True Infertility Success Stories: Why Support Makes All the Difference

Infertility, fertility treatment

For couples suffering from infertility, support becomes a critical element of your success formula. There are often many emotional stresses associated with fertility treatment, and having the support of others makes a big difference in how patients cope with their feelings.

Baby-smiling-and-holding-feet

D and A from Los Angeles know about the importance of support. At the time of writing this article, they are 34 weeks pregnant using a gestational surrogate and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Because the couple has two children already, both of them healthy girls, they chose Gender Selection as well, implanting the surrogate with a male embryo.

D describes the importance of feeling like you have a team, including the support of the couple’s doctor HRC’s Dr. John Norian.

“John is the absolute best. We could not have done this without him. He’s like a yogi; he’s so calming. He knows the best way to talk to his patients. He’s positive and cheerful…he’s just the best. I don’t think we could have done it without his support and his big brain!” he said.

D and A’s first two pregnancies were conceived naturally, right away, in fact. Their difficulties began when their doctor’s learned that A suffered from a bicornuate uterus, which is when the uterus is heart-shaped, resulting in only half of her uterus equipped for the growing fetus. This created difficulties for her first pregnancy and nearly ended the second.

“There was abnormal uterine tissue and that was what the placenta was attached to,” she explained, regarding her second pregnancy. “It was 60 to 70% ruptured. That’s very Dgerous.”

She spotted for the first 16 weeks, and then later, suffered three different hemorrhages. Her doctors put her on complete bed rest. At 30 weeks, she had her second child via emergency C-section. Her second daughter weighed just less than three pounds and spent the first five weeks in the NICU.

D and A wanted another child, however, so they pursued it through the use of a gestational surrogate. The said they always were on the same page as it pertained to how much and how long they would be in treatment.

“We never wanted to quit once we started but we did have a conversation where we decided how long we are willing to do this. Interestingly, I remember having that conversation without any real hiccups.”

Their treatment had hiccups, however. Their first egg retrieval didn’t have a lot of quality eggs and resulted in no embryos. Then they had to wait three months to try again. They both describe that period as agonizing. This past June, however, they implanted the surrogate and to great success. The baby is due in late February.

Support from friends and family, each other, and the HRC staff, however, helped them persevere.

“This whole thing is neat because it’s not just you and your wife and your OB going through it,” said D. “It’s very much like a village. You have this whole team. It doesn’t feel so isolating as it sometimes does.”

A agrees. “This baby is a part of everyone’s life right now, not just ours. Everyone feels like that—even my mom and dad feel like that. My mom is jumping out of her skin she’s so excited.”

A had this to say to couples suffering from infertility considering their fertility treatment options, especially surrogacy. “It’s going to take a long time. You have just to be patient. I think I was a bit delusional that it was going to be a much faster process. It is not quick. From the time you decide to find a surrogate, it is a process. You just have to be patient. You kind of just have to have faith in the end you will be successful.”

DL and AL
Patients of Dr. John Norian in Rancho Cucamonga