Erinn & Joe

Erinn & Joe's Story:

We married in December of 2012 with plans to wait a year to start trying for a baby. Joe has 2 children of his own, so we were happy raising them. Once that year had passed, we tried naturally to start a family of our own. With no success, we sought answers from my local ob/gyn. I went through all the testing to see what would be causing us to not get pregnant on our own with no specific answer. Joe had a vasectomy reversal after testing to make sure that his sperm was still viable, and they were! As we continued to try with ovulation test kits and timed intercourse, we became more and more frustrated that nothing was working.
In 2016 we were recommended to CNY Syracuse and Dr. Kiltz. EVERYONE there was wonderful and helpful and flexible. We had to travel from Binghamton and work around our schedules for each visit and they made it work! We started with 2 rounds of IUI but they were unsuccessful, so we moved onto IVF.
Our first round began in September 2016 where we retrieved 8 eggs, 6 fertilized and 3 of which were preserved. We were happy with these results and excited to transfer but needed to wait to do an FET. We transferred 2 in October and neither of them resulted in pregnancy. That was devastating. We decided to try and transfer our 3rd embryo in December, which was also unsuccessful.
We did another round of IVF in February of 2017 and retrieved 6 eggs, 3 fertilized and again froze 3. This retrieval was so hard on me because I was having trouble breathing and they needed to bring me out of anesthesia. They weren't able to retrieve eggs from one of the ovaries and I felt so disappointed and a failure to not be able to use those eggs that I had been stimming for.
In April of 2017, we tried a FET again with 2 embryos and they were unsuccessful as well. We had 1 remaining embryo. At this time, the emotional and physical toll on my body was too much and we decided to take a break. It was a long break. We still thought we would try on our own and get lucky. But we didn't.
As it neared my 39th birthday, I said we could try one more round and if it didn't work by the time I turned 40, it wasn't meant to be. In January 2021, I was convinced to call and try again. In February of 2021, we retrieved 3 eggs, and 3 fertilized. This time around we did a 3-day fresh transfer with 2 embryos and froze the 3rd. We also did a new process (to us) of the infusion and hCG uterine wash to hopefully make them "stick" and this time IT WORKED! We were finally pregnant!
At my 40th birthday party (I was about 11.5 weeks), we got to announce to all of our family and friends, that had been there for us through this entire process, that we were having a baby! Shortly after that announcement, we found out it was a boy!
On November 12, 2021, we welcomed Hudson Alexander into our lives! He is truly our miracle baby.

Favorite Team Member at CNY:

Both Drs were amazing, but I cannot forget how incredible Dr. Corley was with my mom and I during the transfer process. He held our hands and we prayed and cried. I will never forget it and I believe that it was the reason it finally worked. All the nurses and NPs and the staff we worked with or interacted with were absolutely the best!

Helpful resources Erinn & Joe found:

I found it helpful to be a part of the CNY facebook page and watch the videos from the Drs. I also used the CNY patients page where questions were asked and answered. I met many moms and moms to be that were very helpful.

Unique Moments:

The lows were all the times were got the HCG blood test results back and they were low and we knew that it hadn't worked. The shots were also a lot on my body and mentally it was very hard.
The people that work for CNY made the treatments much easier. They were flexible and we were able to get in whenever we needed. Also, I could call at any time of day or night and talk to someone about any concerns. I took advantage of that frequently.
The uniqueness of our story is the length of time it took us from beginning to end, but also our age factor. Being 40 and having my first pregnancy was scary and exciting! I worried about all the different possible complications from age but nonetheless he is a healthy baby boy!

Hope, Inspiration and Advice:

Never give up. When you think you've done all you can and that it probably won't work, try just that one more time!!! Don't over focus on the numbers (with number of eggs retrieved, or fertilized or the HCG).. it only takes one good egg! Remain positive, even when it seems hopeless.