Unexplained infertility story ~ Dr. Fiona Esfandiari
Dr. Fiona Esfandiari shares her personal fertility journey. She discusses her diagnosis of unexplained infertility, why she chose Dr. Sara Mucowski at Dallas IVF, her personalized treatment plan for unexplained infertility, and offers advice for women who are struggling to get pregnant. Dr. Esfandiari practiced at Northlake OBGYN in Frisco from 2017 – 2019. She has since relocated to Austin, TX.
“The advice that I would give is don’t be afraid and don’t wait too long… Do seek treatment.”
Video transcript
My name is Fiona Esfandiari. I am an obstetrician-gynecologist. I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility which can be, I think, one of the most frustrating diagnoses because there’s not a reason why. Being as though we’d already been through some of the treatment options, the next step for us that was recommended was in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Second opinions, new opportunities
My husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for about a year. I had been to a previous IVF facility close to where I live down in Dallas and had undergone treatment there, mostly intrauterine insemination (IUI) and some oral medication. That unfortunately was not successful, so I decided to seek a second opinion. I heard that at Dallas IVF they were very compassionate doctors, they have very good success rates with pregnancy and I also liked the proximity of location to where I live.
Dr. Mucowski is not only a wonderful person but a very skilled clinician. Immediately, when my husband and I met with her for our first consultation, we felt very relaxed. She explained everything very, very well. I love that she draws pictures the old-fashioned way and she’s not a bad artist either! Although, she’ll tell you to excuse her poor drawing skills. She explained the reasons behind my unexplained infertility, the options that we had, and then how to proceed.
Unexplained fertility meets it match
After our first consultation, we felt empowered again. We felt positive for the first time in several months. We underwent an egg retrieval in July of 2017 and elected to do a fresh embryo transfer. That unfortunately didn’t take, and I think that was really the main bump in our road because you got very excited about the prospect after a transfer and unfortunately that didn’t take.
So we got back on the horse and then did another transfer, which was frozen the next month. And we were very fortunate to become pregnant with that transfer.
The second time around when we had the frozen embryo transfer, we just had a better feeling about it. My husband was there with me, and we watched on the screen when Dr. Mucowski did the transfer. And we both joked that it looked like this little embryo had pretty much just bitten into my uterine wall and attached itself. So we had a pretty good feeling. I mean it might not be scientific but we had a great feeling about it.
So a couple days later when I got the phone call from one of the nurses with my results, I was actually at work and I did a 3-way phone conversation with my husband and she told us the results. We were both ecstatic.
Daniel decided to make his entrance a little early. He came at 37 weeks. I guess he was just ready. He was a big boy! He weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces. And since then he has been pretty early at everything. He’s just growing so quickly. He started sitting up around 6 months and now at 11 months he is pulling up and he’s starting to cruise along the furniture.
He’s standing by himself, so he’ll probably be walking before age one. He is a growing boy. He loves walks in the park, he loves swinging and he also loves chasing our dog.
Lessons learned and plans for the “Frosties”
The advice that I would give is don’t be afraid and don’t wait too long. If you’re less than age 35 and you’ve been trying for over a year, don’t just think, Okay, I’ll give it another six months, or, I’ll give it another eight months.
Do seek some treatment.
It doesn’t mean that you’re going to have to go straight to IVF. There’s a lot of different parts of the evaluation and then there’s a lot of different options out there that I think people don’t realize. So it’s important to know your fertility status and it’s also important just to go for general information.
We are doing great. As I said, my son is going to be 1 in April and we recently moved to Austin. So we are enjoying the hills and the outdoors there. We definitely miss it here up in Frisco but we are planning to try and have our second child. We are staying with Dr. Mucowski even though it’s a three-hour drive. She’s absolutely worth it to come up here. So we are looking forward to starting to try for our second child.
Luckily, we have three frozen eggs, which we affectionately refer to as our “Frosties.” So, we will be starting to undergo the medications and the injections and then have our fingers crossed for a successful frozen embryo transfer. And I’ll report back with that news!