"The Miracle of Family"
The Newell family and their little miracles, Parker and Alaina; Macomb, Michigan

“Precious. So precious. Special. Very, very special. Miracles. Two little miracles.”

These are the words you will hear my 80-year-old grandfather repeating each time he holds his great-grandchildren, Parker and Alaina. After suffering the slow decline of dementia for years, my grandfather remembers virtually nothing of his life. He spends most of his days sitting quietly, but when he first met Parker and Alaina, the family was surprised to see his joy as he held them. Because the babies seem to be the only thing that draws him out of his otherwise blank state, he now comes over weekly to hold them. My grandmother says it is only then that he is truly happy and living in real time.

Although my grandfather knows that these babies are miracles in the way that all children are, he is far past being able to understand the truly miraculous nature of their conception through IVF using Repronex. I love it when my grandfather comes over for “holding days,” not only because it gives me time to clean the house, but because as he meets them again and again for the first time it helps me to repeatedly appreciate the miracle of their birth.

The value of family, which my grandfather instilled in me as a child, was one of the forces that led my husband and I to pursue “extraordinary” measures to conceive a child. After 4 increasingly disheartening years of trying to conceive, we sought help from a nearby doctor. After more than a year of test after test with no explanation of results and no new direction, we were frustrated and gave up on that route to being exploring adoption.

We both have adopted cousins in our families and know the joy that it can bring, but as we investigated adoption further, we began to realize that there were no easy options. We had already grieved over the seeming impossibility of having children biologically related to us and then grieved again over the reality that, even with adoption, there were no guarantees. After tens of thousands of dollars and several more years of waiting, we might still be without the family we longed for so desperately. After months of struggling and indecision, we decided to begin the process of domestic adoption. We had completed paperwork, had our initial interviews, and were gearing up for a long wait, when a friend recommended that we see the doctor who has helped her after years of infertility.

Our first meeting with Dr. Maximovich was amazing and far different from our initial treatment experience. He thoroughly explained the results from our previous testing, outlined our options, then mapped a plan for treatment, which included just a few more tests. This meeting put us at ease and left us feeling optimistic.

At our next meeting with Dr. Max we received some potentially devastating news but somehow still left feeling hopeful. We found out that due to a sperm morphology problem, our chance of conceiving would not be the 20% monthly chance that the average couple enjoys, but just 1% over our lifetimes. Due to the nature of our problem, Dr. Max recommended that we move straight to IVF. While we could have opted for further genetic testing, based on the cost, he recommended making the first attempt at IVF. It would be our ultimate fertility test. While he was largely hopeful, he warned us that if the morphology problem had an underlying genetic cause, IVF might not work at all. However, based on my age and other factors, and barring a genetic issue, he thought we would have a great chance of success with a protocol using Repronex.

Our insurance did not cover IVF, and we have a modest income as teachers, so the financial commitment was major. Financially we could not pursue both IVF and adoption, and we struggled with the choice. In the end, our confidence in our doctor—and his confidence in the drug protocol and treatment plan he had outlined—led us to take the leap of faith and commit to IVF.

Our treatment began with injections of Repronex, and though the needles and possible pain involved worried me, I was surprised that mostly I felt excitement. I responded well to the medication and several eggs were retrieved. We then waited with great anticipation to find out if our eggs fertilized. We were delighted when most did and 2 healthy-looking embryos were selected for a day-3 transfer. By day 5, however, the many embryos remaining in the lab stopped growing. We feared the same for the 2 transferred. We worried that the problems had a genetic cause and that this IVF cycle, and any others in the future, would not be successful.

Although we tried to keep hope that the 2 transferred embryos had somehow beaten the odds, we had several dark, discouraged days. We wondered how we would afford another attempt at IVF or adoption fees, since we had spent our life savings on this first attempt. After the worrying and the seemingly endless wait after the transfer, words can’t describe how we felt at our first ultrasound when we saw 2 tiny hearts beating.

While there were some additional scares and trials, including 4 months of bed rest for preterm labor, our son Parker and our daughter Alaina arrived after 37 weeks of pregnancy, and as my grandfather repeats in awe, they are “so beautiful, so precious, so sweet.”

Parker and Alaina represent so many miracles: the miraculous minds of the scientists who develop drugs like Repronex, the amazing doctors who perform procedures like IVF, and the miracle that allows a sleeping child to bring joy and light to the darkened memory of an old man. Mostly, though, they represent the miracle of family—family that sustains us in our infancy, in our final years, and in every age in between.