Real Patient Stories

Freezing My Eggs; A Confession

Nicole & Rob

Our journey started about five years ago after we got married. I always felt that having children may be difficult for me so I wanted to start as soon as possible. After a year of trying with no success we realized we would need some help. We were referred to Boston IVF where we met with Dr. Wright to discuss the ins and outs of infertility. Months of tests determined that IVF would provide us with our best chance of becoming pregnant. We were so fortunate to go through one cycle and have our first transfer work! As I type this I’m snuggling with our one month old daughter, Mia! We love being parents to this sweet little miracle and we are grateful to Dr. Wright and all the staff that helped us throughout our cycle.

Lauren & Tom

From the moment we met, we both knew we wanted a family. Being surrounded by friends and family members who had no difficulty starting families, we assumed the same would be for us. After almost a year of trying, we were incredibly thankfully to be pregnant. Sadly, that pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 10 weeks. We continued on, knowing we still desperately wanted a family. During fertility testing we learned we had male factor infertility, as well as I suffered from Hashimotos. We met with Doctor Wright, and she came up with a plan for IVF with PGS testing as our best chance of having a successful pregnancy.

We went through one embryo transfer cycle and were overjoyed to have 7 embryos make it to PGS testing. We were extremely lucky that 5 of those 7 embryos came back normal. Two months after my egg retrieval, we transferred one embryo, our son. After about a year and half of trying, I was pregnant with our rainbow baby. Kason arrived early at 34 weeks, due to Vasa Previa (unrelated to IVF). Weighing in at 4lbs and 15.5oz, he spent 12 days in the NICU. He is now 16 weeks old, over 12lbs and the happiest baby I know. Boston IVF have us our dream, a healthy and happy child. We are forever grateful.

Brian & Sarah

When we first got pregnant with our second child, we were full of hope. When we miscarried, we fought to maintain it. We were hopeful through an ectopic pregnancy, 4 miscarriages, multiple egg retrievals, failed transfers, countless waiting rooms and sleepless nights, and needles, needles, needles. We held tight to hope for our first child, for each other. For the son who tried so hard and said goodbye before we could say hello. We nurtured hope through four years of infertility, stoked it through five rounds of IVF, cried, and laughed and prayed to keep it alive in our hearts. It tested our courage more than we could’ve ever imagined. And finally, the impossible became possible. Our miracle baby, Margot Hope, came into this world happy and as healthy as can be. After all, hope prevails.

Shannon & Joe

We had an ectopic pregnancy in August 2016 and after that we struggled to get pregnant for months. We started our IVF journey in September 2017. We had two failed IUI's and then started the process of IVF. We had a successful egg retrieval — produced over 30 eggs. We were so lucky that so many were produced and many were viable. Due to producing so many eggs my body went into hyper stimulation and our journey was put on hold. I had to have two liters of fluid drained from my body. So needless to say this was devastating for us. We waited until my next cycle and starting the injections for IVF in January 2018. We then had our IVF scheduled for February and lucky we had success and became pregnant!!!

Janida & Benny

We had been trying for 4 years and had no answers to what was going on. We were referred to Boston IVF from our doctor at UMASS Memorial in June 2017. Our cycle started in August got my 1st positive September 22. Our miracle baby boy was born on May 23, 2018. We are so in love!

Jessica & Jason

My husband and I were approached by our best friends Adam and Jay regarding being a surrogate for them several years ago. After we were done having our own children we agreed. They used donor eggs. The first cycle was disappointing, but the second cycle was a great success. Their son was born in 2017. They approached me again so they could expand their family one last time, and after working out the timing (I was in grad school) and talking with my family, we agreed to do it one last time. My kids absolutely love their first son (we call him their cousin), and they loved the idea of having another cousin.

I had horrible morning sickness leading up to our follow-up appointment after the transfer, and pretty sure there were twins because I had never had morning sickness with my other pregnancies. Turns out we were pregnant with triplets! Triplets come with their own risks and stress. You definitely have to be well informed and make decisions as a group. In the end, we kept all three and they managed to stay in until 34 weeks. Adam & Jay are amazing parents, and I know they will get through the stress of having four kids under the age of 2!

Kristen & Nathan

I will never forget the day my husband got the results of his semen anaysis. He texted me while at work saying we needed to talk later. Being as anxious as I am, told him that he couldn’t do that to me. I needed to know right then and there what was going on. Then the text came through. “It’s me. I’m the problem. There was nothing. Zero sperm.” I audibly gasped at lunch with my colleagues. I waited until I was alone to let the tears flow by myself at my desk. Even with this diagnosis, I knew we were meant to be parents. I immediately got in problem solving mode. I wanted more answers and a plan. That's when I called Dr. Kristen Wright’s office.

I got an appointment the next week and we were off on our journey! Another more thorough semen analysis revealed a small amount of sperm. Three thousand to be exact. That was the most wonderful news I had ever heard. Dr. Wright suggested my husband freeze several samples, have several tests to see if she could determine the cause and start me on the process toward an IVF cycle with ICSI. A biological child for us was still possible! After we both went through many tests it was determined that my husband had a y-chromosome Microdeletion that caused his sperm count to be very low and even non-existent at times. But there was hope.

I started my cycle the middle of May, 2017. I went in for my retrieval as my husband gave his fresh sample. We retrieved 15 eggs (not bad for a 34 year old), but Nathan’s sample was without sperm. After thawing the two vials of frozen sperm and a 6 hour search for sperm by the amazing Boston IVF embryologists, they found enough to fertilize 11 of them. 3 of which were successful. We scheduled a day 3 transfer of the two best quality embryos and prayed that the third embryo made it to blastocyst-level so that it could be frozen. 7 days later, on a Thursday, I saw the most amazing (and faint) second pink line on a pregnancy test. I was in shock and so thrilled! That Sunday I started spotting - and even though the following day my hcg levels were good I knew something was wrong. My hcg levels were over 100 on Monday and down to 10 by Wednesday. I was no longer pregnant.

Two weeks later I got the email from the embryology team that our last embryo had made it to a AA quality blastocyst and was frozen. On September 15th my husband went in for a testicular extraction procedure to see if we could get more sperm. The doctor searched for two hours and found nothing. We were putting all of our hope for a biological family on the one last embryo we had frozen. Four days later, I went in for my frozen transfer. I was hold the embryo thawed beautifully and my transfer was perfect! On May 19th, exactly 8 months later TO THE DAY, I gave birth to our beautiful baby boy! We are so grateful to everyone at Boston IVF for making our dream of a family come true!

Stacy & Nick

After 7 years of heartache we finally had a positive pregnancy test! We now have boy/girl twins!

Christiane & Joseph

We were told to relax and “let it happen". So much advice comes your way when trying to start a family. No matter what we did, nothing ever happened. After several years of trying we decided that help was necessary and a small problem had an “easy” solution...IVF! Declan was born in 2013 and the hormone injections, surgical interventions, tears, arguments and 14 hours of labor were all forgotten when he came into the world. Every day, we tell Declan how special he is and that is so so so loved! That's all he needs to know ❤️ Although it is still heart-wrenching to fully share in the joy of those around us who are on their second or third child - or who can simply sneeze and become pregnant - Declan is a constant and kind reminder of how kind the world can be. Share your story with a stranger; you never know who you will inspire.

Lisa & Marc

When we got married in the summer of 2015 we decided to try to start our family right away. After multiple attempts and constant negative pregnancy tests, we decided it was time to see a doctor. After meeting with Dr. Sneeringer and her team, we finally had hope! Once we received a diagnosis of male factor, we moved forward with a fresh cycle. Unfortunately, that cycle, we ended up having a chemical pregnancy. Lucky for us, we still had frozen embryos, so we decided to move forward with a frozen cycle. When that cycle failed, we decided to try another fresh cycle hoping for a better chance at conceiving. This time we had transferred 2 embryos. When that pregnancy test came back negative, it was so discouraging. We didn’t give up hope and neither did Dr. Sneeringer! We agreed to try another frozen cycle. Once again, we transferred 2 embryos. To our excitement, we received a positive pregnancy test and we welcomed our beautiful daughter Sophia on 9/22/17!

Sarah & Kyle

We had been under another doctors care for a year and had not received any results, or answers. I had scheduled a consultation with Dr. Brian Berger for March 16th, about a month in advance, not knowing that I would be mid ivf cycle. My consultation with Dr. Berger conveniently was 4 days past my egg retrieval. Meeting with him was immediately life-changing and eye opening going over my history, and my current IVF cycle results. We had planned to do PGS testing on our embryos, but meeting with Dr. Berger, and having only two promising embryos on day 4, it was advised we transfer the next day and skip PGS testing altogether!

We went in for a transfer the next day and transferred both of our day 5 embryos. Just a few days later, two beautiful pink lines appeared on a home pregnancy test. We were so excited, but so scared. This was our fourth pregnancy, the previous three ending in miscarriage. Around 7 weeks we had our first ultrasound and saw one beautiful, healthy heartbeat. We will forever be grateful for Dr. Berger for making this last-minute, life changing call!