After disappointment & doubts at her first fertility clinic, she found clear answers and pregnancy at TRM
Cindy and her husband, Brandon, had high hopes of overcoming the problems they’d been having conceiving for almost eight years when they decided to go to a fertility clinic in Middle Tennessee, not too far from their home in Smyrna. Before that she tried intrauterine insemination (IUI) and ovulation induction at different OB-GYNs.
Dr. Kelly Williams (now her current OB-GYN), said she probably had PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and recommended she try Tennessee Reproductive Medicine. “He said it was a good clinic, but it’s a two-hour drive from where we live,” says Cindy. “So we looked around, checked out reviews and decided to go to a clinic that’s closer to us.”
Another IUI, then a turn to IVF and egg retrieval
Things started out well and inviting. Their new fertility doctor said Cindy didn’t have PCOS, “all my testing was good, and they diagnosed me with unexplained infertility.” They tried IUI again … it didn’t work. The plan was to move to IVF (in vitro fertilization), and they did an egg retrieval in November of 2021 that yielded seven eggs.
“They said the eggs were good. But they didn’t think there were enough of them and didn’t want to try fertilization,” Cindy recalls, adding they wanted to do another retrieval. “I trusted them. But I felt so broken inside.”
Doubts about another egg retrieval
Waiting around for blood work in the clinic, she heard other women talking about having multiple retrievals. One woman was on her ninth egg retrieval, another was on her fifth, making Cindy wonder about the additional retrieval she was going into.
“Egg retrieval is the hardest part of IVF for me,” says Cindy, noting that her ovaries grew as large as an orange. “I had doubts, but when you want to have a child so bad, you want to do it again.” So, despite feeling uncomfortable from a swollen belly and pain, she did the second retrieval in April of 2022.
From over the moon to down and out with ectopic pregnancy
They retrieved 20 eggs, and she and Brandon felt over the moon with success. They had 18 embryos at first after fertilization but only 13 grew to the blastocyst stage. They did preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) on them. This showed that only two embryos were evaluated as healthy with two more having indeterminate results.
The reason given for the poor health of the embryos was that Brandon had poor sperm morphology, likely due to being a smoker. Cindy wasn’t so sure, because they had done preconception genetic testing, she was still in her twenties, and Brandon had a daughter from a previous marriage.
The couple was experiencing the rollercoaster effect of being up and down from good news to bad, but decided to move forward and implant one of the two healthy embryos. It resulted in an ectopic pregnancy. After consulting with her OB-GYN Dr. Williams who confirmed that diagnosis, she and Brandon decided to end the pregnancy at the fertility clinic with methotrexate.
Ready to quit fertility treatment, until she saw God’s promise rainbow
At this point, Cindy and Brandon had grave doubts about moving forward with treatment. During the waiting period before they could try again – and not sure that they even would – Cindy said she had never felt so alone in the entire process.
Then she had a religious experience. She had been praying a lot but not feeling God was listening. Then sitting on her porch one very hot day, she suddenly saw a rainbow in her yard.
“I thought I was going crazy and I walked outside. It was raining just on top of my house, but there weren’t any clouds,” Cindy recalls. “I took that rainbow as tranquility and a sign from God, saying that everything was going to be ok.”
She got her mother to come out to make sure she wasn’t crazy, and her mom also saw the rainbow.
“That day I felt God’s presence very close. In the Bible the rainbow is a symbol of promise,” she says.
“Maybe he was telling me that something is going to happen in the future and that I should wait. It was one of the most special things that ever happened to me. Every time I think about it, I just cry because of how significant it was to me.” – Cindy
Embryo implantation setback and a long wait
Her faith was tested right away: The second embryo implantation did not work. After these setbacks, they worried their concerns were not being heard and lost trust in the process. They took a year off trying to get pregnant and to find answers from doctors, save some money and get in the healthiest shape they could for another try at an IVF pregnancy. All the while Cindy said her mind kept going back to TRM.
Brandon saw a urologist who said his sperm had no morphology problems. An OB-GYN Cindy was doing an internship with as a nurse practitioner in training did testing and ultrasounds on her (for free), finding that she was ovulating fine but did have PCOS, which may have contributed to the higher egg count and ovarian swelling she felt in the previous stimulations for egg retrievals.
She made friends with a coworker who also had unexplained infertility and had gotten pregnant at TRM, twice. A friend’s relative also had success there. Both women spoke highly of the Chattanooga clinic. “I was hearing it from real people, not just Google reviews,” says Cindy.
Related reading: Unexplained Infertility Meets its Match
Restarting fertility testing and fertility treatment at TRM
In August 2024 she and Brandon had their first appointment with Dr. Jessica Scotchie at TRM. They related their experience at the other clinic, which Brandon had strong opinions on. Dr. Scotchie listened to their concerns and recommended they get started again with some fertility tests.
“At TRM, the first thing they did was give me answers as to why my other transfers failed. What I liked about TRM was they are very up front,” Cindy explains. “Dr. Scotchie was very clear and up front with me. All through the clinic on the pricing, they told me about all costs up front and nothing was hidden. There was never a surprise. At the other place, I always had surprises on costs.”
Silent endometriosis slows them down
Dr. Scotchie ran an endometrial receptivity test to try to learn why Cindy had the implantation failures. The result was a diagnosis of silent endometriosis, a form of endometriosis that has no noticeable symptoms to the patient. They treated it with medication – the medication Lupron that Cindy and her husband procured for free through a patient assistance program from the AbbVie pharmaceutical company that would have cost $1,000 per injection.
Related reading: Diagnosing and treating endometriosis
Using the Lucky 7 eggs from Cindy’s very first egg retrieval
During this time while the silent endometriosis was being treated, the couple transferred their remaining seven frozen eggs and two embryos of undetermined health from the other IVF clinic to TRM’s cryopreservation care. Cindy told Dr. Scotchie that if she had to do another egg retrieval, she would.
“But we didn’t need to go through another retrieval. For the first time I didn’t have unexplained infertility. I had answers.” – Cindy
After Dr. Scotchie and the TRM embryologist evaluated the seven eggs, they both agreed that they would use those for potential IVF embryos. “Those became what I call my Lucky 7,” says Cindy.
The Lucky 7 eggs became five embryos, with two surviving growth to the blastocyst stage – the 5th day. Because of Cindy’s history and particular situation, Dr. Scotchie suggested implanting both embryos, which TRM and other clinics usually try to avoid to decrease the risks and complications of a multiple pregnancy (twins or more).
Related reading: The first act of motherhood: single embryo transfer
“I loved the idea and it never crossed my mind that both would make it. But for the first time, my body felt right.” – Cindy
Both embryos implanted, surprising everyone. Cindy was pregnant with twins – checking herself daily with home pregnancy tests even though she was told to wait (“most women do the home tests,” Cindy says). TRM confirmed her pregnancy later, and her expected delivery date, by C-section, is near Thanksgiving 2025.
Helping people
Cindy and Brandon, who owns a small business, know that businesses, including fertility clinics, have to make money. But they felt that their first clinic was too money-driven. Cindy felt she was a dollar sign to them.
“But there are those in business out there like TRM who are driven to help people. The people at TRM are making dreams come true. They’re really helping a lot of women. I was hopeless and they helped me.”
Expert Treatment. Total Commitment. TRM.
At Tennessee Reproductive Medicine, you’ll find a team of professionals dedicated to delivering the highest quality of compassionate fertility care.