Alexis and Austin

 ”We are Austin and Alexis Ehrat from Memphis, TN. We married in 2017 and have been battling infertility for a little over 2.5 years now. After a year of trying, we were referred to Dr.Ke at Fertility Associates of Memphis and haven fallen in the category of unexplained infertility. We knew we immediately wanted to do whatever it would take to try and increase our chances so we jumped right into testing and went on our way to starting IUI. 

Everything came back good on our test results for both of us so we were cleared in that part. Unfortunately, after 3 failed IUI attempts (not to mention, 1 on thanksgiving day and another on Christmas day) we decided to hang it up due to only having a low chance of it working for us anyway to moving on straight to IVF. I couldn’t believe we were actually on our way to starting IVF (something I couldn’t even wrap my head around or accept the fact that this was going to be our chance at having a baby hopefully) 

I accepted it pretty quickly and was ready to move on to battle (how my husband describes it ha) We had our first egg retrieval in March right before they shut down for Covid, praise the Lord and we were successful with many embryos. We were able to do our first transfer in June and at first were successful (on my birthday) but unfortunately had a missed miscarriage and found out at our 9.5 week appointment that we lost our baby. Did I mention we don’t have good luck when it comes to holidays and fertility treatments haha?

IVF is one hell of a journey in itself but then you throw miscarriage in with it and it has been one of the hardest journeys of our life.  You want something so bad that you will pay an arm and leg to make it happen but ultimately we have come to realize that no matter how much we do at the end of day it is Gods will not ours. That is something that I have learned in this journey is that usually when you want something in life you can make it happen some day some how but wanting a baby so bad is ultimately out of our control. I didn’t think I would make it past the miscarriage to be honest. My heart hurt like it has never hurt before and in the words of Lysa Turkheurst I truly felt as if I had licked the floor of hell that day. Everything we had worked so hard for and put our faith and trust in was taken from us to soon & that everything is something that I don’t get to understand now but one day will. 

Still to this day after consults, testing, IUI, IVF and prep for transfer #2, we have had zero insurance coverage for infertility as it has been all out of pocket expense. 

Thankfully God pulled us up and out of that slump so that we could go back to battle and prepare for our transfer #2. We are in the process of going through our next round so please keep our anxious hearts in your prayers. 

One piece of advice I would give to someone else going through infertility is to advocate for yourself as a patient. I have learned that through my failed trials after taking notes and documenting what has worked and what hasn’t worked for me that you must speak up for yourself. We have a passion for infertility and I know many of you out there are struggling so if you need someone to talk to or just to listen please don’t hesitate to reach out. My biggest prayer for being faced with this journey is that it would help just one person along the way and if it helps more than one that’s wonderful too.  This suffering is meaningful and just remember your journey your story and your struggle is meaningful, it is not meaningless. 

Thankful is an understatement to be able to work alongside the TN Fertility Advocates.”