Sarah's Conception Story

Tim and I have been married almost six years, and we knew I would have difficulty getting pregnant since I have Polycystic Ovarian Disease. Right after we got married we got on the baby-making roller coaster. I started fertility pills–one pill, then two, then three, four, five, etc. After I maxed out on the dosage, my gynecologist did a laparascopy to see what was going on. He discovered I had cysts on my ovaries, and since one was questionable, they did a biopsy. When it came up benign, he turned me over to an infertility specialist.

The specialist started me out with fertility shots–one dose, two doses, etc., until I maxed out and finally produced 13 eggs. He did insemination with the concern I would be the next McCallough giving birth to many babies at once. The pregnancy test came up negative. My doctor tried insemination two more times and decided because I was overweight, it was time to call it quits.

I went back to my gynecologist and he suggested I have a total hysterectomy due to the questionable cyst, thinking the next one may not come up benign. Since I was just promoted, I did not think it was fair to my new boss to be out for six weeks due to surgery, so we agreed to wait three months. After three months, my doctor asked to schedule the hysterectomy. I still felt I was too new in the job and asked to wait three more months, and he agreed. When July came, he said it was definitely time to schedule the surgery but something deep inside me told me not to do it. I asked him if there were any doctors in the Cleveland area he could refer me to, and he sent me to a female specialist.

My new specialist discovered I was incorrectly diagnosed and that although I did have ovarian cysts, she felt my gynecologist was jumping the gun on doing a total hysterectomy when I was trying to have children. She suggested invitro fertilization, and I started the same drugs as before, where I produced four eggs. She tried insemination but once again the result was negative. (This is now going into our fifth year of trying to conceive.) She put me on the maximum dosage of fertility drugs and tried once more, and I produced six eggs. The egg withdrawal produced five fertile eggs, which were immediately fertilized with my husband's sperm, producing four fertilized eggs, and the invitro surgery was scheduled. The fertilized eggs were put back in my uterus and six weeks later I found out I was pregnant. And, on the first invitro attempt!

I know I am truly blessed as many couples go through several invitro attempts to try to get pregnant. We knew we had only one shot at this since it cost $12,000 and after wiping out our savings and everything in our checking, we would not get another shot at it. If this did not work, we would begin the process of adoption.

My pregnancy was tagged "high risk" because I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Also, through the extensive fertility drugs, my ovaries were over-stimulated and I had a condition which caused me to retain fluids. At one point during my pregnancy, I was admitted to the hospital for severe dehydration for a week. I began an extensive diabetes diet and insulin and after nine months, we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Sarah Diane.

To all those couples out there, keep trying, look for doctors in the larger cities with big hospitals and never give up. I hope God will bless you too!