I knew my biological clock was ticking and I didn’t have much time left to complete our family.

In 2004, Brandon and I met each other on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend. Five years later, Brandon, my daughter Hillary, and I would become a family during a snow-filled wedding in the beautiful state of North Carolina.

We immediately started plans for our new home, which would of course welcome a baby. I was already almost 38 years old, so I knew that my biological clock was ticking quite quickly. Shortly after we were married, we decided that we were ready to make our family complete and give Hillary a sibling. After three months of trying to conceive, we became worried. We immediately sought out help from my gynecologist. He suggested that we relax and revisit him in three months. By now the year was halfway over, and I knew I was getting closer and closer to the 40 year-old mark, which would make getting pregnant even more complicated because of my advanced maternal age.

When we returned for our next visit, the doctor decided to run a few tests on Brandon. It was discovered that he suffered from not only a low sperm count, but also low motility. We decided that we would try getting pregnant with the help of an IUI procedure. After the second failed IUI, we went to see a local urologist. He suggested we go to Houston to see if he had other issues we just hadn’t discovered yet. We had just completed our third round of IUI, so we were hoping our trip would not be necessary. However, the doctor in Houston told us there was no way that procedure would be successful, and our only hope for a baby would be IVF. We were completely devastated!

However, he told us that there were several clinics in Louisiana, and he would help us to search for one. In a matter of minutes, we discovered we had a clinic only 30 miles away from our home. We had no idea that Fertility Answers even existed! As soon as we left the Houston office, we called Dr. Storment’s office and were happily informed that he could see us shortly after the new year, 2011.

Fertility Answers and Dr. Storment made us feel like family.

As soon as we entered the office, we were welcomed with open arms and made to feel so welcome. Dr. Storment was the ray of sunshine that we needed. He explained everything that we needed to know about IVF and told us that we were definitely candidates for this procedure. It was determined that Brandon suffered from a condition known as unknown male infertility.

We completed our first fresh cycle in March of 2011 and were super excited to find out we were finally pregnant! However, half way through the pregnancy our precious baby boy, Quint, was born sleeping. We received much comfort and support from Dr. Storment and his staff during this difficult time.

We decided to complete another fresh IVF cycle at the end of 2011. A few weeks after my initial bloodwork that confirmed we were pregnant again, I experienced some pain and just odd feelings. I immediately called Suzanne, our IVF coordinator at Fertility Answers, and she told me to go in right away so that we could check things out. An ultrasound was done, and I found out that I was having TWINS! I didn’t know what to think. I was stunned, and my husband was miles away on a hunting trip. Dr. Storment and Suzanne, being proactive as they are, gave me a pep talk which included what to expect and what kind of diet I should follow. I was so afraid of experiencing loss again and even more fearful of taking care of two babies. They really helped to ease my mind.

Although I was on bed rest for quite some time, Quinn and Grayson were born in June 2012 at 32 weeks, just three months after I turned the big 4-0. They spent some time in the NICU but just as feeders and growers.

IVF was the right answer for us.

Our journey to complete our family had many rocky moments. However, we would have never changed our mind to pursue IVF. We were so fortunate to have a clinic so close to our home. The staff at the clinic were so awesome! Through the death of our first son, we learned to appreciate even more the miracle of life. We are so grateful to Dr. Storment and the entire staff for the encouragement, love, and patience given to us during this stressful time in our lives. We will always be thankful to God and Dr. Storment for helping us beat the infertility battle and giving us these precious gifts.

Brandon and Cherie