Thanks so much to Maggie for sharing her IVF success story with us!!!  She was a lucky first timer, and I know there are others out there about to start their journey looking for people who have had success early on.  Hope her story encourages you that it doesn’t always take numerous cycles and years of heartache to have a baby in your arms!! 

Maggie’s Story:

We took two years from when we started trying to conceive to getting a 
positive pregnancy test.

For the first year, we tried on our own. Around six months of trying, 
I started to get concerned, but my doctor assured me that it could 
take up to a year. I started the dreaded temperature charting around 
this time, but all appeared normal.

After one year, we began infertility treatment. At this point, I was 
only 23 years old. First, I underwent surgery to remove lesions from 
endometriosis. Though I had had advanced endometriosis in the past 
(and had been aggressively treated through surgery and meds), this 
time it was not as severe. We had the surgery just in case the lesions 
were causing infertility problems, but my doctor was not optimistic 
that it would help us get pregnant. (Turns out, she was right).

Immediately after the surgery, I went on Clomid. We tried four rounds 
of Clomid, interrupted by one month where I broke out in shingles and 
my doctor wouldn’t allow me to use the Clomid. The shingles come out 
at stressful times, and I was starting to get stressed by the situation!

After Clomid, we tried three rounds of insemination, all without 
success. Finally, it was determined that we should try IVF.

I appeared to be responding very well to the IVF medicines. I had lots 
of mature follicles ready to go, but the doctor was only able to 
retrieve six eggs. They never could figure out why there were so few 
eggs. In addition, the doctor had to really work to get the eggs to 
come out, so apparently what few eggs I had naturally were not being 
released well.

Of the six eggs retrieved, only three matured. By day five, all three 
were able to be transferred; one embryo was high quality. For the next 
two weeks, I was absolutely convinced that IVF had not worked. I was a 
nutcase, to put it mildly.

By the grace of God, we had a positive pregnancy test two weeks later. 
I was only pregnant with one, but it was a smooth pregnancy and we 
were blessed with a baby boy. Since that time, we have undergone 
another IVF cycle, and are once again pregnant. We’re holding our 
breath to get through the first trimester.

Looking back, my first infertility journey was probably the most 
stressful of my life. I had a sister who got pregnant a few months 
before I did, and that was just about the breaking point for me. I’m 
sorry to say that I did not really reach out to anyone outside of my 
husband for emotional support. If I were going through it again, I’d 
make more of an effort to connect with others who were going through 
the same thing I was.

I am awed by women who manage to handle years of disappointments, but 
hope that my story can remind others that it doesn’t always take 
multiple tries. Sometimes you can get lucky!

Thanks for letting me share!