I remember wearing my lucky hand-knit socks at the transfer my mom had made me, just like I had for the previous cycle.
My mom told me to tell them to use Gorilla Glue this time during the transfer. Funny enough my nurse remembered this story (a testament to how personal and caring the Shady Grove Fertility staff is–they truly listen and make you feel special). When I got the call after the excruciatingly long 2 week wait, she said that gorilla glue must have worked because you are pregnant! Elated doesn’t even begin to describe how we felt!
We hadn’t told anyone about what we were going through up to this point other than my parents because my mom was helping me with some of my shots. As we approached our six-week sonogram it was July and I was in a school meeting. I felt a little funny and uncomfortable. I thought it was something I ate and then I felt blood begin to just flow. I got up and ran to the bathroom.
I left immediately for home and my husband and I went to the local hospital where we waited hours to hear what I already knew from the amount of blood I had lost… we miscarried yet again. This was a very low point for me.

Taking the next step

The next time we had our follow-up appointment with Dr. Kipersztok I brought all of my extra meds with me to hand them over. We discussed options but I was ready to accept defeat at this point. I was lucky to have two wonderful children in my life even though they weren’t biologically mine, and have a mother of their own, but I was thankful for the experience of seeing them grow up and graduate from high school.
Dr. Kipersztok mentioned a donor egg at this point and we talked about a few other things. He also said I could get some testing done to look at possible reasons for “recurring miscarriage” at this point. We went home to discuss it. Through a conversation with Dr. K. and a miracle in itself, an opportunity arose for a chance to try IVF one more time.
One little piece of information that always was dear to my heart (which may seem silly to some) was that I was adopted (this is not the silly piece–this is very important because I grew up being grateful to my birthmother whoever she may be for knowing she could not take care of me. She gave me the chance to have a wonderful life with my loving parents–who I was lucky enough to have chosen me) but for some reason, I just always hoped for that experience of being pregnant and having my own biological baby.
At this point, my husband and I were too old to be considered to adopt. In any case, we decided one last time to try a fresh IVF cycle. And at age 41, that October we had several embryos transferred. It was a very, very quiet ride home from Rockville that afternoon. My husband and I just stared at each other with love and longing, praying this would work this time. And, it did!
At our six-week ultrasound, there were actually two heartbeats! I will never, ever forget how nervous I was at our nine-week ultrasound. I knew I had to be positive but all I could think of was our last ultrasound the previous March when there was not a heartbeat. There was a very healthy heartbeat! And a weak one. We grieved for this one and said our blessings to be lucky enough to have one miracle survive. That was in November of 2013.
Since then we had found out that I had a positive lupus anticoagulant test and I would need to take daily shots of a blood thinner–first Lovenox and then because of allergic reaction heparin– throughout the duration of my pregnancy.

Our miracle baby

Our third pregnancy of the year – and on July 2, 2014, our healthy 8lb, 1oz, baby boy was born. Our hearts were filled with joy, and we are thankful every day for the miracle received and the team/staff at Shady Grove Fertility who made it happen!
Our little miracle is just over a year now! Our days are filled with laughter and joy. No matter what may happen during the course of the day our little boy’s smile lights up our day and makes everything happy. He is a busy boy and keeps us on our toes and brings sunshine to our days.

My experience at Shady Grove Fertility

I don’t even know where to begin. There are so many ups and downs with fertility treatment. Through the years some of the details have blended together, which I am surprised at because I remember at each point having such strong feelings/emotions whether they’d be happy or sad or nervous or hopeless
Dr. Kipersztok and his staff are AMAZING! They are professional and caring. I remember once I had blood drawn before driving up to Baltimore to meet my kids for a field trip. I was a little nervous about this trip and shared a little about my upcoming day while having my blood taken. A couple of days later when I went back the nurse asked how my kiddos liked the trip. I really felt like they cared.
They seemed like cheerleaders in a way for us, as well as very professional and knowledgeable. I could e-mail my nurse whenever I had a question and she always sent a reply the same day. After the birth of our little miracle we sent out pictures to everyone and of course included Shady Grove Fertility.
Dr. Kipersztok called my cell phone and left a beautiful message on there with his congratulations and best wishes on our little guy. They honestly felt like family. We will always be grateful to them and especially for Dr. Kipersztok who never gave up on us and always gave us hope. He knew how to change things each cycle to make it happen, ultimately giving us our miracle.

My advice to other patients

Have hope, stay positive. Go see someone early (much earlier than I did!!!) even if you just want to ask questions. There are amazing groups out there on social media with people struggling daily who are willing to share their stories. I found hope in all of the Shady Grove Fertility stories and would read them whenever I got them in my e-mail.
For me, they were inspiring. Everyone’s story is different. It put things into perspective for me. Find what works for you. I’ve heard of people getting acupuncture, and certainly staying fit helps–this can be challenging with PCOS but there are many options to try. We didn’t use them but there are support groups out there and counseling. Each miscarriage was heartbreaking. You need someone to support you and to talk to. Someone to lift you up when you feel low and someone to just listen.
Be resourceful! There is so much information out there and people who are willing to share. I did a Shady Grove Fertility webcast one day that was very interesting about PCOS and then there was an opportunity to ask questions by typing them in and the presenter responded. There is much to be thankful for. And lastly, maybe this sounds hokey– but I would say to believe in miracles– because they do happen! Especially at Shady Grove Fertility!



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Diagnosis and treatment

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In vitro fertilization (IVF)
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Advanced maternal age

Receiving care

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Dr. Simon Kipersztok
Waldorf, Maryland location
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