Chris & Jessica

My husband and I met in 2009 through Match.com. We hit it off instantly! We are both teachers; he is a high school physical education teacher and I’m an elementary librarian. He proposed at the beach in 2010 and we were married on the beach in Nags Head, North Carolina the next year. Very soon after we were ready to start a family!

Getting started

Before my husband and I met, I was married and we had tried to conceive naturally for about a year before realizing there might be a problem. I suppose it wasn’t surprising, growing up I never had a menstrual cycle without being on the pill, so that was always in the back of my mind when it came to the point of wanting children. I did a few tests with my OBGYN and received some help from the fertility nurse there as well. I was told it was a mild case of PCOS. The first step was to try a few cycles on Clomid. Unfortunately, the 2-3 cycles we did with Clomid did not give us a pregnancy and we decided to stop trying to conceive. A short time later we ended up getting divorced.

Based on my previous history, I knew I was going to have some problems conceiving and Chris was so supportive. We decided to seek out a fertility specialist in our area in the spring of 2012. Additional tests showed I had some scar tissue in my uterus. We needed to travel to Delaware in order for me to have a hysteroscopy/laproscopy to remove the tissue. The surgery was successful and we were ready to begin our first round of fertility treatment!

Just as we were ready to begin an Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) cycle, we got word that our fertility doctor decided to stop practicing. We were in a hurry to find a new doctor. The guidance counselor at my school was a patient at Shady Grove Fertility and suggested we try there. Chris called immediately.

Moving to Shady Grove Fertility

We met with Dr. Jason Bromer in June of 2012. Since we are both teachers we always have plenty of beach trips planned for the summer, the first being over the Fourth of July. We started with our first IUI cycle and had no idea what to expect. When we weren’t able to leave for our vacation on time, we realized how much this whole process could really change our lives. Due to timing, each of our three IUIs ended up taking place in the Rockville office. We became frequent guests of the Best Western in Rockville! We got to know the area very well and coined our visits there our “insemination vacations.”

After the first failed IUI, I decided to make some small lifestyle changes. I read a lot about eating a healthy diet to help with fertility and I looked into acupuncture. After visiting the Rockville office, I saw that there was an acupuncturist available right on the same floor. The ladies at the Wellness Center at Shady Grove Fertility were so wonderful. I did before and after acupuncture treatments with two of our IUIs at their office and continued with a few treatments in between with an acupuncturist at home. It was a great way to relax throughout the whole process.

Our third IUI started in August 2012, just as the school year was starting. It was very stressful missing the first few mornings of school when the students were just arriving for a new school year. Thankfully the staff and principal at my school were VERY understanding. It was hard, though, not wanting to tell the parents exactly what was going on. Unfortunately our third and final IUI failed as well. Dr. Bromer suggested considering other treatment options and we agreed and felt that if we weren’t pregnant by that point, we needed to move on.

Chris and I were both disappointed, frustrated, and heartbroken that nothing was working. Even Dr. Bromer seemed surprised too, especially since we changed our protocol the last IUI to be a bit more aggressive. We knew we needed a break and were OK with waiting a few months before returning to Shady Grove Fertility to begin our first In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) cycle.

Starting again

In January 2013 we contacted Dr. Bromer again to let him know we were ready for the next step, IVF. I needed to have another hysteroscopy since some scar tissue had returned. We started the stimulation medication and I was growing follicles really well and the retrieval was successful, unfortunately, we only had 2 embryos that were viable when it came time for our transfer, 5 days later. We were so disappointed hoping that we would be able to have quite a few to freeze. Two long weeks later we got word, it only took one and we were finally pregnant!

Thankfully the pregnancy went VERY well. I didn’t have any morning sickness, just overly tired the first trimester. My routine OB visits were positive and we found out it was a little boy at the end of June! Chris was ecstatic!

Of course I was very cautious the entire time about what to eat and things I should and shouldn’t do. We took MANY vacations that summer; Bethany Beach, Williamsburg, Outer Banks, and Myrtle Beach. We were both so excited for a new chapter in our lives to begin.

Life now

We are getting excited to celebrate our little boy’s 8 month birthday! He has been almost exclusively breastfed and we have just started a few solids like sweet potatoes, applesauce and oatmeal (homemade!). Peas are NOT one of his favorites!

Chris and I are excited that the end of the school year is here so that we can spend the summertime with Cooper. We have a family cabin that he has visited and loved being in the mountains and down at the lake. We are also traveling to the beach twice this summer with our families and can’t wait until Cooper sees the ocean. He is a joy every single day and we are so fortunate to have him in our lives!

My advice to a friend

There are SO many options for all situations of infertility. We had to try quite a few before something worked for us. I actually have a friend who went through fertility issues and IVF a few months before we started. It was nice to have someone to talk to. Finding someone who’s been through treatment really helps. And it’s so important to do things for yourself! I thought acupuncture was a great way to relax and stay motivated for the rest of the journey.