Grace & Elise

My wife Elise and I met when we were 22, fresh out of college and newly living on our own in Atlanta. We got married in 2020 and started talking about when to start our family shortly after. Grace was ready to start, but Elise wanted to enjoy some time of marriage before beginning the process. We agreed to just have a consultation to see what the process might be like, which we had in December of 2020. We didn’t decide to fully dive into the process until July 2021, starting early as we knew reaching our goal of a family could take a few years and a large financial burden. We had friends who got pregnant quickly through fertility treatments, but that did not end up being the case for us. Looking back now, we are glad we started early because it took us 2.5 years before we got our little girl! 

Finding family-building care at SGF Atlanta

We were recommended to Shady Grove through a LGBTQ+ Fertility Facebook group and appreciated that although you have one doctor assigned to you, you would get exposure to all of the doctors at the clinic. This was a plus for us as we knew that there would be a combined effort to reach our end goal of having our daughter.

Highs and lows

Once we had our first REAL appointment with Dr. Libby in July of 2021, our next 2.5 years would be a mix of highs and lows. We would go through numerous genetic tests, appointments, shots, 1 egg retrieval, 3 IUI cycles, 4 rounds of IVF, and 1 miscarriage. We started the process keeping it between us as we knew our community of friends would be thrilled for us. After several disappointing rounds, we began to speak out about it more and found immense support from our friends, who knew how hard we had been trying but were unsuccessful. 

Love and care

Even at our most difficult times, the entire SGF team would treat us with the most love and care. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how touched we were by the staff at SGF during the appointment where we found out our first pregnancy would end in a miscarriage. Dr Brahma was so sweet to us, gave us both a hug as she could tell we were crushed, and let us out the back door so we could leave the office unseen. We were so grateful for that experience with her during the difficult time.

Healthy baby girl

Through these difficult moments, we still felt confident that Dr. Libby and Lexi were not going to give up on us and we all were still set on our common goal. Dr. Libby would review the medications for every cycle, trying something new until we eventually reached the perfect embryo/medication strategy give us a healthy baby girl. Collier Evan was born on January 18th, 2024 and has been the best addition to our family. All the treatments have been worth it and we owe it all to our medical team for sticking by us and not giving up! We are thrilled to still have embryos at SGF and are looking forward to expanding our family more when the time is right.

Keep going

To future patients – keep going! The journey can be tough but know that you are in the best hands at SGF. Lean on your community/support system and don’t give up!