FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Michele Flanagan & Family

Former patient, Michele Flanagan, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

My husband and I got married in 2007 and started our journey in life as a team. In 2007 never would I have imagined how much our little team of two would be challenged. My husband and I started trying to conceive a year after we were married.  After a year of disappointment (to put it mildly) we were at our wit's end. We have had enough of "just relax" and "just don't think about it". I reached out to a person I worked with and she told me about FCI and her success with IVF. I was very apprehensive because I didn't want to admit to myself that there really was something wrong.

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Christine Mendez & Family

Former patient, Christine Mendez, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

1. How did infertility affect your (and, if so, your partner's) life? Can you describe your story? I always knew that I would have trouble getting pregnant when the time came to try; I never had a regular period, since I was a teenager. But I always thought of it as a "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" type of issue. So, when my husband and I decided to start trying, we went to my OB/GYN for guidance. He knew my situation and put me on a Clomid cycle and suggested that we use a fertility monitor. Four Clomid cycles later, and after nearly a year of trying, he suggested that we go to see Dr. Uhler.
   

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Renee Cohen & Family

Former patient, Renee Cohen, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

It was about seven years ago my husband, Kevin, and I decided to start trying for a baby. We thought,
like many couples we knew, it would be so easy to start our family.

One month turned into six months, then a year.  It was very upsetting and frustrating that we had still not gotten pregnant.  My OB-GYN would finally see us and begin all the preliminary testing.  We had no real answers as to why we weren’t getting pregnant.  We did a few rounds of clomid and IUI’s with no success.  After 6 months of treatment, we decided it was time to move on and we asked our doctor to refer us to a fertility clinic.  Thankfully, she referred us to FCI.

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Michelle, Shaun & Evan Doherty!

Former patient,  Michelle Doherty, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

Infertility has affected every aspect of our lives. It has strengthened our relationship with each other,

grown our dependance and faith in God & shown us the amazing support system of family & friends in our lives.

Having children seems like something that should be so simple but for us it has been the hardest & most gut wrenching time of our lives. For us, it shook us to our core. It showed us who we really are and what is important in our lives. There were some devastating moments but for us those moments gave way to incredible joy and blessings.

We were lucky enough to have people in our lives that had also been down the road of infertility, their knowledge was invaluable and in both cases they recommended Fertility Centers of Illinois.

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Michelle Edmonds!

Former patient, Michelle Edmonds, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

Sitting here on the Eve of the Eve of my scheduled induction, I can tell you, writing this is so beyond   
filled with emotion, that I am not sure that any of us have the time to hear all of them!

I am a former patient of Dr. Brian Kaplan and by this weekend I will be meeting my son and daughter twins from donor eggs!  That is fully with thanks to the amazing staff, which has now become some of my dear friends! I will try my best to keep this short, as in the past two years, I truly cannot say enough about everything that has happened to me.  It’s all part of my story, the good bad and ugly.

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Katie Van Dorn & Family!

Former patient, Katie Van Dorn, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

My name is Katie Van Dorn, and my husband's name is Nate. We tried on our own for a baby for about 10 months before we met with Dr. Meike L. Uhler.

My periods were ranging from 24-41 days during the time we were trying naturally. I was diagnosed with a mild case of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), but my husband had no issues. In April of 2010, we began using clomid and IUIs. After 2 months of being unsuccessful, I used Gonal F instead of clomid (June 2012). My ovaries became overstimulated, so we had to cancel the cycle. In July and August I did clomid/IUI cycles again, and had a chemical pregnancy in August. Because of this, we were unable to do any treatments in September. In October and November I took a combination of clomid/metformin/Gonal F (smallest possible dose)/IUI.

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Bill & Katie O’Connor

Former patient, Katie O’Connor, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

My journey through infertility started with my husband, Bill, and I deciding we wanted to start our family, get off the pill, and ring in 2009 with a normal annual exam at my OBGYN. I learned I had a non-existent period which lead to going through preliminary testing, trying several rounds of hormonal meds to help "jump start" my period. With nothing working, I got referred to an infertility specialist, going through WAY more testing, getting diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), to even more rounds of hormonal meds, (more than I can count) blood works and ultrasounds, and again nothing working. 

Turning the corner in 2010, I finally I got my period started - after several failed IUI (the glamorous acronym for Intrauterine Insemination, previously known as Artificial Insemination) attempts, we had our first IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) attempt. This time around included more meds (you name it I was probably on it), shots (in my stomach and my behind), tons of monitoring appointments (blood work and ultrasound), periods of stress, sadness, pain, and general "why me?". 

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Karin Podolski

Former patient, Karin Podolski, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry - especially those going through single motherhood. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

The story of my journey begins a little over 10 years ago. It was then I had a dream – the same one that brings all patients to Fertility Centers of Illinois – the ultimate dream of starting a family. However, my story is a likely a little bit different than most…When I made that appointment, I had decided to take the plunge into single motherhood. It may sound cliché, but I always knew I wanted to be a mother – even as a small child I gravitated to playing a nurturing, motherly role.

As the ripe age of 30 loomed ahead, I knew the time was right.

FCI Past Patient Guest Blog: Julie Pelc Adler & Family

Former patient, Julie Pelc Adler, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.


It was December 2011 and we were still months away from what would become the date of our son’s conception. My husband and I were frustrated with our unexplained infertility and the years of fruitless attempts to conceive a child. I was beginning to lose hope.

I glanced around the office of our new doctor, searching for an object upon which to fix my ever-shifting gaze. Then I saw the stuffed animal stork nestled on the doctor’s bookshelf.

“Really?” I asked him, rhetorically.
“Really.” He replied.

Past FCI Patient Guest Blog: Rachael Kobleske & Family

Former patient, Rachael Kobleske, wrote in her own words about her journey to motherhood with Fertility Centers of Illinois. She wanted to share her experiences so that they could help anyone who might be going through the same struggles, pain and worry. Read on to experience her journey through her eyes.

FCI Gave Me Hope - by Rachael Kobleske

Jon, Rachael, Sophia (left) & Chloe (right)

Seven years ago my husband and I decided we wanted to have children. Me being the naive person I was back then just thought that we would actually "try" to get pregnant now, instead of preventing it, and things would work out right away. After all, my mother told me over and over that unprotected sex leads to unexpected pregnancy! I had NO clue what sort of journey I was in for.

After a year of trying to conceive without success and then a miscarriage I started to worry that I would never get pregnant and kept wondering "What is wrong with me???".