Infertility is a situation unlike most. You can’t go to school to learn to overcome it, no amount of money is guaranteed to achieve conception and it leaves a couple feeling nearly completely helpless. What you can do however is have faith in the Lord and face your problems with the best possible medical support you can find. For us, that support was Dr. Sherman Silber and the Infertility Center of St. Louis.

After a few years of unsuccessful attempts to conceive, we decided to take the next step and seek professional opinion. The diagnosis after much testing for both of us was the very typical “unexplained infertility”. We felt alone in the dark. With absolutely no explanation or details, where is one to go next? What is the course of action?

Through a personal, family referral we met with one of Dr. Silber’s colleagues, Dr. Jorge Pineda for an initial consultation. Dr. Pineda explained that he would work with us through some more traditional practices and if nothing was successful, that Dr. Silber would discuss In Vitro Fertilization, IVF. We went through some cycle monitoring and rounds of Intrauterine insemination, IUI, all unfortunately without success.

We were both very uncomfortable with the thought of IVF. The cost was certainly not insignificant. Our insurance didn’t cover any portion of IVF treatment. It was a very time-consuming process and required 100% commitment from both of us. Then there was the spiritual concern. Were we meddling with God’s will by moving forward with such a procedure?

After much thought and careful consideration, we met with Dr. Silber. We are very particular people, analyzing everything and looking at all details before making a decision. Dr. Silber and his staff made us feel very comfortable. All of our questions were answered and any time more came up, they were always very prompt to respond. Mini-IVF was Dr. Silber’s recommendation for our situation.

We spent a number of sleepless nights deciding if we should move forward with the mini-IVF procedure. Prayerful consideration opened our eyes to the belief that this technology was on earth for a reason. We decided to move forward.

This was when the professionalism of Dr. Silber and his staff was able to really show through. Everything was explained to us with complete clarity. We began with the preparatory efforts and a harvesting date was selected. Several eggs were harvested and a few were fertilized. Only 2 embryos were determined to be candidates for transfer. A fresh transfer of both embryos was performed a few days after the harvest. Now began the longest waiting period of our lives.

We both wanted to be together when Dr. Silber’s staff called us. The phone rang and after roughly 5 ½ years of trying, we were told we were pregnant! Just one of the embryos went on successfully and we later found it was a boy. He was very excited to meet us and came a little early. Eight months later William was born. He is now 9 months old and we just completed the best holiday season ever, the first one with a child.

As I began with, infertility is a situation unlike most. This was the most challenging thing we have ever faced. There are few guarantees in life and being able to have a child is not one of them. If you are reading this, you are likely in a situation like we were. Our recommendation would be to sit down with Dr. Silber and discuss your specific situation as all are unique. We were extremely fortunate to have success with our first and only transfer. Others may experience the same, some may take longer, some may unfortunately not have success. We simply couldn’t go on not knowing what could have been. Fortunately, we made the decision to move forward and we have never and will never receive a better gift than that of our child. Thanks, Dr. Silber!