Elizabeth & Jordan

Elizabeth & Jordan's Story:

From a very young age, I knew I wanted to have children. However, I wasn't until my mid-thirties that I found my partner and got married.

Shortly before our wedding, my OB/GYN doctor discovered I had uterine fibroids so she performed a myomectomy surgery to remove them in anticipation of me trying to conceive.

After we got married we started to try to get pregnant and after a year with no success, I was referred to a local fertility clinic. I got a full series of fertility tests, but nothing came back indicating any problems. My husband was also tested, and he had a slightly low sperm count, so the doctor prescribed him some meds to boost it.

We tried IUI, but it was unsuccessful. We tried two more times unsuccessfully. We knew our only option moving forward was IVF, but we couldn't afford it and did not want to go into debt trying to conceive.

It was so frustrating because I had no history of infertility in my family and was very healthy. I had no reason to believe I couldn't get pregnant, except that I was getting older. Still, friends my age were having 1 and then 2 kids during the time I was just trying to get pregnant.

My husband was working a contract job in Austin for a short time and mentioned to one of his coworkers that we were struggling with infertility. She said she was facing the same struggle, but she was going to try CNY Fertility. My husband looked into it, and we realized we could actually afford IVF at CNY even with the cost of travel.

I started all the meds and prep for my egg retrieval in early 2020, and then COVID hit. Cities and states were overwhelmed, and travel started to shut down.

I called my local clinic again to see if they were still open and booking procedures and to get a cost estimate, but I just couldn't justify the price. 

I was about to fly up to NY, and I had just paid thousands for my medications and had nervously administered my first shot in preparation for the upcoming trigger shot when that very day New York announced they were closing off travel to the state.

That night, I had a mild anxiety attack partly triggered by my heightened hormones. Thankfully we figured out a way to travel to CNY for my egg retrieval--but it wasn't easy.

When we got there, we were so pleasantly surprised with CNY and how hospitable and friendly, and helpful everyone was, especially compared to our local Austin clinic. 

The egg retrieval was successful, and we got 11 embryos, half of them blastocysts. We didn't know whether we should have them genetically tested or not.

After talking to the embryologist, we decided not to. We decided to do a fresh embryo transfer while we were there. It was unsuccessful, but I knew it was shot in the dark, and it didn't work out.

When we got back to Austin, we had some setbacks in preparation for a FET.  I did the meds for a month only to find it was too late, and I'd already ovulated.

I knew I had a shorter cycle, so it was frustrating trying to work out the timing. I had a telemed appointment with Dr. Grossman and he explained what my body was doing and came up with a plan to hold off ovulation until we were ready. This time it worked, but an unprecedented snowstorm hit Austin, and we could not leave the house for days, so we couldn't move forward with the FET as planned.

In 2021, my doctor performed another myomectomy surgery and removed several more fibroids. After recovering, it was time to try again.

I had my first FET, and it was successful! However, I had a miscarriage due to a genetic abnormality.

A month later, I found out I was pregnant again, this time naturally! I couldn't believe it. However, the pregnancy resulted in another miscarriage, again due to a genetic abnormality.

This time my OB/GYN tested me for recurrent miscarriages. We found out I had the PAI 4/5g allele gene so she prescribed Lovenox shots going forward. I also decided it was best to get half my embryos genetically tested, and one came back healthy.

With all this new knowledge, I did another FET at CNY in April 2022 with a healthy embryo and it took!

I was pregnant with a healthy baby and taking all the meds to keep my body healthy during this pregnancy. In December, we had our healthy daughter after more than six years of trying. We believe all the pieces came together to bring about this wonderful completion of our story. All the struggles and pain we went through brought us our beautiful baby girl.

Favorite Team Member at CNY:

The acupuncturist really encouraged me. When I told him nothing had taken and we hadn't had success, he told me we might have a few tries, but it would happen. And he was right!

The nurse who assisted in our Frozen Embryo transfer was so positive and upbeat and encouraging! Coming into the room with a big smile and saying, "Let's make a baby!" just set such a positive tone for the whole procedure.

Dr. Kiltz was the best! He was personable and encouraging and made himself available by answering questions and providing helpful information even though I know he is incredibly busy.

Helpful resources Elizabeth & Jordan found:

Daily prayerful meditation helped a ton. I also did some acupuncture. I had an "infertility and loss" women's support group that was an incredible help during the whole process.

The Moment:

Finding out I was pregnant produced a lot of fear and anxiety because of the miscarriages, but the moment I heard my baby's cries when she was born and she was placed on my chest dispelled all those fears.

Hope, Inspiration and Advice:

Talk to people even though you want to hold it all in. You'll be surprised how many people share your struggles with infertility and they can be a huge source of support and information.

Also, get second opinions, don't settle. Keep educating yourself and be your own health advocate. I truly believe I would still be trying to get pregnant if I stuck with my local fertility clinic as some of my friends have.