Kathy & Matt

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.