Our story is quite long as it consists of a span of eight years of infertility.
I was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2005 and because I have a long family history of it, I knew that it could cause issues getting pregnant. I never imagined the magnitude of it and the years it would take. I assumed that I’d be able to get pregnant even with my diagnosis. Most of my relatives with it had one or more children. At that time in my life, I was fresh out of college, and I was not even thinking about babies. 
I met my husband in the spring of 2006, and we got married in October 2009. We knew that we wanted to have kids. The summer of 2010 we began trying to conceive. For some reason, I was not having a cycle, so I went to my OB. He told me it was probably the endometriosis. After a few months, he put me on Clomid and it never worked. We tried other medicated cycles and even tried medicated cycles with a trigger shot. All resulted in negative pregnancy tests.
In June 2011 we attempted our first IUI (intrauterine insemination). It was successful. When I saw the positive, I just had a feeling that something wasn’t right. Sadly, it ended in a very early miscarriage/chemical pregnancy. In the Winter of 2011, I decided to have my third laparoscopy surgery to remove the endometriosis. I was thinking that if we had the surgery then a couple of months later attempted another IUI, then it would be successful. It was not!
We did four IUI’s with my OB and one with another fertility clinic. Every IUI, every medicated cycle in the following years turned up nothing but negative pregnancy tests. Each month was heart breaking. Each month I cried.
I felt sad because I knew I wanted to be a mother but was in constant fear that I would never get that opportunity or that maybe it was not in God’s plan for me. I did know that God would not put the desire to be a mother in my heart if it was not in His plans. I felt guilty because I couldn’t make my husband a daddy and my parents and in-laws grandparents. I felt inadequate because I couldn’t do what every other woman could do. We were all getting older, and I was scared.
I even attempted a holistic approach, acupuncture and different vitamins. We tried everything. We knew about IVF and we knew people who had gone through it. We researched clinic after clinic trying to find the best price and the one with the highest success rates.
Some friends of ours and a co-worker had used Dr. Brown, and their IVF cycles were successful. Dr. Brown conveniently came to Tallahassee for consults, so we met him there. By then, I was well into my 30’s and he told me I was young although I thought I was old in terms of maternal age. He also told us we would get pregnant. He was positive and that’s what I needed to hear.
In 2017 we decided that in the summer of 2018 we would attempt IVF. We chose Brown Fertility Clinic due to Dr. Brown and his staff’s kindness, positivity, success rates and Christian basis. We knew we could only afford one cycle. In 2017, I started having some other issues and my OB did an SIS (saline infusion sonohysterography) and saw something in my uterus. He scheduled me for a hysteroscopy where they found I had Asherman’s syndrome. I was completely devastated, and I thought my chances for a successful IVF cycle were out the window. My OB referred me to Dr. Brown for the surgery to remove Asherman’s.
In February 2018 Dr. Brown did a hysteroscopy and found out that I did not have Asherman’s after all. He found only a small area on my uterus that he removed which was a relief.
On June 30, 2018, we began the shots and medications to prep my body for the egg retrieval. We went to the Jacksonville clinic for monitoring because we wanted everything to be done correctly. At the final monitoring ultrasound that Dr. Brown, he saw that I had only five eggs. I was so upset because I knew it was a lower number. He said I had a little bit of a low ovarian reserve. I began to cry, and he hugged me and told me that all it took was one embryo.
Our egg retrieval was on July 9, 2018, and I was 35 years old at that time. We wound up with three embryos. On July 14 one embryo was transferred, and I was 36 years old at the time. There were times through the two-week wait that I worried and had questions, but it was so convenient that I could email the IVF nurse, and she’d reply quickly. Sometimes all I needed was reassurance.
On July 26 we got the phone call that the blood test was positive. I couldn’t believe it. After eight long years of prayers, treatments, surgeries, and medications, my miracle baby was finally on the way.
Close to six weeks into the pregnancy we had a scare, so Dr. Brown’s office got us in early to check the baby. We heard her heartbeat and it was such a relief. It was the best sound I had ever heard. I’m so thankful to Dr. Brown and his staff.
Our miracle baby was born on March 19, 2019. We named her Lakelyn. Our home, family, and lives are now complete. We are happy, blessed, and thankful for our sweet little miracle.