Josephine & Joshua
Infertility Diagnosis
- Advanced age
- Male factor
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
Treatment(s)
- Donor sperm
- In vitro Fertilization (IVF)
- Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
- Vasectomy Reversal
Location(s)
- Syracuse
Physician(s)
- Robert Kiltz, MD
- David Corley, MD
- Katy Falcon, NP
Josephine & Joshua's Story:
When Josh and I met he already had two children from a previous marriage as well as a vasectomy. He also had testicular cancer and I had my right tube and ovary removed after a cyst green into a 5lb tumor on my ovary. We knew we would have hurdles on our fertility journey but we held out hope!
We reversed his vasectomy the year we got married after waiting for the two-year post-cancer treatment mark. We tried naturally for about two years while I finished graduate school. When nothing happened we started with our local OB and fertility clinic and discovered that Josh’s sperm count, motility and morphology had all tanked since his vas reversal two years prior. We were devastated and waited another 9 months while he tried natural methods, diet changes, and homeopathy to try to improve his numbers.
Eventually, we moved on to choosing a sperm donor and went through two rounds of IUI before COVID swept the nation. Our local clinic kept missing my ovulation window as well so to do two rounds of IUI took over 6 months. By this time I was 39 and Josh was 44 and each month that passed without even “getting to try to fail” was nearly killing me. A friend I had met at a RESOLVE summit told me about CNY and I was thrilled!!
I watched a FB Live with Dr. Kiltz and asked the question about my hubby’s situation since we still held out hope for a miracle baby with his sperm. He gave us hope when he mentioned the TESA/PESA procedures and we called to get a consult immediately. We couldn’t believe our luck that we were able to get in for an egg retrieval and his procedures the following month! We got 12 eggs and of those 8 matured. We fertilized 6 with Josh’s sperm and 2 with donor sperm. Unfortunately only the donor fertilized eggs made it to embryos and we transferred both in a fresh transfer on July 10th, 2020. Our little Avianna NadaMae was born on April Fool’s Day 2021!! We are so beyond grateful to CNY and are looking forward to doing another round of IVF this summer to hopefully give Avi a sibling.
Favorite Team Member at CNY:
We loved Dr. Kiltz and we were so happy to have him do our transfer. But really, Nurse Ashley was a rockstar. She was so compassionate and gave us space to grieve when we found out none of Josh’s made it to the embryo stage.
Helpful resources Josephine & Joshua found:
I did religious daily yoga using the Glo app and this kept me sane during the long years of TTC.
Unique Moments:
I had a dream at the beginning of our TTC journey in 2017 where Avi’s little soul talked to me and told me she was coming. She told me “you will call me Avi”. I could feel her determination and utter force of will and somehow this gave me hope in all the dark nights after the failed pregnancy tests. She was coming… just in her own sweet time. When we left CNY to drive back to our AirB&B after we transferred I saw what looked exactly like a baby in an ultrasound in the clouds and a rainbow right over it. I wept because a part of me just knew Avi was coming.
Hope, Inspiration and Advice:
Research, research, research!! In the end only you and your partner will know what the right path is for you so listen to your loved ones only to the extent that they support your journey.
