Charmaine and Joey

In June 2010, my husband and I embarked on our journey to start a family. Little did we know how long and hard this journey would be. In September 2011, after just over a year of trying to conceive our first child together, we decided to see our doctors and have some tests completed to see if there was anything going on to prevent us from conceiving naturally. In June 2012, we finally found out that we were dealing with Male Factor Infertility (non-motility and low sperm count) and our only chance of conceiving a baby would be through IVF. We were devastated. You learn growing up that a woman will conceive and create families. You never once think you’ll need help creating that dream family. We took some time to come to terms with this diagnoses. We were already in debt at this time. We didn’t even know how we would ever afford this, especially with IVF only giving you a chance at a pregnancy. So we had to make some difficult decisions, decisions that you shouldn’t have to make. We knew how much a baby would cost to raise, but we never once expected to have this added expense for a chance to conceive a baby. Canadian Infertility Awareness Week 2015 www.iaac.ca We live in Newfoundland where there is no clinic that offers IVF treatments, so we would have to travel outside our province for this. In February 2013, we saw our doctor and told her we were finally ready to start our journey down this new road. In May 2013, we had our first consultation in Halifax, NS. We had to complete a few more test prior to starting our cycle. In July 2013 I had to have an HSG test where I found out that I had one blocked Fallopian tube. I was devastated with more bad news, but knew at that moment we had made the right decision to move on and proceed with the IVF cycle.

Our very first IVF cycle began in August 2013. September 13, 2013 (which was also Friday the 13th) they retrieved 14 eggs, 13 fertilized and by Day 5 we were left with 4 embryos. On the day of the transfer, September 18, 2013 we transferred 2 embryos and 16 days later we found out we were finally pregnant! There were no words to explain that day! There were so many emotions that we were finally pregnant, but also so scared that something would go wrong! I’m am truly thankful to have these assisted reproduction technologies available. Without them we wouldn’t have our beautiful, 11 month old baby girl now! She is our world. I can only hope that each and every person that is struggling through infertility can share the joy and excitement that we have had in these last few years!! Don’t give up on your dreams!

“When life changes to be harder, Change yourself to be stronger” - Author Unknown