After a long and frustrating journey with infertility I am proud to announce that I am 14 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby! My husband and I recently had the pleasure to see our angel baby on ultrasound and we were amazed to see the beautiful result of our endurance and resilience. We would not be at this settled place without the help of Dr. Spence Pentland.
Our journey began almost two years ago. After six months of trying we had ourselves checked out by the fertility doctors. At first we appeared to be “normal” and after more months of testing and waiting, we were told that we were running out of time and we needed to proceed to IVF as soon as possible. At this point we had tried four times unsuccessfully with IUI and a large dose of clomid. As it turned out my FSH levels were on the “high” side (12.2) and although my husband had over 200,000 million sperm, there was an issue with the morphology (2-8 %). I had just turned 36 years old.
Having a science background as well as training in anatomical acupuncture myself, I did the research on acupuncture and its success with fertility and more specifically when combined with IVF treatment. I was convinced and committed to see Spence two times per week leading up to our first round of IVF. Unfortunately right before the procedure I was hospitalized with septic pneumonia and had to delay our plans. I thought that I was recovered and five months later we tried IVF with ICSI. It did not work. My embryos were poor quality and only two made it for the procedure. Devastated and then to be told that it was probably not going to work and to consider an egg donor, I did not know where to turn. Going in to see Spence that week helped me stay the course and not give up. He said that we could improve the egg quality with acupuncture and a healthy lifestyle. He was convinced that we would be parents one day and to “keep my eye on the child”. So I spent the rest of the summer going to acupuncture, two weeks of herbals, and eating a healthy, fertility friendly diet. My husband even came to see Spence so that he could help and find out what he could do to improve our situation.
The second round of IVF proved successful! This time we had excellent quality embryos along with a healthy and relaxed mom- to- be. I knew that it was going to work and I can honestly say that with Spence’s knowledge, research, and reassuring words, we were able to make our dreams come true. In the words of Maya Angelou: “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Thanks Spence!
Suzanne
