Campaign Story

My name is Lily Barnett. My wonderful husband is Dale Barnett. We’ve been married almost 4 years now. The last 2 years we have been trying to start a family. Just short of a year, I decided to go see my obgyn here in Lex to see what was going on. I just felt that something wasn’t right. It was like my body was telling me “I’m struggling to get pregnant, help me.” So, I listened. During that visit, I found out I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). PCOS is a hormonal disorder causing enlarged ovaries with small cysts on the outer edges. I had some of the symptoms for PCOS but they had really been hidden through taking birth control over the years and acne medications (I struggle with cystic acne). My obgyn prescribed me Letrozole and sent me on my way. She was convinced that it would get me pregnant. We kind of felt like we were just a number to her but we just tried the medication for about 3 months and then, nothing. I did not wait for a referral to go see my specialist because I felt like I was the one who needed to advocate for my body. I just took control. So I had a couple recommendations from some friends about my fertility clinic, Institute for Reproductive Health. I did the necessary paperwork to become a new patient and one of their appointments coordinators reached out and by the grace of god, they had a cancellation and an opening that same week. So, we hoped in the truck and headed to Louisville, KY, which is about an hour away from where we live. Their main office is based out of Cincinnati, Ohio but they have one in Louisville, Florence and West Chester. We had a consult with our new doctor. He got all our information and we explained our frustrations and struggles and he had a plan. We felt so much better after than visit because we felt like someone was finally listening to us. Unfortunately, what we thought would work for us has not. We’ve done 4 IUI’s (Intrauterine insemination) which is where they took my husbands sperm, washed it out (getting dead ones out of the way) and inseminating the healthy ones into my uterus. After the 2nd IUI, I also had a tubal flush which is where they flush my fallopian tubes out to make sure there aren’t any blockages. That was extremely painful. So after the 4th IUI didn’t work, we had another phone consult with our doctor to discuss what’s next. We were told that IVF would be our best option. It’s scary to me that I’m even writing this because I never thought I would be in this situation. When I was younger and even right before we really started trying on our own, I thought I would get pregnant so quickly. I mean your grown up, you marry someone, you buy a house and then you have babies to put in your house. I thought it would happen like clock work for us. I’ve come to terms with the fact that, that isn’t our story and that’s okay. I know a lot of people struggle out there. To end my long story (sorry!) I’m fundraising for myself, my future baby, my husband, my family (the future aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpa). It’s important to me because I know I will make a good mom and my husband deserves to be a dad. We want to create something that is ours but also our families. I want my mom and dad to be grandparents and I want to give my mother-n-law a grand-baby. But I really want it for my husband and I. I know we will be great at it because we are great together and we make the best team. And if we can just add one more to our team, we will be complete.