Jennifer's Story

Like many couples, my husband and I decided after two years of marriage that it was time to expand our family. We have always talked and dreamed about having children and we were very excited when we finally decided it was time.

I went to my OB/GYN to let her know that we were trying to get pregnant, so she prescribed prenatal vitamins and I went off the pill. The first month we tried I was so excited that I bought an ovulation predictor kit. I was sure that I was pregnant that month. I was not.

For a year we used ovulation predictor kits and timed our love-making. I did not get pregnant. After a year and a half, I was back at my OB/GYN and she ordered a few tests. I could not understand why I was not pregnant. I was healthy and just 28 years old and my husband was 26.

The first test we did was a sperm analysis. It revealed that there was a problem with the morphology of my husband's sperm. We had three choices: try IUI (intrauterine insemination), have surgery to repair the problem, or continue trying on our own.

We opted to try the IUI, so we were referred to a reproductive endocrinologist (R.E.). I was also given several tests and other than having an irregular cycle, everything seemed okay. The R.E. prescribed Clomid for me with IUI.

We did three cycles and they all failed. At the start of my fourth cycle they discovered a cyst on my left ovary, so my doctor decided to do laporascopic surgery to remove it. During surgery, he discovered I also had Level II/borderline III endometriosis. It was removed along with the cyst, which turned out to be a non-cancerous tumor.

The next month we thought for sure that our problems were solved. We were so hopeful! But again we were disappointed.

It was at that time that my husband's company switched insurance providers. Incredibly, the new provider covered Invitro Fertilization (IVF) completely so we got on our clinic's waiting list to do a cycle. While we waited, we did one more IUI cycle.

We were then able to go through the IVF cycle, and what an experience that was! I learned how to give myself injections. It was a two-month process with frequent visits to the doctor, many injections, and visits to the hospital for the retrieval and transfer. In the end it paid off. We were finally pregnant!

We are expecting our baby girl at the end of this month and we are so excited we can hardly stand it. We went through more than two years of infertility and eight months of infertility treatments with countless cycles of disappointment, but it has been worth every tear and every injection because we are finally going to realize our dream of being parents.

We can't wait to meet our baby and let her know how much we wanted her.