A baby girl after PCOS and recurrent miscarriages
Why do you want to share your story?
I have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and was diagnosed with recurrent miscarriage while on my journey to be a mom. I had three back-to-back miscarriages before I was successful and just gave birth to my daughter. It was super challenging but completely worth it.
What led you to Fertility Centers of Illinois?
My husband and I married in 2016 and started trying right away for a family. We started at my OB/GYN and tried timed intercourse. When it wasn’t working, my OB/GYN handed me a card with Dr. Sipe and Dr. Uhler’s names on it for the Hinsdale location. I immediately called and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Sipe in summer of 2017. Instantly after seeing Dr. Sipe for the first time, my husband and I knew we were in the right place. We always felt like our journey was personalized for us. Dr. Sipe always made adjustments for every road bump and he was proactive in his plan for us. The nurses and staff were always welcoming and made us feel like family when we were at the clinic.
What fertility treatment did you undergo?
I started with intrauterine insemination (IUI) when I was first with the clinic. For my first IUI, I used Clomid and a trigger shot that was not successful. For my second IUI, I used Tamoxifen, Follistim and trigger shot. I got pregnant but miscarried. My third IUI was canceled due to overstimulating on the Follistim and having too many follicles to respond. Then we moved onto in vitro fertilization (IVF). We started with an egg retrieval and were able to create 17 embryos. I did not test my embryos. All my transfers were frozen embryo transfers (FET). My first transfer we used birth control, Lupron, Baby Aspirin, Estrace and Progesterone in Oil. This transfer resulted in pregnancy but a miscarriage (my second one).
My second transfer we used birth control, Lupron, Baby Aspirin, Estrace, Endometrin and Progesterone in Oil. I also was on vitamin D3, prescription folic acid, folic acid vitamin, prenatal (I was on these throughout my whole journey; the folic acid was added in after my recurrent miscarriage blood panel). This transfer resulted in a pregnancy but my third miscarriage. For my third transfer, we used birth control, Lupron, Baby Aspirin, Estrace, Endometrin, Progesterone in Oil and Lovenox. I went off all the medicine by 13 weeks of pregnancy except for the Lovenox which I stayed on for the entirety of my pregnancy and I switched to heparin right before I gave birth.
How would you describe your experience with your physician?
Excellent. Dr. Sipe is such a personable, compassionate and very knowledgeable doctor. He officially diagnosed me with PCOS when we started at FCI after telling him I thought I had it. After having two miscarriages, Dr. Sipe ran recurrent miscarriage bloodwork on me. After my third miscarriage I was certain that he was going to say there wasn’t much more he could do. Instead, he added in something new to my protocol that worked.
Every time I had a failure, he always met me at the door with a hug, and every time he canceled my cycle because of how my body was responding, he personally called me to talk about it and what to do going forward. I was very sad to leave to go to my OB for pregnancy, I wish I could have stayed under his care.
What helped you get through treatment?
When I first started going through treatment it was hard handling failures. I started to learn that my emotional health really strived on positivity. I always tried to see the silver lining in every part of the journey and I really learned to lean on my tribe of family and friends to help lift me up when I did not feel like I could keep going.
Do you have any words of hope for others?
For anyone going through the journey, keep your chin up and power through. You are going to have many days where you get the phone call with news that just drags you down and you don’t know how you’ll keep going. You’ll find yourself crying to your partner or family wondering if being a mom or parent will ever happen for you. It will. It will take a lot of hard work and this journey is not for the faint of heart. I would say to always stay positive and always find the silver lining in the failures.
Don’t compare your journey to anyone else because you’ll have your own journey to parenthood. Lean on those around you. It may be hard for people who haven’t gone through fertility treatments to fully understand what you feel but they will understand the ups and downs. The good days and bad days. Those people will be there when you’re crying after failures and will be there to scream and cheer on your best days. Keep those people in your corner you’ll need them every step of the way.
Tell us a little about your miracle!
My little rainbow miracle was born May 13th. Her name is Molly. She is six months old. She is a tiny little peanut. I can already tell she will have some of my sass. She is very cuddly and a smiley girl. We are so blessed to have our little peanut in our lives.
