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Infertility can be a huge life stressor. Wanting a baby so bad that you dream about it at night only to find that you can’t have a baby without ART treatments can be devastating. There is hope, though. Read these IVF stories of couples who overcame infertility for inspiration and ideas to use in your own life.
Stress Relief IVF Story
Alice and her husband John had been trying for a year to conceive a child before they consulted an infertility specialist. Both were in their late twenties, so they didn’t think that infertility should be such a problem. After several months of infertility drugs that never worked, the couple decided to try IUI, a cheaper treatment that they could afford.
When several rounds of IUI also failed to give Alice and John the baby they desired, they thought long and hard about IVF treatments. They knew they couldn’t afford more than three rounds of IVF, and even to afford that, they’d have to take out a second mortgage on their home. When they couldn’t wait any longer to have a baby, they took out the mortgage, and John started working longer hours so they could make the extra monthly payments.
After one round of IVF, Alice had not become pregnant yet. Although they had planned on doing all three rounds back to back, the couple decided to step back and weigh their options. That’s when they found a mind-body program specifically for infertile couples. The program lasted for two months, and it offered support group time, stress management skills, and information about how they could change their lives to boost their odds of getting pregnant.
Alice and John were already pretty stressed about their IVF treatments since they knew they only had two more shots, so they signed up for the program. There, they met several other couples that they’re still friends with today. They practiced yoga together, learned to relieve stress on a daily basis, and figured out what they should be eating for better fertility.
After the program, Alice and John tried a second round of IVF. They found after this round that they were pregnant! Having heard horror stories from other infertile couples, they decided to keep their secret under wraps for a few months. Once they were in their second trimester, they announced their pregnancy to their friends and family members, and they floated through a pregnancy from which they gained their first child, a baby girl.
The couple is elated to have a baby, but they say that they aren’t sure they could have found the courage to keep going without the help of the mind-body program. Now they plan to save a little more money so that they can try IVF again in the future, hoping that it will go as smoothly the second time as it did the first but knowing they have the skills to cope if it doesn’t.
IVF and Genetic Testing
When Mary and her husband had five miscarriages in three years, they decided it was time to consult a fertility specialist. The specialist ran tests on both of them and couldn’t find anything wrong, but they decided to try IVF anyway. Three rounds of IVF later, Mary had had two more miscarriages. Devastated and heartbroken, Mary almost gave up. That was until she learned about PGD, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis.
The doctor who told Mary about PGD said that she may have been miscarrying because of a rare genetic defect called translocation, which would cause chromosomes to be structurally abnormal. Embryos with translocated genes would be abnormal and wouldn’t grow properly, so they were often miscarried very early in the pregnancy.
Mustering up their courage one last time, Mary and her husband went through one more cycle of egg harvests, but these eggs were tested for genetic abnormalities before they were implanted. After the doctors weeded out the abnormal embryos, three were left, all three of which were transferred. Two weeks later, Mary found out she was pregnant. After holding their breath for practically the first three months of their pregnancy, they finally told their family members they were pregnant with twins. Nine months later, Mary and her husband finally had two healthy baby girls, and they’re thinking about trying IVF with PGD one more time.
IVF Stories of Overcoming Infertility
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