Sarah & John

Sarah & John's Story:

John and I got married in December 2018. We knew we wanted a family and started trying right away.

By October of 2019, we knew something wasn’t right. I started treatment at a different fertility clinic and did all the preliminary testing. Everything came back normal for both of us and I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility.

We started IUI and did three rounds with oral medications and two rounds with injections. After five negative pregnancy tests and no answers, I decided to switch fertility clinics. That's when called CNY on April 20th, 2020.

They completed my phone consult on April 23rd and the week after that I was seen in the Buffalo office to start the IVF process.  Kris was so kind and so informative. I felt very confident going into the egg retrieval process. They retrieved 9 eggs, 6 fertilized and 4 were good quality. I opted to do a fresh day 3 transfer.

On May 23rd, one month after my phone consult, I got my very first positive pregnancy test. Our beautiful daughter was born in January 2021 and we were absolutely thrilled.

Fast forward to August 2021, and we decided to try again. We did a frozen transfer on August 19th, 2021 and on August 30th I found out I was pregnant again. Everything started perfectly. My numbers were increasing and at five weeks we saw the gestational sac on ultrasound. I was so excited for my 6-week appointment to hear the heartbeat but at that visit, I was told the baby had not grown and the heartbeat was very weak. I was told there was still a chance but at 8 weeks, I had a miscarriage.

We were absolutely devastated. The staff at CNY was so amazing during this time and were so compassionate. We decided to take a break for a few months to greave the loss of our baby.

In February 2022 we decided we were ready to try again. I spoke with Kris and she changed the protocol for the transfer to hopefully get better results this time. We did another frozen transfer but unfortunately, it did not work.

After more planning and more changes, we did another frozen transfer the following month which also did not work. By this point, I had run out of embryos and thought this was the end of our journey. We had our daughter and she was perfect. Yet though we felt so blessed to have her, I really wanted her to have a sibling.

We decided to do another egg retrieval the following month. They were able to get 17 eggs this time and 9 fertilized. All were good quality. I was so excited. Since I had success with the fresh transfer for our daughter, we decided to do another fresh, day 5 transfer.

After anxiously waiting for two weeks it turned out the fresh transfer did not work this time. I remember sitting in the office with Kris, crying, asking her why it didn’t work and what we could do. Kris was absolutely amazing and gave me four different options.

We talked through them all and decided which one we thought was best. I decided to try one more frozen transfer on June 2nd, 2022. On June 11th I received another positive pregnancy test. I held my breath at weeks 5 and 6, but everything was perfect and our rainbow baby, another beautiful daughter, was born on Valentine’s Day 2023!

I am so grateful to the staff at CNY for everything they did for me and for our two perfect girls. Our family is complete and we couldn’t have done it without them!

(Beautiful photos by Deena Anthony Photography)

Favorite Team Member at CNY:

Kris Ziegler
Elizabeth Hall
Alyssa Bagley

The Moment:

I remember getting the phone call on May 23rd, 2020 that I was pregnant. I didn’t believe them and kept asking really?! I really am!? It was such a shock, and I was so excited to tell my husband.

Hope, Inspiration and Advice:

If I could offer any advice it would be don’t give up and don’t think you have to do it alone. There were so many times I wanted to give up but I’m happy I didn’t. It’s an emotional rollercoaster but it’s so worth it in the end!