Patient Odyssey – Partners: A Donor and A Carrier
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My partner, Shannon, and I had always wanted kids. So we went to our doctor to discuss our options for starting a family. She suggested we pick a fertility clinic to get the process started. We chose Pacific Fertility Center. We called the clinic to get started and had hundreds of questions. We spoke with Billie of the New Patient Guides. She was very friendly and more than willing to listen to all our concerns. She suggested we set up our initial consultation with a doctor. We chose Dr. Givens. We met with Dr. Givens in November and were very happy with our visit. Thankfully, we were both healthy and could start the process right away.
We decided we would go with IVF. We wanted to use my eggs for the first pregnancy, as I was nearing 40, but we wanted Shannon to be the carrier. This meant we had a lot of ‘timing’ issues to get worked out. To start with, we met with Allison, our IVF Coordinator. She was fantastic–she set up our schedules, talked to us about the different medications, and what the next steps were. We had to get both our cycles in sync, make sure I could produce enough viable eggs at the right time, get them fertilized and implanted into Shannon. WHEW! A lot to do in a short amount of time…
We met with Peggy, the Marriage and Family Therapist, to discuss what exactly the egg donor process meant. (Even though I was donating my eggs to my partner, and would be a co-parent). Peggy asked why we had chosen to go this route; how long we had been together; what were our plans as far as parenting; did I realize that the child, although mine biologically, might very well be closer to Shannon since she was the one giving birth; why did we wait so long to have children (we have been together for 12 years). It was a great re-affirmation that we were doing this for all the right reasons.
We met with Olga, one of the nurses in the clinic, for our injection class. Olga did a great job of making us feel comfortable with this less than desirable task. We started our injections – it was more difficult than we had imagined, but once we got going, it got better.
Dr. Givens started Shannon on birth control to catch her up to my cycle, and when the timing was right, she started on hormone shots. I started on fertility drugs. We moved right through the process. February arrived and it was time for my egg retrieval.
Dr. Chenette did the retrieval. He explained exactly what he would do – the eggs would be taken one by one and given to the lab for fertilization, that it would only take about 15 minutes, what the recovery would be like-very quick and little discomfort, and that in 3 days the fertilized eggs would be transferred into Shannon. I felt very much at ease with Dr. Chenette. Dr. Givens came in to tell us how many eggs had been retrieved and to make sure we were doing OK.
Dr. Chenette also did the embryo transfer. He explained what he was going to do – use a very small catheter to implant the embryo’s into Shannon’s uterus, what she would feel-very little, if anything, and what to do next. We had 6 eggs that could have been transferred to Shannon, and chose the best 4 – Dr Givens has suggested we transfer 4 embryos to give us a good chance at getting pregnant. We got to watch the transfer and it took all of about 5 minutes! Now it was just a “wait and see” period.
We went back for our pregnancy test 2 weeks after the egg transfer. It was positive!
We had our second pregnancy test 2 days after that, and it was confirmed – we were pregnant. Our next step was an ultrasound at 7 weeks. We had our last ultrasound at 9 weeks and were released to our obstetrician. Much to our dismay, we miscarried.
We are going to try again and wouldn’t think of going anywhere else. We are so happy to have worked with such professional and caring people. The staff at Pacific Fertility Center is a fantastic and knowledgeable group and we would absolutely recommend them to anyone who is looking for a fertility clinic.
– Sara and Shannon
