Ashley & Matthew
Infertility Diagnosis
- Unexplained infertility
Treatment(s)
- Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
- In vitro Fertilization (IVF)
- Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
Location(s)
- Syracuse
- Buffalo
Physician(s)
- Robert Kiltz, MD
- David Corley, MD
- Kris Ziegler, NP
Ashley & Matthew's Story:
As we begin infertility week, it's always something that tugs at the heartstrings. Infertility is something that more women face than are willing to admit. It causes endless tears, money, fights, countless doctor appointments, fertility drugs, invasive procedures, etc...
Some women battle infertility until they are forced to give up, whether it be for financial reasons, the strain on their mental health, or their relationship in general, or because they've broken-heartedly accepted that they will never bare their own child. It's something that's not talked about enough! It shouldn't take a designated week or month to bring awareness to such a common gut-wrenching reality millions of women face every day!I was one of them. This is our story.
For years we struggled, went to appointment after appointment, was on fertility meds that made me feel like crap 99% of the time, and went through every test imaginable.
We weren't living a normal life. Our days were consumed with the protocols we had to follow, everything had to be timed just right.
It almost broke us a few times, but being a mom was the most important thing in the world to me and I wasn't giving up! Finally, after years of being put through the wringer, we moved on to IVF and found out we were pregnant a week before my 30th birthday, best news ever!
Except it was short-lived. My bloodwork wasn't showing the numbers progress the way they should have, and I ended up in the ER, where I was told the pregnancy wasn't viable (it could kill me had it ruptured) as the embryo had implanted in my fallopian tube.
It was the worst day of my life! I was given shots to medically "end" it, but they didn't work, and 3 days later I was back in the ER being told they were taking me for emergency surgery to remove my entire tube because I was bleeding internally.
During surgery, they determined my other tube was badly damaged and took it out as well. Fast forward another month... I was now 30 years old with no fallopian tubes and zero chance of ever falling pregnant naturally. I was devastated!
A month later, I had my second embryo transfer, and it stuck! And let me tell you...every ache, pain, headache, needle, appt, dollar, argument, you name it, has been worth it leading up to this!
The point of this novel is... there's nothing to be ashamed of. I too, thought it would never happen to me, but it did, and for reasons that we will never know.
Talk about it. Don't keep it bottled up. You are not alone! 💙💙💙
