Heather & Jimmy
Infertility Diagnosis
- Secondary infertility
- Tubal obstruction
Treatment(s)
- In vitro Fertilization (IVF)
Location(s)
- Albany
Physician(s)
- Edward Ditkoff, MD
- Michael Grossman, MD
Heather & Jimmy's Story:
My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for over a year without success. This was my second marriage and I had children previously so we weren’t sure what was going on. We spoke with my doctor who ordered some tests. We found out I needed to have surgery to try and unblock my tubes.
Six months after the surgery and I was still getting negative pregnancy tests. As a woman you feel hopeless and the one thing I should be able to do I couldn’t. I will never forget one of the nights after another negative pregnancy test, I just cried and not just a few tears but full blown hyperventilation. We decided to make an appointment with our local fertility clinic in October 2018. During the consultation the doctor told me even after losing 100lbs that he wanted me to lose another 60lbs before he would even take me on as a patient. On top of that blow his quote was over $35,000.
I felt absolutely defeated knowing there was no way we could afford that. I heard about CNY from some Facebook groups I had joined and scheduled a phone appointment for January 2019. After speaking with Dr. Grossman on the phone, he was positive CNY could help my husband and I expand our family. We started our first IVF cycle in February and just a little over a month from our initial consultation we were flying to Albany to have our retrieval. Fast forward to March I got a positive pregnancy test and 9 months later our beautiful Victory was born November 2019.
Unique Moments:
We were told because I had previous children and the only reason we were not able to get pregnant was that my tubes had been damaged we had a 60% change of our first IVF cycle working. Well everything was going great from the starting of stims and during our retreival they were able to get 9 eggs and of those 7 were mature. My nurse said that was a great number and I felt confident we would have all 7 make it to blast because nothing but my tubes were blocked. The next day we got "the call" to let us know how many eggs fertilized. I was a basket of nerves and when the nurse said only 1 fertilized I was DEVASTATED beyond belief. I knew only 1 fertilizing meant very little hope of our cycle working. At that point the nurse recommended we do a day 3 transfer if the embryo lasted. When we got to the clinic the morning of transfer I was terrified that they would say our one embryo didn't make it. When I got to CNY the nurse came back to get me ready for my transfer and as she was taking me back to the room I asked are you sure my embryo made it. She said yes I just saw it looks great for a day 3. And sure enough my transfer went smooth as can be. Dr. Grossman was great and put my mind at ease to relax that it only takes one. Sure enough our little Embryo that could was born November 2019.
Hope, Inspiration and Advice:
Do not compare yourself to other's journeys. I read so many stories of women who had so many more medical issues than myself who got so many more eggs and blasts than I did I was so hard on myself. Remember that everyone's journey is different and it really does only take one. Also, I am a planner and I had everything planned out we would get X amount of eggs and freeze them we would do another transfer 1 year after baby was born and it was a shock when it didn't work out my way. Must make sure that you are flexible as you can't plan everything.
