Thinking about wanting to have a baby was something that was really interesting to me – it never really felt like my clock was ticking until, one day, it was. It was a loud tick. I was single at the time, but not getting any younger, so I decided to go ahead and start looking at the process of becoming pregnant. I knew I would have to do at least IUI, due to my relationship choices. I started looking into my options, the cost of those options, and started piecing together this information in my mind.
That is when I met my wife, Angie. It was a quick fitting relationship as we were high school acquaintances that rekindled our friendship at a mutual friends’ birthday party. We were drawn to one another and before we knew it, we had fallen in love and were starting to build a life together. As Angie and I grew, I told her from the start that I was looking into and was planning on becoming pregnant. Even though Angie’s previous relationship graced her with three beautiful daughters’, she was all on board and chose to embark on this journey with me.
I started by going to my family practitioner. I let her know that I wanted to become pregnant and she pointed me in the right direction to get started. Next stop was my gynecologist and we did some evaluations and tests to discover that I had a uterus full of fibroids. My OBGYN stated that there was no way I could get pregnant with the way my uterus was, so I chose to do the laparoscopic myomectomy in order to remove said fibroids. Ten were removed. One of the risks of this surgery was that the scar tissue could cause my fallopian tubes to block up. Unfortunately, that risk came to fruition as one tube was completely blocked and the other was slightly blocked. I figured my next step would be IVF but I honestly didn’t know much about anything with regards to that.
Lucky for me, I found VCRM. A very good friend of mine was helping me do research on fertility doctors in the area that support the LGBTQ community. Dr. Sharara and VCRM were at the top of the list. Angie and I went in for a consultation where we were greeted with warmth and smiles – we immediately felt comfortable and safe. We met Dr. Sharara for the first time and began the process of testing to confirm and evaluate the current situation with my body. The process was intense but also very simple since I followed Dr. Sharara’s exact instructions and path. After completing the evaluation, it was determined that the best course of action would be to move forward with IVF. I didn’t know exactly what that meant but Dr. Sharara and his staff guided us every step of the way. As it turns out, my cousin and his wife are also client’s to Dr. Sharara with much success as well! We had not put this together until a bit after my procedures started.
We began with the egg retrieval and were able to get about 15 eggs retrieved however, due to certain circumstances, only five of those eggs fertilized and one of the five made it to blastocyst. We had the embryo PGS tested and it came back as a chromosomally normal male. We transferred the little embryo and hoped for the best, but unfortunately, my body was unable to impregnate this little guy. We were so very sad but knew we were going to try again.
That is when Sara, Angie’s eldest daughter had a relapse of her germinoma brain tumor. She had been in remission upwards of 3 years and on her 18th birthday, May of 2018, we were told she had relapsed and had to start a very tough path to try to fight this cancer off again. Sara left us on Thanksgiving Day November 22, 2018. We stayed by her side every day and every night until the day she left us. It was, and still is, the most devastating thing that has ever happened to us. During this time, we of course took a hiatus from baby making as she was our main focus and priority.
As we grieved the loss of our Sara, Angie and I started discussing bringing a new baby into this world. We took our time and had a lot of personal conversations at home to where we turned once again to Dr. Sharara and his wonderful team. We felt at home once again and were welcomed back with open arms and love and there was a fierce determination this time to get us pregnant. Due to my age and further testing, we decided this time it would be the best option for us to look into embryo adoption. Dr. Sharara was able to offer this service to us and hand selected our embryos. On October 7, 2019, a male and female were transferred into my body.
The very intense and impatient 2-week wait began…
On October 18, 2019, we got a call from nurse Jo and she announced to us that our blood test confirmed that we were indeed pregnant!! WE DID IT!! We were over the moon excited. We came to see Dr. Sharara for our 6-week ultrasound and his face was beaming with happiness and pride for us. In fact, the entire office was so thrilled for us. It turns out that one of those little embryo’s decided to stay with us.
We got to stay with VCRM until about 9 weeks of pregnancy to where we were released to my OBGYN. We miss VCRM and the team immensely, but we know we will be back just as soon as we are ready to go again!
Thank you for sharing your story with us Christy – it is incredible, and we wish you and Angie all the happiness in the world!