Immune therapy and steroid support helped a patient with PCOS conceive after 5 failed transfers—including an ectopic pregnancy. She’s now expecting her baby girl.
⚠️ These stories are personal experiences, not medical advice or scientific evidence. Success stories are more likely to be shared than unsuccessful ones, so they should not be interpreted as proof that a treatment works. Always discuss treatment decisions with your doctor.
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📊 Story Snapshot
👩 Age: 34📆 Years trying: Not stated
🧬 Embryo: Two fair quality blastocysts, untested
🧪 Retrievals: Not stated
🐣 Transfers: 4
💊 Diagnosis: PCOS / Hormonal imbalance, Multiple failed transfers
📈 Outcome: Pregnant, confirmed heartbeat and OB graduation
I guess it starts way before I even had a husband. I was always a girl that could easily gain weight, but was typically because I was eating poorly or not taking care of myself the way I should. However, I really decided to make a change for myself, did Coach 2 5K and ended up being a 6-mile a day runner and in great shape. I ate healthy and weighed the lowest I had since high school. And one month, out of nowhere, I gained 25lbs. This wasn’t from drinking or over eating, not from a lack of exercise – I hadn’t changed a thing. I sought help because I was “fat and it wasn’t my fault”. I had doctors tell me to work out more, eat even less, do this test or that test. Tested for everything, thyroid, cushing’s syndrome, diabetes, etc. Everything came back normal. I would search the symptoms and try to find possible answers to what was plaguing me.
By this point I was over 200lbs (up over 60lbs) in less than a few months. I started getting super oily hair and skin, sweating excessively, and I was growing a mustache. One doctor told me to go off birth control because they said it could cause weight gain. I was skeptical because I had been on it for almost 10 years (this process of finding a doctor to find a solution took 18 months, by the way). But I went off birth control any way, just to see if it would work. Well, it didn’t. And I never got a period. I finally went back to my OBGYN who told me these were my “big girl genes” and get over it because I was (now) 25 and this just happens. I didn’t get over it. But when I went back, they took me seriously and recommended me to a fertility specialist/endocrinologist. I went immediately. He ran the right tests, pretty much told me what I was going through without me ever having to explain it, put me on the right medicines, and voila! I dropped all of the weight nearly over-night. I was diagnosed with PCOS. We kept maintenance for years. I met my now husband, and after a few years, we got married and wanted to try for a family. My husband knew I had PCOS and so I would need intervention immediately. We met with the doctor and turned out the Zika virus was still very much a thing in 2017. We hadn’t heard about it for a while so we didn’t think twice when we scheduled our honeymoon in Mexico. That set-us back until February of 2018. I was devastated, and who knew that would be the least of my worries.
We finally we able to start and my fertility specialist was convinced all I needed would be a little Clomid. I was already on Metformin as part of my PCOS treatment. We tried a week of Clomid. Nothing changed, except the number on the scale. I gained a quick 5-7lbs. The following week we did double the dose of Clomid. Nothing changed (no signs of ovulating what so ever) but my body started changing rapidly. I began swelling to an embarrassing level, and already gained over 10lbs in that short time. Clothes didn’t fit and I went from a size 6 to 10 nearly overnight. My confidence immediately disintegrated and I would just cry and cry and cry every time I saw myself. The next (3rd) round of medicine included Clomid, but added Letrozole. It is a breast cancer drug that showed signs of improving uterine lining thickness in recent studies. Not only did I not ovulate, my lining didn’t progress either. I would leave each appointment feeling like a complete failure Not only didn’t my body “work”, it wasn’t “working” with the medicines either. My doctor started the fourth round of medicines, keeping the latest cocktail, but adding an estrogen tab a couple times a day. We went back for the visit, and according to the scans, we finally started to grow a follicle. We were super excited! He wanted the follicle to grow some more, so we stayed on track, and then scheduled an IUI. The IUI wasn’t the worst pain I’d ever end up feeling, but it wasn’t great. It caused a lot of cramping. Two weeks later though, we weren’t pregnant. So we started again.
The fifth cycle was a repeat of the first, my doctor still convinced that we could get this to work. After a week, no progress was found on the scans. They also did a post coital test too, but found none of the sperm survived even overnight. So, I wasn’t ovulating, thickening a lining, and my vagina was killing sperm faster than they could get anywhere. Until the follow-up phone call at the end of the day. Although my scans showed that I hadn’t ovulated, my blood work showed I had. But, my ovaries were letting go of follicles when they were too small, so there was never a chance of fertilization. We started talking IVF. Apparently with IVF, they are able to control all aspects of your cycle and hormones, and therefore able to see great results for patients like myself. I suddenly felt like I had finally found the answer, and in no time we would be pregnant. I scheduled my IVF consult right away.
I find it important to mention that during this time, although actually relatively brief, my body went through five rounds of treatment that would normally take five months for other women to go through. I went through it in under two months. Not once did I get a period. Even after the IUI. My body just “absorbed” the little lining that had grown. I since found out that is relatively normal. Also important, was the fight with our insurance company to cover the treatments up to this point. Some of the medicines they wouldn’t cover. They fought the IUI for months. If there is anything harder than going through fertility treatment, it’s the thought that your insurance company thinks you don’t actually need this treatment. As if any woman is signing up for this for the fun of it. It isn’t fun. It’s mentally and emotionally devastating. At this point too, I went from about 150lbs to 175lbs. The medicines caused swelling and weight gain nearly instantaneously. Just adding to the compounding feeling of defeat and worthlessness.
In late April we met with the IVF nurse who explained the process of IVF. I sat there, wide-eyed and absolutely horrified of the process. I didn’t have it in me. I told my husband there was no way I could ever do this, needles, shots, the hysteroscopy, anesthesia for egg retrieval, you name it. I wasn’t capable of it. That stalled our plans for a couple of months. We debated for a while, the cost, the physical demands on my body, etc. And in July, I scheduled my hysteroscopy. It was the last thing I needed in order to move forward. That was probably one of the most painful experiences of the whole process. It was awful. I think my husband nearly lost his fingers that day. But it was over, and we were allowed to start IVF.
The first round of IVF, my body responded beautifully. I made plenty of follicles and the day of retrieval, 18 were removed. I had never been under anesthesia before, but I somehow braved that storm too pretty well. I think the combination of amazing nurses and wanting something so badly allows you to do things you never thought you were capable of. I finally felt like I was getting somewhere. It was going to get easy.
Of the 18 retrieved, 14 fertilized. Of the 14, eight made it to day 3, six to day 5. We were going to a fresh embryo transfer! My lining was great, we had a great embryo. And yes! we transferred it. I waited the two week wait, and started testing with some cheap test strips at home. They all came back negative, so I thought. I was depressed and a mess. It hadn’t worked. That afternoon I got my confirmation call, that in fact I actually was pregnant. I cried. I told the nurse that she “had to be bleeping-kidding me”. She said, I would never joke about this. Your numbers are right where they should be for day 15, so please schedule another visit in two days to repeat the test.
I did two more confirmation tests that week, the first one only increased 67% from two days prior, so they wanted me to come back again. I did and it doubled. Apparently I was in the clear, and would return for my first ultrasound the next week. My husband was travelling for work, so I went with my mom who was of course ecstatic. We go for the ultrasound and it’s quiet. Quiet, and not quick. Then started the questions about how far along I am, and when my transfer was. I knew there was something wrong. They left and got a doctor. They couldn’t find the pregnancy. I was miscarrying they thought. My blood work came back higher than the week prior, but not high enough. I went back for more blood work a couple days later. Still not high enough, but increasing none the less. They started me on abortion pills. I forget the name, that’s the only way I could think of them. I was supposed to insert vaginally every night for three nights. I bled, but when I went back again, my numbers (HCG) hadn’t gone down, in fact they went up again. The doctor performed a D&C, and had it sent to pathology to make sure there was no fetal tissue. There was none, which they determined meant that the pregnancy was ectopic. The doctor made me come back the same day for the chemo shot, or Methotrexate as it’s actually called because I could have serious risks if I didn’t treat the ectopic pregnancy right away. I lost it. I am not sure I have ever or ever will again come anywhere near close to how hysterical I was in that moment. I can’t describe the irony of wanting to be pregnant so badly, and then trying so hard to “kill” it. And, at the same time poisoning myself with chemo. Yes, I know people use this frequently for many other reasons, but to me, it was never even a possibility that I would be facing anything like this. I still cry thinking about how scared I was in that moment. How much I hated it. I needed a total of three shots in order to finally lower my HCG. After every appointment I would cry hysterically. Once, a woman saw me crying on the way to my car and stopped me. She didn’t know me, but she hugged me. Asked what was wrong, and I told her because I was tired of trying to go through a miscarriage quietly. She too had gone through two of them herself, only to have two beautiful children she said. She held me until my crying slowed, and I went to my car to finish crying. My husband would have been there, if I knew I needed more shots. I thought I only needed one, so this follow-up visit caught my by surprise.
My doctor knew my mental state wasn’t there. It took over 7 weeks to fully miscarry this pregnancy. He wanted me to take some time, so I did. We tried again in November of 2018. We did a Frozen Embryo Transfer, and my lining wasn’t cooperating. It wasn’t thickening well, and then my uterus was filling with fluid. I had to have a procedure to remove the fluid, with five nurses in the room for support, holding my hand and giving me some of my dignity back. I didn’t think this round was going to be successful. When the results were in, I was technically pregnant but my numbers were really low for gestational age. Two days later, it was confirmed to be a chemical pregnancy.
My doctor suggested I do an ERA to see when my lining is most receptive. We prepped for that round and instead of a transfer they did a biopsy. It turned out that I am late receptive, or need less exposure to progesterone that most women. We can add this to the list of road blocks. With this information in hand though, we started prepping for the next cycle. It was January 2019. My lining wasn’t responding at all this time. It was the day before my birthday, and the transfer was called off. I felt like a complete failure. If this stopped working, I was out of options. I asked for a script for birth control and told them I needed a three-month break. That was it for me. I didn’t have anything left to give.
We decided to give it a go in early April 2019. I went to the doctor to come up with the new plan. This time, we were using a different steroid, and longer. Everything progressed but my lining thinned right before transfer. The doctor said it was OK because they usually don’t check it after progesterone starts. I was still doubtful. On the way to my transfer I received a called that one of my embryos died in thawing. it is rare, but I felt like that was foreshadowing the outcome. I ended up being pregnant again, but it was a chemical pregnancy. At this point, these seemed manageable compared to the ectopic. My doctor called after he heard these results. I said, we need to do something different because it isn’t working anymore. The nurse had slipped me a list of medicines to ask for at my next visit, so I mentioned them to him. It’s common use for women with multiple miscarriages. I also asked if we could transfer two embryos this time. That’s all we had left and we were spent financially too. He agreed to the list of medicines, and he agreed to the two embryo transfer.
We went into yet another round, which we determined was our final round. We no longer could keep going – financially or mentally/emotionally. This round was different. I thought it was different in a bad way, because although my lining kept thickening, they kept telling me to go on longer with my stim medicines. It’s usually 10-14 days, but this went on for three weeks. But, I grew a really nice thick lining. At this point, I was on intralipids every 10-14 days with a home nurse, I was on blood thinning shots in my stomach, and I was on steroids that blew me up like a puffer fish. In addition to the estrogen patches, estrogen pills, PIO, vaginal suppositories, countless vitamins and supplements, and more. June 7th was our transfer. Our final one. All or nothing. They were also our B & B-. I was told that it was still good, but I was nervous because of course it wasn’t the “ideal” A.
Leading up to this, I looked up all of the “wife’s tales” for more success and growing a thicker lining. I am talking bone broth (gross), Pomegranate juice, B-Complex, lean red meat, etc. My doctor told me to eat an anti-inflammatory diet, so I did that too. The day of the transfer, I also decided that I would rest for a little, but complete bed rest of 24 hours was not going to happen this time. I was going to go for a slow walk. Transfer day was here and we were ready to go. The proposition of twins terrified my husband, but I was ready for anything My doctor was super positive and let me video the whole procedure too (of the ultrasound portion). It was great because I got to show my husband how the baby(ies) were transferred. Once it was over, all of my nurses gave me a hug and told me this had to be the time. I was feeling pretty good about it. I went home and rested for a little. Then I went on my slow-poke of a walk. I went down to the pool and sat at the pool (not in it) just on the lounge chairs. I walked a little here and there and rested. And we waited.
Within a few days, I noticed things were changing but I really thought I was getting sick. My nose was STUFFED so badly, I even said to my husband “I think I am getting sick, of course!” We didn’t think twice. I went to a lunch and had tomato soup and the re-flux was brutal! It wasn’t anything like I experienced before, but again. I thought nothing of it. My hair started getting greasy and my skin oily. And I still didn’t think much of it. I was telling a friend about these things – thinking they were more related to medicines or getting sick than they were pregnancy, and they said “are you sure you’re not pregnant?” and I started Googling less common symptoms of pregnancy. There they were. All of the things I was experiencing. I was also determined to not test at home this time because every other time it said negative but was a positive test – although none ended well. So, I held out longer than usual. But Saturday the 15th (my test was on the 17th for the doctor), I woke up around 6am and had this urge to test. So I used the cheap-o tests that I had been using previously, but I was smart and used a better test at the same time. The cheap-o test came back negative AGAIN. (i threw all of these strips out after this). But the other test was doing its thing. I waited and waited. For the longest three minutes of my life. And all of the sudden, it popped-up “Pregnant”. I started sweating from excitement and nervousness. I also didn’t believe it. Plus, i had bought this cute onesie as the way to surprise my husband the last round if we were pregnant (that I never got to use). So I wanted to run to my car and get it and surprise him. He never ever is a light sleeper. But I must have been stirring enough that he heard me and started waking up. I mean, to this day I still have to wake him up before 7am. I didn’t have time to run to my car. I peed again, on another test just to make sure. And that came back positive too. A different brand too, so I knew it was the strips that were wrong. I had never been able to get a positive pregnancy test at home. Let alone two days early. I woke him up and he’s holding me still trying to open his eyes. I showed him the test. He couldn’t even get focused on it for a minute. Then he finally saw it. And we just cried. That was the start of such a long, anxiety ridden journey. The 17th it was confirmed that we really were pregnant, with stronger numbers than ever before. A week later, we got the first picture of our pregnancy. A couple days later and we saw the heartbeat. We were pregnant with one perfect little baby. Every week we watched her grow. Until we graduated at 12 weeks to a regular OB. The stuffy nose and the snoring hasn’t left to this day.
It’s ironic to think back at how much work and time it took to get here. Although many women wait much longer, and go through much more. I don’t know how I kept going. I actually don’t know how any woman keeps going, except for the desire to be a mom. In total, pre-pregnancy, I gained 70lbs from steroids, medicines, not being on other medicines I used to be, etc. During pregnancy I have gained 20 more. I had to learn how to look in a mirror and still be OK with what I see. Not to be so hard on yourself. Give yourself grace. I had to learn that the clothes size I am isn’t a reflection of the person I am. And that in time, I will get back to where I want to be. But right now this is my journey, and I have a beautiful baby girl growing inside of me. It isn’t easy. It’s hard on your marriage, it’s hard on your body, it’s hard on your mind, spirit, emotions. I still listen to heart heartbeat on the home doppler every day (for the last 24 weeks) to make sure she’s still OK. I still worry every day that she will be taken away from me, like the others. After losses, and bad news, it’s hard to “let go”, and enjoy. But after all of the ups and lots of downs, it finally worked. And I cannot wait to meet this cutie.
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