Erin & Dillon

Erin & Dillon's Story:

We always knew we wanted to have a big family, so we started trying after two years of marriage at the age of 20. We told ourselves in the beginning whenever it happened it happened, god knew what he was doing. After about two years we thought something must be going on. So we went and got tested and everything looked perfect. So we were told to keep trying, sometimes it just takes a little longer. So we listened and about another year later with vigorous ovulation tracking, and still no pregnancies we decided to go to an RE.

Once again everything looked perfect, no blockages, hormones were great on both sides, sperm count was right at average. At this point we decided to do timed intercourse and superovulation after a few rounds of that and still no pregnancies, we moved to IUI. At this point, my husband being military and deployments being in the way and making time move faster and faster, we were now 27 and still trying to conceive our first. We did two IUI's back to back both of which had failed. At this point, we had found out that the IUI had failed about three days before Christmas. Which of course broke our hearts and even more so when our niece ran up to us on Christmas Eve with a shirt that said “I’m gonna be a Big Sister” our hearts sank.

No one knew we had been struggling for so long, we wanted to keep our journey to ourselves to lessen the stress of “did it work?” questions and “I am so sorry.” At this point we knew we needed to save money so we could afford to throw upwards of 20k on IVF and medication at our current RE clinic, we knew it would be at leaflet a year or two before we could even think about doing IVF. Then summertime came and we were driving back home to NC when I came across a Facebook page that talked about affordable IVF. I surely thought it was a scam, or it was all the way in NY just another obstacle. But once I did more research all in two days continuously on my phone and added CNY support groups on Facebook (who were lifesavers by the way) I talked to my husband and we book a consult!

Within two months we were doing our first IVF cycle, and by August we had 11 embryos frozen! You always think that IVF is 100%, or at least I somewhat did. We had the Embryos, now we just needed to get them to stick! The first transfer was two weeks after the retrieval. It failed, we were for sure was heartbroken. Not even a positive pregnancy test. At this point, we had been trying for 8 years and never had a positive pregnancy test. We thought maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. IVF is rough on your body, with all the shots, hormones, medications, trying to eat right, not drink caffeine, not work out too hard, but don’t not work out either, don’t get too cold, don’t get too hot, it’s a roller coaster.

On top of that, I just started a new job, so we decided to wait a couple of months before the second transfer. Around March 2021 we found out my husband got orders to a different base, and now the money we had been saving up for a transfer was to be used for that. On a whim, we decided to just go ahead and go through with a transfer before we moved since we were still close to the Atlanta location(so we could do monitoring), we had no clue if we could find somewhere to monitor us at the new base. So now May 2021 we did a transfer, Dr. Croley was amazing and kind. He hovered over us and prayed and held our hands and explained every single step. We decided to spend an entire week in NY and enjoy the scenery and visit Niagara falls and make a vacation out of it. I did the complete opposite of the first time, I didn’t take it easy, we walked so much, I ate what I wanted and just relaxed. Two weeks later we had a POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST!!! Our first-ever, like EVER! A couple of days later we found out we were having TWINS!
December 2021 we welcomed our beautiful babies on Christmas Day at 35weeks. It brought me back to that moment when I was so devastated on Christmas Eve that our IUI failed, and it all brought us to this day Christmas Day, 06:25 am our beautiful baby girl made her appearance, and at 06:27 our beautiful boy made his appearance. I truly believe if it was for Dr. Corley and him praying with us before the transfer, and being so kind and gentle and not rushed like many others, if it was for him we wouldn’t have our beautiful babies. I am forever grateful for him and CNY fertility for his kindness and for their affordability. Everyone should be able to afford to create a family, and CNY makes it easier!

Favorite Team Member at CNY:

Dr Corley

Helpful resources Erin & Dillon found:

CNY support groups on Facebook, without these helpful ladies I would have been lost!

Unique Moments:

Everyone’s story is unique.

Hope, Inspiration and Advice:

Realizing that IVF isn’t a cure all, and it may not work, but relaxing and have the mentality of whatever happens happens. Try to enjoy the experience, and learn. DONT STRESS!