20. Infertility and Surrogacy with Sydnee Miller

My guest is Sydnee Miller. Sydnee is a TV Set Decorator in Los Angeles. She moved to Los Angeles from Arizona in search of a new start after receiving inpatient treatment for an eating disorder in 2008. She completed her education at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and began dating the man who would become her husband. When they got engaged in 2012, Sydnee immediately went off of birth control in preparation for pregnancy, which she hoped to achieve a year later. Her period never returned, and after a year of waiting, she decided to see a reproductive endocrinologist. She completed 3 rounds of IUI’s and 3 rounds of IVF, only to find heartbreak and disappointment at the end of each one. She miscarried two of those rounds, and unfortunately the others never resulted in a pregnancy. Her first stimulation for retrival resulted in a dangerous hyper-stimulation situation and the RE retrieved 91 eggs! In July of 2016, Sydnee and her husband decided to give up trying and pursue adoption. This is when her older sister offered to be their surrogate. After much deliberation, paperwork, and therapy, Sydnee accepted her sister's offer, and her beloved son Liam was born about 1 year later. Her period has still never returned, 7 years after coming off birth control. Sydnee shares her reproductive story and what she found helpful while trying to conceive.