My IVF Journey

My husband Ben and I got married when we were 24 years old. We decided we wanted to wait until we were about 30 to start a family. So once I turned 30 we focused on starting our family. It was such an emotional time for us as each month passed. During my mid-thirties, we decided to turn to IVF. During this time I found out I had both endometriosis and endometrioma. After a successful surgery, the Doctor recommended we go straight to IVF, and so we did. 

After our first IVF transfer my blood test came out positive and we were elated. We went for the ultrasound a couple of weeks later and found no heartbeat. It was devastating for us and our families. We decided to try again, so in October of 2004 we did our second transfer and it was successful. We had a beautiful girl Kylie, she born on July 25, 2005. In all honestly, it was so emotionally draining we thought having Kylie was perfect for us and we didn’t need to try and grow our family more.

Then in 2007 we received a letter from the IVF clinic that we still had 4 frozen embryos from our retrieval in 2004. The letter explained that they had the frozen embryos and we could either; dispose of them, donate them or transfer them. The letter was just so emotional to read and think about. We put the letter away for a while and we both had a tugging at our hearts to try again for another baby. So we did! The doctor recommended that we use all 4 embryos because of my age (now 39) and my history of endometriosis and endometrioma. We put our trust in him and with lots of prayers and I will thankfully say it was successful. Lots of emotions came with this one too. My first blood test showed my HCG levels were more than triple what they typically should be with 1 baby. So I was kinda a crazy mess thinking I might have more than 3. Everyone else seemed ok but I just didn’t know how to handle it. I kept telling myself God won’t give me more than I can handle. And now we have 2 absolutely amazing, healthy, beautiful, and smart kids.

This journey is what brought me from my accounting background to becoming a photographer. It’s amazing the journeys we all have. Some are similar yet different in so many ways. My husband and I feel beyond blessed for what He has given us. All the emotional trials we had was so small compared to what we were given. Kylie is now 17 and Brandon is 14, and are just amazing. I will now say our family is complete, of course including our 2 pups ❤️ ❤️.