Great to be invited back. We have 5 beautiful children!

[mama2twins]

It was so nice to be invited back to check in. About 8 years ago this site was something that I clung to every day. The people and support were tremendous! I met one of my very best friends for life here...Hi BarbieJo!

Well, long story short: After 10 years of marriage my Dh and I have 5 beautiful, healthy children. We unfortunately lost my son, Jagger, in utero during my last twin pregnancy. That would have been great having 6 children 6 and under! We had 9 failed IUI's, 1 failed IPI (don't ask...awful, never do it), failed ZIFT, 3 laps for endo and finally...1 fresh IVF. Yes, only 1 fresh IVF. Even though we had a few left over embies from our ZIFT that we transferred from Michigan to Seattle, we still believe that all of our babies most likely came from that 1 cycle of IVF at SRM (Seattle Reproductive Medicine...love them!) Oh I can't forget the $13,000 we spent on an Adoption Facilitator that we lost after 2 years of non-placement. No one wanted to place their baby with us once we got pg with twins, etc.

We were actually diagnosed with unexplained infertility because my endo really wasn't that bad and even though my husband's count was a bit low and slow, still totally workable. (Oh, how I hate that word "infertility"). After all, who is to say that I am infertile? The funny thing is, they still want to give me that diagnosis every time we try to conceive...infertility! Huh!

My Dh and I made a pact with God and each other...we would go back for every single embryo. They were our babies! I had about 16 embies all together (6 ZIFT and 10 IVF). We were scared, but so very blessed! It took us 8 years of treatments total. We went back for every single one of them. 2 twin pregnancies, 1 heartbreaking miscarriage of one of my twins, but 5 gorgeous very wanted children.

I am now 41. It is the first time in 9 years that my Dh and I can actually ttc on our own. We never could before because of the fear that it would work and then that would put us 1.5 yrs behind in going back for more embies. Boy, how odd is that. Well, we just talked to a reproductive endocrinologist and decided to take the clomid challenge to see about my eggs. Turns out they are still producing fine. Doctor doesn't think we have much of a chance with our "unexplained" and now my age, however, I have seen God work so many miracles. I tell my Dh I would love another set of twins. It was such a special, unique experience. No more IVF for us. The IUI's never worked and most likely still won't (there could be a fragmentation issue that we may check out next with my Dh's sample). I am glad to be done with 1,700+ shots. I am putting this in God's hands. We are probably done; however, I would welcome more children with open arms.

Hang in there ladies and lean on each other. There are so many people on here with differing views. Sometimes religiously I found it tough; however, I knew where I could find the support that I needed and tried to stay away from the posts that upset me.

10 years ago I prayed so hard to be a mother. Everyone told me that I was trying to force something to happen that wasn't meant to be. I was ALWAYS meant to be a mother to these children! I thank God, His Mother Mary and St. Gerard every day for the tremendous blessings they have bestowed upon us.

May God bless and protect you.
REA

[mama2twins]

Sorry I forgot to mention my FET's in my post above and didn't know how to edit my original. I think it is so important to give hope to those going through FET as well.

Although I had only 1 fresh IVF, I got pg with my b/g twins on that fresh...
pg with singleton on 1st FET
pg with singleton on 2nd FET
pg with twins on 3rd and final FET

With each transfer we only put 2 back.

Best wishes!
REA

[katrack]

What a beautiful update. Thanks!

[robine]

Thank you for the wonderful update. It is good to hear of successes.

Blessings

[Ellie Mae]

That is such a sweet update. Thanks for coming and sharing.

[Blues]

Its a beautiful story. I still have the two boys and am hoping and praying for 3 beautiful step children that I already love. I wanted children so badly and was so blessed by the two. Hard to believe yrs and years later that I may belong to a family of 7.

[Couchkat]

Awesome update... Let me guess... Lifetime Adoptions?

[mama2twins]

Yes, we went through Lifetime Adoptions. How did you know?