The John and Eve Story – Missouri
My husband and I been trying to get pregnant for about a year and a half prior to going to see Dr. Silber. We tried just about everything you can try before even considering the big and intimidating “IVF.” To this day, I never really got a straight answer as to why I couldn’t conceive naturally. One doctor told me I had low estrogen. Seems like a simple fix, right? Well, he put me on several rounds of Letrozole and repeatedly told us we should look into adoption, because he didn’t believe in ARTs and that the success rates will work against us. It took us about 5 months of that until we decided to make an appointment at a fertility clinic. I just simply googled fertility doctors in STL not knowing that the godfather of the mini-IVF procedure was here in our city. I called about 3 clinics and only got a call back from one, which was Silber’s office and surprisingly got an appointment shortly after.
I did my blood work and ultrasound prior to my appointment, and when I met with Silber he told me I had a lower antralfollicle count than most women my age. But, this wasn’t the reason I couldn’t get pregnant. He did, however, tell me that the doctor I was seeing who put me on letrozole lied to me and that I didn’t have low estrogen, my hormones were all normal. The letrozole made my ovaries swell so big that Silber told me I had several large cysts from it. He recommended that a woman my age who hasn’t conceived yet would be a great candidate for mini-IVF.
After my meeting with him, I met with Dusty, a coordinator that I worked with throughout the process. She broke everything down for us. We decided that we were going to try mini-IVF in May, about 5 months later.
I immediately went on birth control for about 4 months to normalize my cycle. This was great, because it gave us a much needed break from taking my temperature, tracking my ovulation, etc. So, when the time came to start the process, I wasn’t so stressed and was mentally ready.
The process of mini-IVF was, from my experience, very easy. It was about a week and a half of blood work and ultrasounds about every other day and of course the shots. It was a lot scarier when we went in to learn how to administer the shots. My husband ended up having to leave the room because he thought he was going to pass out from the sight of needles. But, when we got going it was smooth sailing. We made sure to stay positive and have fun with the process. The 4 months that we took off from “trying” helped us immensely.
Our egg retrieval ended up being 2 days early because I was responding to the shots really well. I did have some cramping the last two days because my ovaries were so swollen, but other than that I didn’t have any crazy side effects. I had never been under anesthesia before, so I was a little nervous going into the retrieval.
When I got there, every single person I encountered was amazing; the nurses, anesthesiologist, Dr. Silber, Dr. DeRosa. I got all prepared and I had two really sweet nurses escort me back to the room on each side holding my hand and saying really sweet things. I walked in the room surrounded by about 10 people with huge smiles on their faces which was very comforting.
After the retrieval, I remember waking up and slurring random words at my husband who couldn’t stop laughing at me. Dr. Silber told me that they were able to get 5 eggs which was great for mini-IVF. He said they should be able to get about 2 or 3 embryos out of that. We talked about transferring two and freezing the ones that were left. We left that day on a high note. Only to wake up to an email on a low note the next day. Dusty informed me that out of the 5 eggs, 3 were good to fertilize and from that 3 only 1 embryo developed. I was devastated thinking that one embryo may not survive and we did all of this work for nothing. I was on pins and needles the next couple of days until that Sunday when we went in for the transfer. Throughout this whole process, those two days were the most torturous and stressful thinking that our one little embryo needed to survive until Sunday.
I was at such a low point thinking that we only had one embryo. I had to be reminded from several loved ones that we were lucky to at least have ONE. My husband referenced the movie Finding Nemo and when all was said and done, that one little embryo survived despite all of the turmoil and that it only take ONE. So, we fittingly named our little embryo Nemo and it stuck. When we went in for our transfer that Sunday, I was very silent the whole time waiting to go in. Silber came in and handed me a picture of our little Nemo and showed us how it developed really well. He said that I had a 30% chance in getting pregnant and went on to talk about how he would approach the next time we try mini-IVF. So, from here on I really had low expectations and didn’t get my hopes up.
The transfer, just like the retrieval, was very easy. My husband was there by my side and we were able to watch the whole thing on the screen. Dr. Silber was amazing, he talked to me the whole time and helped me relax, which was only about 10 minutes. Dusty emailed me that week and we scheduled my pregnancy test for about a week and half later. Every day that went by I was totally convinced that it didn’t work. I was just waiting for a sign to tell me something. About a week before my test, I woke up in the middle of the night with intense menstrual cramping that lasted about 2 minutes. I chalked it up to my period starting because every month I usually get cramping before my period starts. So, I popped in a tampon and some ibuprofen and went back to bed. I woke up the next day assuming that my period started, but I saw no blood. I just kept thinking nothing of it until my husband suggested the intense cramping could’ve been the implantation. I continued to have dull cramping on and off for the next few days. The sides of my boobs did hurt, but that was normal every month.
The night before my pregnancy test, I was laying in bed flipping through channels and I saw that Finding Nemo was on primetime TV on a random Wednesday night. Talk about a SIGN! At this point, I was still trying my hardest to tell myself to not get my hopes up but, deep down, I knew I was pregnant. I went in for a test the next morning and waited about 3 agonizing hours, almost having a heart attack when my phone finally rang.
Dusty said, “Sorry, you didn’t tell me how you wanted the results, by email or phone, do you want to know the results?” …..Um, yes!!Well, we’re pregnant. I just knew it. I immediately shouted out to my husband,
“I’m pregnant!” And 8 months later….
February 1, 2017, Emilia Mae was born, healthy and amazing. We couldn’t have done it without Silber and his team and especially Dr. DeRosa, who ended up being my new OBGYN who delivered Emilia. Hopefully, when we decide to have another one, we won’t need assistance, but if we do we will definitely go back to the Infertility Center of STL.
John & Eve