Our Infertility Timeline | Hannah Israelsen Northern Utah Photographer

During National Infertility Awareness Week, I shared this little infertility timeline on my Instagram stories. I think it’s the best way I’ve found to summarize our infertility story for anyone who wants to catch up on our journey! If you ever have questions about infertility or IVF, or wonder what’s appropriate or sensitive to say to someone you know who’s dealing with it, please ask me! I’m tired of infertility being a taboo subject and not treated as the medical disease that it is. Hopefully the more people become aware of it, the more understanding and sensitivity there will be for the most painful trial I have ever experienced. If you’re struggling with infertility and need a friend to talk to, please reach out to me!! You’re not alone. I may have a baby now, but I’m still #1in8 (women affected by infertility) and I’m here to help and support you.

Click the right and left arrows on the slider below to read through our infertility story timeline.

Fall 2013–Started trying for a baby. Shawn had graduated with his Bachelor’s in Social Work and started a full-time job in that field.

Spring 2014–I graduated from USU in Elementary and Early Childhood Education. During this time my cycles were irregular and I felt in my gut that something was wrong and that getting pregnant was not going to be easy for us. I had also gotten stress-induced shingles during student teaching which is partly why I decided not to pursue a full-time teaching job…I knew my body couldn’t handle that level of stress especially with trying to conceive.

Summer 2014–In an unexpected miracle I was led to the perfect job for me at that time…teaching elementary school art at the elementary school I went to as a child and where my little brother was still in school!

Fall 2014–After a year of negative pregnancy tests, we went to see an RE (reproductive endocrinologist). Had lots of testing done on both of us that all came back normal. We started a series of medicated cycles using Clomid/Femara plus a trigger shot in my stomach to help my egg production and simulate ovulation. These cycles were always ultrasound monitored and everything always looked like it was working perfectly, I just never got pregnant. (photo cred: Lindsey Fowers)

Summer 2015–After about 7 of those monitored cycles, our doctor told us IVF would give us the best chance of getting pregnany since they could see no reason why nothing had worked to that point and if we spent a few thousand dollars on IUI, it still may not have worked. We felt IVF was the right direction to go but just felt like the time wasn’t right. So we waited. (photo cred: Lindsey Fowers)

Winter/Spring 2016–Shawn was applying to grad schools and ASU was a strong contender. We both felt really good about the idea of moving to Arizona. As we researched we also noticed that living in the Phoenix area would give us much better access to IVF clinics than we had in Logan, Utah. We decided on ASU and had our first consultation at Boston IVF when we came down to AZ to look for a place to live in the spring. Dr. Hade was amazing and we felt so good about working with him and his team!

Summer 2016–We had lots of tests done again at Boston IVF and Dr. Hade reviewed all of our fertility history. He agreed that for me to have never gotten pregnant in 3 years of trying at my age (25 at the time) something had to be very wrong that we couldn’t see…possibly dysfunctional Fallopian tubes but we’ll never know for sure. He agreed that moving straight to IVF would give us the best chance of conceiving.

Fall 2016–We moved forward with the IVF process. A few highlights of that: -cocktail of hormone pills and patches for me for a couple months -daily shots in my stomach &/or rear for a couple months

-3 surgical procedures for me (egg retrieval, hysteroscopy, & frozen embryo transfer) -paying near $15k out of pocket because insurance doesn’t consider infertility a medical condition that should be treated

-during this time Shawn was in grad school full time, we were both working part time but neither of us had full time jobs, it was probably logically the worst possible time to do IVF but we felt so good about it and felt like we should have faith and shouldn’t wait, so we were living on faith, prayer, and savings

Nov 17, 2016–We transferred 1 frozen embryo! 17 is my lucky number so I felt luck had to be on our side!

End of November 2016–Our faces when we got the call with the best news ever–IVF had worked and I was pregnant!!! IVF was not an easy process but it was totally worth it!

Spring 2017–Shawn graduated from ASU with his MSW (Masters of Social Work) and got a job as a social worker.

I was blessed to have an overall easy and healthy pregnancy, I was so grateful to be pregnant and cherished that time.

July 2017–Best day ever, baby girl joined us and made life complete. (photo cred: Jamie Winfield)

She is our world!! (photo cred: Jamie Winfield)

Nov. 17, 2017–Dr. Hade with baby Rose one year after our frozen transfer.

We are so grateful to be at this point, but we haven’t forgotten what infertility feels like…

We want to help others going through infertility and each do that in different ways…Shawn hopes to one day open a counseling practice that specializes in helping couples going through infertility.

I love to give a few free photo sessions each year to couples who are struggling with infertility. (photo cred: Myrna Wood)

We are always open to questions and talking about infertility! Infertility is a real disease, it’s nothing to be ashamed of… (photo cred: Myrna Wood)

So if you are suffering in silence, please reach out if you need someone to talk to who gets it!

Do you have any questions about infertility or IVF? Ask me anything!

Photo credit: Myrna Wood

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