Alisons and Mark:

"Mark and I are originally from New York, but we had moved to Palo Alto in 1999 and it was there we started our journey with infertility – which lasted almost three years. When I was 36 and about to turn 37, after 6 months of trying to conceive “naturally” with no results, our Ob-Gyn encouraged us to see a fertility specialist. We first went to a fertility doctor at Stanford University who started me off on Clomid. After two rounds accompanied by IUI, he suggested going to IVF. We did 4 rounds total: 1 fresh round, 3 frozen with no luck. He then suggested a laparoscopy to clear out any endometriosis I might have had. My eggs all looked good, and Mark’s sperm was borderline. So there didn’t seem to be any clear-cut problem for my difficulty in conceiving. Our doctor then encouraged us to try a different fertility specialist in Daly City. He said that it wasn’t always the doctor who made it happen, but really getting pregnant was like playing roulette: the more you attempted the better your odds were.

The doctor in Daly City had a completely different approach to infertility and believed everything was tied to immunity. So we went through a battery of blood tests and I was put on more meds, including Lovenox injections (a blood thinner). We did 2 fresh rounds and then 2 more frozen rounds. He was a believer in progesterone injections, along with the normal stimulant injections, so his protocol was very rigorous. Each time, my eggs looked stellar. In fact, during my second fresh attempt, we did PGD – a biopsy of the eggs to see which were viable. Out of 89 eggs, 6 were viable – which was a very high average. Still, I did not conceive. He termed me as having “unexplainable infertility” and suggested we consider using a surrogate to carry eggs and use Mark’s sperm.

We proceeded by looking into surrogacy and found a center in Los Angeles that we could work with. While we got that into motion, we went back to New York in October 2004 for my brother’s wedding. Dr. Sami David’s name had been mentioned to me many times over the previous 2 years, especially by my original Ob Gyn from New York. But since we lived in CA, I stuck with CA doctors. I also had a close friend who recommended him highly. She had also gone through 8 IVF’s and felt that Dr. David had a different approach than her doctors. So knowing I was headed to New York in October of 2004, I made an appointment to see him. I sent all my records ahead as instructed – which was about 300 pages worth of background and information.

When we got there, the friendliest staff of nurses greeted us. Dr. David, himself, was warm, personable and kind. But what really amazed us was that my records were sitting right on his desk with about 50 little post-it notes sticking out from various places. He had gone through my records with a fine-tooth comb and marked anything and everything he thought could be significant. Dr. David evaluates the patient and her spouse as a whole: their lifestyle, their personalities, their habits, their daily stresses and he thinks “out of the box.” He is like a detective – searching for that bit of information that may not jive with what the medical records are indicating.

For Mark and I , he flagged 3 items of interest: 1) Mark had e-coli in his sperm, 2) my uterine lining had an issue, and 3) my Prolactin level was higher than normal for the past year. So he immediately had us follow up on all three issues. We took blood tests that day and went on antibiotics for possible e-coli infection. I came back the next day for a biopsy of my uterine lining (which he performed in the office). And finally, he sent me for a MRI since a high Prolactin level is an indicator of a Prolactinoma, a pituitary tumor. A high Prolactin level means your body is mimicking lactation (breastfeeding) and it would be impossible to get pregnant that way.

Sure enough, the MRI came back the next day showing I had a small, benign, pituitary tumor. Dr. David was thrilled because he knew just how to treat this. He put me on my special medication and told me that next month I should try one more IUI (he said any Doctor would be fine to perform the IUI) and that if that didn’t work, then do one more IVF. He said we would be pregnant in 3 months. He said that we should not move ahead with surrogacy yet because he felt very strongly that I could have my own child. While we were very ecouraged by what he had found, to be honest, we were very skeptical when he said we would be pregnant within 3 months. We had gone through so many procedures where everything looked “stellar,” and still no one could figure out what was wrong with us. And of course, my Daly City doctor disagreed with Dr. David’s analysis of the high Prolactin level saying that had nothing to do with my problems.

Nonetheless, we went back to CA and did an IUI in November with our Stanford Doctor. That did not work. So we moved forward with the Surrogacy center – feeling exhausted and disheartened. Our Daly City doctor said we should go straight to surrogacy, and since he was the only doctor in the area who could actually DO surrogacy procedures, we felt we needed to listen to him. We also didn’t want to anger him since we felt that he held all the power. But at the end of December, Mark said to me, “I will move ahead with surrogacy if you try one more IVF in January.” I was very torn. If this round didn’t work, and it would be my 9th IVF, then I would also have to do another round for the surrogate, once they found her. But Mark felt strongly that we should try one more round in light of what Dr. David had said.

In early January we told m y Daly City doctor that we were definitely planning on doing surrogacy through his center but that we wanted to do one more IVF before then, while we waited for a Surrogate mother to be found. He was very disapproving and told me that he had no faith in my uterus, but he agreed nonetheless. To be candid, he was going to make another $11,000 – and we felt that this was his motivation in accepting this last minute round. I balked at doing the progesterone injections and left those out of his usual protocol. And I felt very negative, in general, as this doctor was so discouraging.

On January 21st I got the Call that I was pregnant! It was exactly 3 months after we had seen Dr. Sami David. He had said do one more IUI and then one more IVF – and that is exactly what we did! He had been right! I WAS able to get pregnant and our little son, Logan Alan was born on September 28th 2005. We never had to move on to surrogacy. And we got to experience the joy of being pregnant. After Logan was born Dr. David encouraged me to get another MRI and the results showed that my tumor had shrunk and was gone. And then, as if that wasn’t enough of a miracle, when Logan was 6 months old, I found out that I was pregnant again! This was a completely natural conception and a total, wonderful surprise! So Logan’s little brother is due on January 22nd 2007.

To say we are grateful to Dr. David would be a gross understatement. Not only was he kind and encouraging when many other doctors made us feel that there was nothing to do – but also he had a unique approach that we had never seen before. He was determined to figure out what it was that was preventing me from conceiving – and he succeeded where no one else did. His staff was unbelievable: kind, efficient, available and completely involved in our progress even though we lived in CA.

I would say that seeing and meeting Dr. David was the turning point in what had become a very difficult ordeal. He radiates warmth and optimism and is that rare person who makes you feel better for just having been in his presence. Whether we had succeeded in getting pregnant or not, we would have still felt our visit with Dr. David was well spent. He gave us hope, he gave us answers, and he made us feel that we could attain our dreams."