PK's Story: Is This a Dream? FET Success!

My husband and I were married in 2000 but due to my Graves' disease, did not start TTC until about 2004. At that time I was in my late 20s. After a laparoscopy, I was told I had mild endometriosis and that they had lasered it off. I was given the green light to try to get pregnant naturally. After a half year and no baby, I tried a few cycles of Clomid and then Femara. After that we moved on to injectable drugs and three cycles of IUI, none of which were successful.

By this time, I was in my early 30s and getting more and more anxious each month. All these cycles and still no pregnancy, even though the doctors seemed so hopeful. On top of this, the hormonal changes were really getting to me and also making our marriage suffer tremendously. In July of 2009, I went for my regular ObGyn visit and after telling my doctor my symptoms (anxiety, mood swings, panic attacks, etc), she diagnosed me with major depression. I was given a low dose of Zoloft. I had always been a happy-go-lucky person, but no one tells you what infertility does to you! It really is the “silent epidemic”. Fortunately, within 6 weeks I was back to my old self again.

When I turned 35, my husband and I started looking into IVF. We decided to travel to my husband’s homeland of the Czech Republic to do IVF since it was a fraction of the cost of U.S. programs. We had two fresh cycles, retrieved nearly “perfect” embryos, but no pregnancy. Luckily, though, we had frozen embryos from each cycle.

During this time, I had been attending RESOLVE groups quite regularly in my area. A few of the girls in my group had mentioned to me that immune issues typically go hand in hand with endometriosis. After the second failed IVF, I got tested for immune issues and lo and behold, was found to have elevated Natural Killer cells. I was put on a medicine called Trental for one month, the NK cells were lowered, and I traveled back to the Czech Republic for a FET(frozen embryo transfer). This time Prednisone was added to my magical “cocktail” of drugs, and at this time I am happy to report that I am three months pregnant!!

Even though we have already had two ultrasounds and the pregnancy seems to be progressing nicely, I still have to pinch myself on a regular basis to see if this is not all a dream! I had practically given up, but thanks to my family and friends, always managed to get back up on my feet again. I wish you all successful cycles! Never stop believing in yourself!

-PK