July 2012: Married!!
December 2012: Officially off birth control – only a matter of time now! (haha yeah right)
December 2012 – January 2014: No pregnancies…
February 2014: Met with infertility specialists for blood work (me) and semen analysis (he) and learned we are dealing with primarily male factor infertility.
February 2014 – June 2015: Repeated attempts to improve our situation with diet, exercise, natural supplements, lifestyle changes, but no pregnancies.
June 2015: Urologist recommends IVF as our only chance since we are not candidates for IUI.
June 2015 – October 2015: More blood work for both of us, vaginal ultrasound (me), more semen analyses (he) and a lot of emotional wrestling about taking the IVF plunge.
October 2015: Start birth control pills for IVF – we are moving forward!
November 2015: IVF cycle canceled. New diagnosis of “Bent Neck” or “Crooked Neck” sperm, never seen before by our RE and to date no clinical trials done. Doctors doubt ICSI will be successful.
December 2015 – November 2016: Grieving and healing, and adoption research
November 2016: Attend adoption orientation, learn this is not a solution for our family.
December 2016: Fueled by the adoption fallout, decide to seek second opinion on IVF. What have we got to lose?
January 2017: More tests, new specialist for Ryan. We are told “bent neck sperm can make babies, too!” Doctors recommend IVF with ICSI after months of a strict diet, and do not see any reason why it should not work. Let the clean eating begin….
May 2017: Semen sample on ice with a count of ~1M (high numbers for us!); Doctor says this is sufficient to have as backup for IVF should a sample the day of not be ideal.
June 2017: Start BCP for IVF – we are moving forward once more, this time with greater confidence!
July 23, 2017: Start injections for IVF #1 and only. 5 years in the making.
August 1, 2017: Trigger Shot – HCG & Lupron.
August 3, 2017: Egg Retrieval – 29 eggs retrieved, 24 mature, 19 fertilized.
August 8, 2017: One 5 day blast fresh embryo transfer. 10 embryos on ice.
August 17, 2017: Beta #1: 90. BFP! Pregnant!!
August 21, 2017: Beta #2: 560!!!
September 11, 2017: First scan and a heartbeat.
April 29, 2018: Abigail Lake born 4:23 pm, 6 lbs 2 oz, 19” long
June 2019: Start BCP for Frozen Embryo Transfer – by God’s grace we are doing this again!
July 25, 2019: Start injections for FET #1
August 26, 2019: Transfer 1 Grade 5AB 5-day Blast
September 4, 2019: FET #1 a BFN. Beta count of 3, embryo transfer did not result in pregnancy.
October 2019: Start BCP for FET #2. Giving it another go.
November 25, 2019: Start meds for FET #2
December 17, 2019: Transfer 1 5-day blast, grade 4BA
December 26, 2019: FET #2 is Negative. No pregnancy. The embryo did not implant.
February 2020: Start BCP for FET #3. This isn’t the definition of insanity, right?
February 18, 2020: Start meds for FET #3
March 11, 2020: Transfer 1 5-day blast, grade 4BA
March 20, 2020: Beta 208! Pregnant! Third time’s a charm!!
March 23, 2020: Repeat Beta in the 2000s! Looking good!
April 7, 2020: 6 week scan – heart beating away
November 27, 2020: Hannah River born 11:56 PM, 7 lbs 5 oz 21″ long
Go On Until You Come to the End 