The story below can't fully explain the rollercoaster ride we have been on. It has been full of tears, lost hopes, pain and sleepless nights. At the same time though, we have been so blessed, felt comforted & loved, and witnessed tender mercies. We hope this blog sheds some light as to what we have been facing this past while.
Last year in March our hearts began to yearn for a baby. We started thinking that we were ready to get pregnant and start our little family; however, we wondered if we would face challenges in becoming parents due to some complications that Colten had when he was 6 weeks old. Colten almost lost his life because of an incarcerated hernia. Doctors were unsure if this would cause fertility problems in the future because of his age, the severity and location of the hernia.
We began the whole process by sharing Colten's story with our Gynecologist. She was very receptive and gave us clear directions of where to start. At first, it was the grunt work, trying to build enough data for fertility specialists as well as a urology specialist in Las Vegas to analyze. Colten had several semen analysis tests done, which only gave us a tiny glimpse of hope, only having 1 or 2 sperms compared to the normal 80,000,000. That was a hard day.
I had an ultrasound done on my ovaries, and we were hit with more bad news. We found out I had PCOS (Poly cystic ovarian syndrome) which causes irregular ovulation. The bottom line was that without regular ovulation, and a very low sperm count, it would be nearly impossible to become pregnant on our own.
The fertility clinic, as well as the urologist, seemed uninterested in our case. They just told us that Colten would need surgery to tell us whether or not sperm was even being produced. They didn't act like there was a further treatment, just an expensive surgery to simply get a yes or no. We wanted so much more than a yes or no though. If we got a yes, we wanted a plan to move forward. If no, we wanted to know if there were other options, medications, etc. We still had hope that somehow this would work out, so we went ahead and scheduled Colten's surgery for the first week of December 2015. We didn't feel right about it though, and re-scheduled. As the second date approached, so did those same uneasy feelings. Once again, we felt uncomfortable and asked if we could meet before the surgery because we had questions. We asked the nurse if the doctor could just give us a call, or if we would need to go into the office. Each time, we ended up having to go to his office, and pay a big "specialty clinic fee" just to talk to him for 5-10 min. We never left feeling much peace, and always got in the car, realizing we had more questions, which was so frustrating. After our last meeting with him, we had some hope that the urologist and the fertility doctor were going to work together as teammates. We then would schedule the surgery at the fertility clinic so we could freeze the sperm if it was found and use it for IVF. The people who were coordinating and "helping" us get that scheduled still, to this day, have not called or emailed us back yet. Crazy. What surgery really takes over 2 months to simply schedule?
A few weeks ago, one of my sweet cousins called and asked if she could talk to her fertility doctor in Utah about our situation, and see if he could help us. That was such a blessing. We were given his cell phone number and told to call him the following morning. We spent over an hour and a half on the phone with him the next day. He was so sweet. He answered questions we didn't even know we had. He actually seemed to care. He started making plans for us, and we started feeling like maybe all of the past doctors not working out had actually been a blessing. He said Colten would for sure have to have a surgery, and he knew exactly where to send us. This new doctor who would perform Colten's surgery with works for the University of Utah as an Andrologist. His office has the capability to freeze as little as 3 sperms, which is incredible! Our new fertility doctor said he would personally pick up our frozen sample from the surgery center and hold it until my egg retrieval day. Who does that? We were shocked with the amount of care we were finally receiving.
We received phone calls from one doctor or another nearly every day. Prescriptions began being called in. We started new paperwork. They directed us to a program that helps discount one of the expensive fertility drugs. We now feel that we are moving in the right direction and that we're in THE BEST hands. The surgery date scheduled within a week of having spoken with our fertility doctor for the first time. Amazing.
We just had Colten's surgery yesterday, May 3rd, 2016. It was an emotional day to say the least. After 6 months of rescheduling dates and changing doctors, we were finally going to get the answer as to whether or not biological children would be an option for us. As all the nurses took care of us, and we met our doctors in surgery prep we were surprised at how well they all seemed to know exactly what we needed. They took Colten back to the Operating Room and told me that they would call me back with the results within the next 30-45 minutes. I had a few break downs while waiting. The answer was 50/50. Black or white. Yes or No on biological children. If yes, they would retrieve sperm and I would start IVF drugs on May 11th. If no, getting pregnant with our own children would not be a possibility. Either way, we hoped to feel peace. I just sat there waiting, crying, praying, and cleaning out my purse and stealing kleenexes.
They called my name to go meet with the doctor. My heart sunk deep as he came in the room and gave me a comforting look, and he proceeded to tell me they did not find any sperm during the operation. That was a tough moment. It was the worst news I ever heard in my life, and I was alone.
He said Colten was doing ok though and would be waking up soon. I went back to the waiting room, called our moms and told them the news. More tears. I spent the next 45 minutes in recovery with Colten wondering how he would feel when he was more conscious. I was so sad, but trying to keep it all together for him. He was laying there and looked so sick and exhausted. He started waking up more and asked me how it went; I told him it went well. Next he asked if they found anything. It was the saddest I have ever seen him, as he lay there on a hospital bed all hooked up to heart monitors and his IV, looking so tired and broken hearted. We drove to Colten's parents house after the surgery to spend the night before heading back to Vegas. We had a nice drive. Our family all knew, and we felt some love & comfort from them. We got to Colten's parents house, and took a big nap. We talked a little about new future plans. We had hit our wall. We knew it was a possibility, but now it was our reality.
A few hours later, Colten's doctor called and woke us up. He told us that after the surgery they sent the tissue to the the lab to be analyzed in more detail. The lab had actually been able to find 5 sperm. FIVE. They were all frozen. He told us that 5 single sperms would be enough to move forward with IVF. We talked with our fertility doctors after that, and they were thrilled. Talk about dream come true! It was unreal. Such a shock.
The doctors have decided to continue trying to get a little more sperm with further semen analysis testing. We are starting all of the IVF drugs on the 11th of May. It's all moving so fast now. We feel so comfortable with all of the doctors working with us because they truly care. We will be doing "IVF with ICSI" (in-vitro fertilization with intro-cytoplasmic sperm injection) That is a process where our insanely smart doctors will take Colten's strongest sperm and my most mature egg then inject each sperm into each egg. They then let the embryos grow for 5 days after which they will implant two embryos.
So that's where we are at right now. We are waiting and hoping for miracles with each step ahead. Hoping the drugs work well and are not too painful. Hoping egg retrieval goes well. Hoping that the eggs fertilize successfully with the 5 sperms. Hoping that the embryos will grow during their 5 days before being implanted. Then finally hoping and praying for our first ever positive pregnancy test.
There are so many places where this can all fall through the cracks, but hopefully with continued prayers and medicine, we can get a little Richins baby of our own. We will continue to post updates of how this is going. We are really not good bloggers, nor have we posted much about our infertility on social media, but with such sweet charitable contributions that have been made, we really feel we need to share our story. We hope to be of hope to another couple struggling with infertility. We hope that our friends and family can feel informed as to whats going on each step of the way. We also hope someday, our kiddo (maybe kiddoS) could read this blog and know how loved they are, not only by us, but by everyone supporting, and see how much went into getting them. I really hope someday I can share this with our babies.
Thanks so much for your love and support.
Wish us luck!
