CINCINNATI — April 23-29 is National Infertility Awareness Week, a chance to shed light on the one in six women who the CDC says struggles to get pregnant.
Catherine Abrams always dreamt of having children and couldn’t wait to start a family with her husband.
“My husband and I have tried to get pregnant for a couple of months, but for some kind of reason, I had some kind of gut instinct that maybe something was wrong,” said Abrams.
She was right. At the age of 33, a fertility specialist diagnosed her with low Anti-Mullerian Hormone, meaning her egg sac count was low.
She tried a couple rounds of intrauterine insemination, or IUI, a process where sperm is artificially inseminated. But that was unsuccessful as well.
“You kind of get a high when your cycle begins,” she said. “You’re full of hope. Then you have a failed cycle and it’s earth-shattering.”
But then a miracle happened. She became pregnant after the third round of IUI. Nine months later, she gave birth to her first son, Elijah.
“We were very happy at that point that we didn’t have to go through IVF. That was one of the best moments in my entire life,” she said.
But it didn’t stop there. She and her husband tried for a second child and were unsuccessful at first.
“We struggled with that round, so we did three of the IUIs and then jumped to IVF,” she said.
After the first round of In Vitro Fertilization, they successfully had their second son, Nolan. And Abrams is currently expecting her third child; a girl.
She says her journey was not easy, but was well worth it.
“It’s a medical condition, and it happens to one in six women and it’s not something to be ashamed of,” she said. “And there’s a whole community out there of people to support you.”
