Sheena Rowland is featured on the TRM billboard (seen here) and other advertising.

Meet "TRM Mom" Sheena Rowland!

When we talk about “a different approach to infertility,” it’s more than a slogan. It’s about personalized care that meets each individual’s specific needs.

Sheena’s Story
I come from a large Chattanooga family and had always imagined I would have children by the time I was 26.  I met my husband when we were 18; we fell in love, and we got married in college. I’m very goal oriented, a bit of a “control freak,” and had planned to wait a year to have children. But after that, we were ready to start our family, and I visited my gynecologist a year later because I wanted to know why we hadn’t conceived.

My OB/GYN told me that I was young and that I just needed to give it time. But it was hard to be patient. My husband wasn’t all that worried, but I freaked out a little more and more every day. At the end of the second year, I went back to the gynecologist for testing and started my long dive into the world of infertility.

I was referred to another fertility group, where they told me that everything looked fine and that they wanted to try Clomid with IUI [intrauterine insemination]. Six weeks later, I miscarried, and nothing seemed to go right from that point on. There was no testing, no blood work, and it wasn’t personable. Other than my first visit, I never saw a doctor.

I really wanted to talk to the doctor because I wanted to understand what was going on. Instead, I became part of a process, completing four more IUIs with nurse practitioners, who seemed so distant.

After so many failed IUIs, I finally did get to talk to a doctor, but all the doctor told me was that I needed in vitro fertilization (IVF). The doctor didn't’t explain why and didn’t help me understand the missing pieces to the puzzle. At that point, I realized that I had to take time off. I needed a break.

I was emotionally shot, physically exhausted, and tired of the medicine and surgeries. It was hard to work; it was hard to talk to my family; and, if you really want to test a marriage, try infertility. It completely tries your patience. You feel like using each other as punching bags, and there were times when it felt like we were done.

I was thinking, “I’m 26 and I never will have children,” and I would go home and cry and cry and cry.

But my husband would not give up. He said, “If you want to experience pregnancy, we’ll do whatever it takes.” So after a year of waiting, we decided to try again.

I went to another doctor, who used laparoscopic surgery to remove a polyp and examined three minimal areas of endometriosis, hoping to identify anything that might hinder conception. We tried other doctors and, over time, learned that I could get pregnant. But I miscarried, over and over, and, after multiple D&Cs (dilation and curettage), my uterus was shot.

But then I found Tennessee Reproductive Medicine.

I noticed a TRM billboard and decided to drive over without an appointment. I just walked in, and all of the details poured out. I talked about the miscarriages, I talked about the desperation, and 45 minutes had passed before I learned that I had been talking to Dr. Rink Murray.

That was the just the beginning. TRM took the necessary time to invest in the relationship, to really listen, and to figure out what was going on.

It took lots of testing. We learned that I had a relatively common clotting condition. And rebuilding my uterus required unusual, cutting-edge drug regiments (see sidebar about Sheena's medical story).

It really was a lot of work, and there were times when I felt like the most difficult fertility patient in the world. But Dr. Murray and Dr. Scotchie continued to give me the pep talks I needed to keep from going crazy. They helped me understand that undergoing multiple IUI and IVF procedures is emotionally similar to multiple deaths in a family, and they provided the emotional support I needed to keep trying.

By the fall of 2010, we had been trying to get pregnant for nearly six years. My uterine lining was strong, and we were ready to try another IUI. In October, I met with an infertility prayer group, and we prayed for the best, hoping for my miracle.

And that’s when it happened! Four embryos implanted and I just about had a heart attack. Who expected four embryos with IUI?

Four became three and three became two, naturally. However, 33 weeks later, my twin girls, Presley Nichole and Kensley Sophia, were born! Perfectly healthy, dark-haired, blue-eyed babies.

Of course, they are wonderful. Presley is my little chunky… docile, calm, she loves to eat and sleep. And Kensley is my wild child. She moans and groans and carries on. She doesn’t like to sleep, and somehow she lets Presley get on her nerves.

But that’s OK, because we’re happy. All I want to do is hold them, and the most exciting part is just knowing that they are here. There’s no more waiting.

So becoming the Tennessee Reproductive Medicine model for the “A Different Approach to Infertility” campaign was just the icing on the cake for us. TRM is already part of the family. They came to the baby shower. I run a hair salon and cut their hair. They really have changed our lives in many ways other than children!

TRM went way above and beyond anything else I experienced, and they changed the way I think about medical care. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I want other infertility patients to understand that this level of care is available in Chattanooga.

So it’s easy to sum up our fertility story. Tennessee Reproductive Medicine has been so good to us, I want my friends and everyone else to know, and I am really, really happy to share our success story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have asked TRM patients to share what “a different approach to infertility” means to them. Sheena agreed to be our first patient to share her story in a new section on the website called “My TRM Experience.” We hope that current, future, and past patients will take comfort and find community in the stories of others who walked their path with Tennessee Reproductive Medicine.

Contact TRM 
to learn how “A Different Approach to Infertility” could change your life...