Hollie & S.L.
Treatment(s)
- Embryo Freezing
- Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
- In vitro Fertilization (IVF)
- Sperm Freezing
Hollie & S.L.'s Story:
My husband and I started dating in 2013 and fell in love in a matter of days. In each other we found a soulmate. We shared the same values; we became each other's best friends, and we knew we wanted to start a family and spend our lives together.
On our 2-year anniversary, we vowed to love one another for a lifetime and tied the knot. I was double blessed in our marriage as I became a stepmom to a beautiful girl, now 17.
In 2015, we began trying to conceive naturally, although we knew it would be difficult with my PCOS diagnosis. So we started seeing a local fertility doctor in 2017 and tried multiple rounds of timed intercourse, which all failed.
In 2018, we adopted our 2nd beautiful daughter, now 13. In 2021, we started trying to conceive again and went through 3 failed intrauterine inseminations. At that point, our local fertility specialist recommended IVF. I was devastated. How would we afford it? Will I ever be able to carry and give birth?
I joined several Facebook infertility groups and was able to find CNY, which immediately gave us hope. We scheduled our consultation, started saving money, and started regaining hope.
In May 2022, we flew to the Colorado Springs CNY location, rented an AirBnB for 14 days, and started our egg retrieval process. Dr. Fink retrieved 45 eggs, 27 were mature, 19 fertilized, and we ended up with 13 frozen blasts.
We returned to Colorado in June for our first Frozen Embryo Transfer, which failed. I was devasted all over again, how can this be happening? I just have PCOS, why is this so hard? I never imagined I would need to go through IVF, and here I am with a failed round.
My husband was my rock, and my biggest cheerleader. He lifted me up when I was down and never let us lose faith. We returned to Colorado again in July for another frozen embryo transfer, another failure, another devastation.
In August, we did another frozen embryo transfer and finally received the answer to our prayers, we were PREGNANT!
Our first sonogram we found out we were expecting twins and later got confirmation we would be parents to FOUR girls! Our twin girls were born in April 2023 at 35 weeks gestation.
Our girls were completely healthy and didn't need a minute of NICU time. What a blessing, what a miracle! Our older girls are the BEST big sisters, their dad is the BEST girl dad, and momma's heart is incredibly full!
(Beautiful photos by Tiffany Bond)
Favorite Team Member at CNY:
Dr. Fink was absolutely exceptional during our egg retrieval and was so funny and personable. Dr. Fink completed our 3rd and successful transfer and he gave us so much hope. His nurse praised how great the placement was and as we left Dr. Fink told us to send him pictures of the babies! I left there with hope, I left there thinking 'this is it' all because of his amazing support.
Helpful resources Hollie & S.L. found:
I purchased an IVF planner from Etsy and it was so helpful to track medications, appointments, lab results, etc. I was able to go back and compare previous transfers.
The Moment:
Bringing the girls into this world was the most magical experience of my life. As I prepped for C-section, I just kept thinking that this can't be real. I am about to meet my daughters for the first time and at one point I didn't know if I would ever be able to conceive.
Baby A started crying as she was delivered and the emotions flooded, then I heard Baby B. Our girls are here!
I watched the nurses rush them to the warmers and I just prayed. I remember thinking, are they ok? Will I be able to hold them or will they go to the NICU?
After a few minutes, they brought both girls to mom and dad and told us they were completely healthy. Weighing in at 4 lbs 11 oz and 4 lbs 15 oz. Holding my girls for the first time was the most emotional experience of my life. Every day since April 7th has been filled with pure joy, love and a feeling of being complete.
Hope, Inspiration and Advice:
Never lose hope! Whether your journey is 1 year or 7 years, this journey is hard. It breaks you down and tests your hope. Keep the faith, keep strength and stay determined. It is all worth it.
Support one another in times of weakness and when you finally get your miracle, cherish every second, even the hard times. My favorite part of my day is looking down at my daughter staring at her momma and then looking over and seeing the love of my life hold our other daughter. It is a feeling that you can't even put into words.
