Kimberly & Jill
Infertility Diagnosis
- Advanced age
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- Recurrent miscarriage
Treatment(s)
- Donor sperm
- Embryo Freezing
- Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
- Hysteroscopy
- In vitro Fertilization (IVF)
- Laparoscopy
Location(s)
- Syracuse
- Rochester
Physician(s)
- Robert Kiltz, MD
- David Corley, MD
- Ashleigh Rausch, PA
- Katy Falcon, NP
- Leigh Houghton, NP
Kimberly & Jill's Story:
As two women, we didn’t think our journey would be so long, after all there were two of us that could potentially get pregnant. We started our journey at another clinic in 2015 and by the time we got to CNY in 2019 we had gone through many IUIs, a loss, a retrieval, and two canceled FETs. We really needed a fresh set of eyes and some hope.
I thought PCOS and age were going to be my biggest obstacles to get pregnant, but my lining also ended up being a complication. I had another retrieval at CNY which I had a great response to but had several canceled transfers because my lining was never right. We explored lots of different things to try to encourage my lining to be suitable for transfer. It was so frustrating to have embryos but to still not be able to move forward. The team at the Rochester office was so supportive while we tried to figure out how I could get the point of having a transfer.
During all this waiting time we connected with other women going through fertility, tried to keep active, joined Fertile Hope Yoga, and did our best to keep a hopeful mindset. As anyone reading this probably already knows, time moves in strange ways while you are trying to get pregnant!
Finally, I was able to transfer for the first time ever in 2019. We were hopeful that the transfer would work, but we still were amazed when it did! Unfortunately, that pregnancy also ended in a loss. We decided to try again right away and this time one of the embryos stuck and stayed! We had our baby girl in June of 2020 and credit the expertise, patience, and support of the providers at CNY.
Favorite Team Member at CNY:
Katy Falcon who took me under her wing. Dr. Corley for doing both my retrieval and the FET that gave us our baby. Also he did my repeat HSG which I was so nervous about but it wasn't bad at all compared to my first one I had years earlier. All the staff at Rochester was wonderful, really!
Helpful resources Kimberly & Jill found:
I had this deck of positivity-type cards I would look at every night. I would write down a few things I was grateful every day. I went to Yoga for Fertility at the Rochester office. Erin always said something that resonated with me each week and I loved her yoga instruction. I loved seeing the strength of the other women in the group.
Unique Moments:
Highs -- I did my first FET at another clinic and had a fine outcome, 4 embryos. But at my second one at CNY I got 23 embryos!
I was a big believer in "endo scratches" and I liked that CNY also believed in them.
I think my story is different because I didn't have just one issue going on, it was several. Unfortunately I didn't know too many women with thin linings, to most women that meant something in the 7-range. For my second FET my lining was either a 6.8 or 6.9 and it still worked!
Hope, Inspiration and Advice:
The journey has lots of ups and downs, to say the least. One of the things I struggled with most was feeling guilty that other's pregnancy announcements sometimes made me feel a little sad [because it wasn't me that finally got to celebrate]. The biggest shift I had was saying to myself "Of course I feel a little sad. That is something I really want with my whole heart and I don't have! I can be happy for that person, and also a little sad for myself at the same time."
