Christy & Ben

Ben and I met in 2004 and were married in 2008. We both have a love for agriculture and dreamed of having our own farm one day. In 2009, our dream became a reality when we purchased our first farm. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to have children, but we chose to wait a few years to get our farm up and running.

Meeting Dr. McKeeby

After trying to conceive naturally for 4 years, my physician recommended that we see a fertility specialist. We had our first consultation at Shady Grove Fertility in August of 2016 with Dr. McKeeby. Ben and I completed all the required testing, which still did not give us any answers as to why we were having trouble conceiving. Dr. McKeeby reviewed our testing and explained our options to us. We decided our first line of treatment would be intrauterine insemination (IUI). We completed 3 rounds with no success.

Starting IVF treatment

Dr. McKeeby sat down with us and suggested that maybe we should consider in vitro fertilization (IVF). Ben and I decided we would give it a try. The IVF process was long, but with the support of everyone at SGF, it was very doable. I kept telling myself through each injection, that I could do this and hopefully our prayers would be answered. I had 7 eggs retrieved, 5 were mature, and only 2 fertilized. We knew the road ahead of us was still long, but we were so excited that we had 2 viable embryos. However, I will never forget the call from Dr. McKeeby on the way to the embryo transfer. He told us that one of the embryos had stopped growing, but the other one was still actively dividing, and they were going to transfer it. My heart sank. While I was grateful to have one embryo to transfer, deep down I was disappointed because I thought, “what if this doesn’t work?” It was very hard to stay positive.

The two-week wait

Waiting for the day to come to see if we had a positive blood test seemed like it took forever. I was so nervous waiting for the nurse to call with the results. I was hopeful that we would get good news, but I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up because we had only ever received negative results.

Our SGF miracle

When the phone rang, I started shaking, and when the nurse said, “CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’RE PREGNANT!” I couldn’t help but cry. We couldn’t believe it was actually us getting the good news for once. Ben and I knew it was very early and a lot could happen, but we were on cloud nine.

The most amazing day…The day we went to have the first ultrasound to see if the baby had a heartbeat was incredible. We cannot put into words how wonderful the staff at SGF was that day (and every day).

Our precious little girl is almost 6 months old and is doing fantastic. We look at her every day and thank God that our prayers were answered. We cannot put into words how grateful we are to Shady Grove Fertility for all that they have done for our family.

Advice to future patients

Our advice to future patients is to never give up. You are never alone in your struggle. The process can be an emotional roller-coaster and it is very hard to stay positive at times, but looking into those little eyes and seeing that big smile makes every injection and tear worth it. We are so thankful we took this journey and we hope our story can give another couple the hope that they need.