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Couple's fertility rollercoaster ends in success
A fertility specialist found issues and decided to try IVF. Usually couples are successful within one to three cycles of IVF.
ATLANTA - At 36, Lauren Powell now has the baby she and her husband Karl, whom she married right out of medical school in 2014, have been longing for.
They started trying to get pregnant in 2020, when Lauren was 34.
"We just thought, when we were ready, the stars would align and everything would just happen," she says.
Dr. Lauren Powell is now a new mom after battling infertility for nearly two years.
Lauren, a family practice physician, stopped taking birth control.
"I thought I would give it a couple of months, and nothing really happened," Powell says. "I didn't get pregnant on my own. So, I started tracking things. And we were trying to have sex when you're supposed to, in that window."
Still nothing.
"You feel like, 'Something is wrong with me; I can't have a baby," she says.
Dr. Lauren Powell is now a new mom after battling infertility for nearly two years.
A fertility specialist found a couple of issues.
"I was getting older, and my (egg) count, while normal, was on the very low end of normal," Powell says. "My husband's sperm count, while okay, wasn't the greatest. So, we started with a procedure called an IUI, an intrauterine insemination, something that is less invasive than IVF, and less expensive than IVF."
The waiting, she says, was the hardest part.
"It's extremely stressful, because you do these procedures. and you think it's going to work, and then you wait, and wait, and wait," Powell says. "You just basically have to wait until you get your period, and that is the sign that it didn't work."
Dr. Lauren Powell is now a new mom after battling infertility for nearly two years.
They did not get pregnant on the first round of IUI, so they tried again.
"Something in me truly believed that this time was different," she remembers. "So, when it didn't happen, and I got my period, I was devastated, crying. So, that's when I decided to take a break."
A few months later, a patient told Dr. Powell about fertility specialist Dr. Desiree McCarthy-Keith, a reproductive endocrinologist and the medical director of Shady Grove Fertility, or SGF Atlanta.
Dr. McCarthy-Keith says about 1 in 8 couples struggle with infertility.
After talking over their options, the Powells decided to move on to in vitro fertilization, or IVF.
"We're basically taking that fertilization that happens naturally in the body, and we're taking that process into the laboratory," Dr. McCarthy-Keith explains. "Usually, most couples will be successful within their first 1 to 3 cycles of IVF."
But, first, the Powells had to figure out how to pay for IVF.
"Unfortunately, my insurance covered nothing," Lauren Powell says. "So, we had to pay everything out of pocket, including our medications, every ultrasound, everything was out of pocket. I mean, it was close to $30,000."
Dr. Lauren Powell and her husband Karl spent two years trying to get pregnant. (Lauren Powell )
She began by giving herself daily hormone injections for two weeks, to stimulate her ovaries to produce as many eggs as possible.
"Once the follicles appear to be ready, based on their size and how many days the woman has taken injections, we put the woman under anesthesia and pass a needle through the vagina into the ovaries," Dr. McCarthy-Keith explains. "And' while we're watching on ultrasound, we place the needle and extract each of the microscopic eggs that have formed from each follicle one at a time."
The eggs are then combined with sperm from the woman's partner or donor.
"So, we combine them in an incubator in a laboratory, and we can monitor as those eggs are fertilized and develop into embryos into lab," she says.
The Powells ended up with 4 healthy embryos.
"So, we implanted one, and we're extremely blessed and thankful we were successful," Lauren Powell says.
Dr. Lauren Powell is now a new mom after battling infertility for nearly two years.
Karl Franklin Powell, III, is now almost 6-months-old.
"It's been wonderful," Lauren Powell says. "I've been off work for 5 months. I've never not worked for this long in my entire life, I think since school. It's just been nice being here and being completely present with my baby."