My husband and I were married 7 1/2 years ago, after a whirlwind courtship. We became engaged after one week and married twelve weeks later. One of the most important issues that had truly brought us together was our mutual desire to have a family. We started trying for a pregnancy almost as soon as we were married. I was 29 and my husband was 33. After about nine months of trying with no success, I saw my Dr. Several tests later, which included ultrasound scan, HSG, endometrial biopsy, exploratory laparoscopy (I'm still amazed how many women don't have this done until 2 or 3 years into their journey), semen analysis - we were no closer to an answer or a pregnancy. All testing came back normal. Our official "diagnosis" was "unexplained infertility". Pretty hard to fight something that supposedly isn't there. We moved on to Clomid for six months with no luck. Then came the IUI's using Clomid, then Humegon/Profasi, then Fertinex/Profasi - ten cycles in total. No pregnancy. Each cycle the Dr.'s would say "everything looks perfect, lining is great, follicles a great size, etc." We decided it was time to consider IVF. We did our first cycle in July of 1996, four years into our infertility battle. We were really feeling positive about this cycle, because the RE's/Dr.'s had told us that couples with our "problem" or lack thereof, generally do very well with IVF. To make a long story short, the cycle did not go well, partly due to the clinic and partly just to luck. I stimulated fairly well, but at retrieval the RE was only able to retrieve from my right ovary. She said the left was in too difficult of a position to access, and just left those follicles (about 8 in total). Of course, it was my left ovary that had stimulated the best. We ended up with five eggs, three of which fertilized. Unfortunately, of those three, two were polyspermic (more than one sperm enters the egg) and had to be discarded. So we had one four cell embryo with which to do a two-day transfer (three day transfers were just becoming the norm). The cycle failed and we were devastated. I swore I would never do any treatment again.

In March of 1997 after 8 months without treatment I discovered I was pregnant! We were beside ourselves with joy - we couldn't believe this miracle had happened to us after 5 years of trying. The first few weeks of the pregnancy were trying, with some bleeding scares, but we eventually got a heartbeat on the ultrasound at 7+ weeks. However, at 11 weeks it was discovered via ultrasound that our little angel's heart had stopped beating and that we had miscarried. Again, I hit rock bottom.

Then, in June of 1997 I contacted an IVF clinic in San Francisco for a consultation, after going to an information seminar. This clinic has a phenomenal success rate, and I was very impressed with the RE and his staff. For some reason that to this day is still not clear to me, we decided to try another IVF cycle. The cost would be over twice as high as our first cycle due to Canadian dollars versus American dollars but I would only do another cycle at a clinic that was top-notch, with proven success rates.

In actual fact, we ended up at a clinic in Nevada due to my husband's testing postive for exposure to Hepatitis C. California law at that time prohibited clinics from treating anyone with a "communicable" disease. They then referred us to Nevada - an exceptional clinic. We did our 2nd IVF cycle in October 1997. My sister and I flew down for a ten day stay with my husband flying in to do his part (*smile*) for a day, then going back home. The cycle went well - we retrieved 24 eggs (no problems with my left ovary, hmmmm....) with 21 fertilizing. We transferred six embryo's on day three - one 10 cell, and the rest 8 cell's. I want to stress here that the decision to transfer six embryo's was not made lightly. We had a long discussion about possible reduction in the event of a quad/quint pregnancy and had we not indicated our willingness to do so, the clinic would not have transferred so many. They felt it would be in our best interest to do so, though, because of the great quality of the embryo's and my age (35 at the time). I flew home the day of the transfer and, of course, went straight to bed and stayed there for a few days! I started hyperstimulating about 7 days post transfer, with abdominal bloating and extreme nausea. My first beta's were done 8 days post transfer and 10 days post transfer. After 6 years, IT WAS POSITIVE!!! The first beta was 111 and the second 330. Our first ultrasound was at 6 weeks 4 days, at which time we discovered two beautiful beating hearts! A third sac was also found but never developed past that.

After two bleeding scares in the first trimester, my twin pregnancy was physically uneventful, but emotionally draining as I was terrified that something would go wrong with my two angels. However, all went very well and at 38 wks, in July 1998, we welcomed Alannah and Braeden into the world!!! What a glorious day!

IVF can and does work, but you need to be very proactive in your treatment, and be willing to change Dr.'s/RE's even if you love them if they do not seem to be getting the results you want. If I were to do anything different, it would have been to be more aggressive with my treatment sooner, and to be an active participant. I wish all infertile couples success in their journey - it's a long road, but the rewards are magnificent!