Some people remind you 'Why you don't stop'

By Dr. Avanthi Vellala

I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while. Honestly, this couple is part of the reason I started writing blogs.

She was 26. PCOS. Came to me after a year of trying . We did three IUI cycles. Nothing. So we moved to IVF.

The stimulation went beautifully. Ten blastocysts. We froze the six best. Transferred two good quality ones. The UPT came back positive. Good beta HCG. We were all cautiously hopeful.

Two weeks later, the scan showed no heartbeat.

We waited a week. Repeated the scan. Still no heartbeat.

The pregnancy was terminated.

I’d noticed something about this couple from the beginning. In all the time they’d been coming to me, I had never once seen their parents in the OPD. No family. No support system sitting in the waiting area. Just the two of them — both in IT jobs, managing work and treatment and all the weight that comes with it, entirely on their own.

So when her husband broke down in my consultation room after the repeat scan, asking me if there was no chance at all ? something in me broke a little too.

That’s the only way I know how to describe it. It quenched my heart.

We did a frozen thawed biopsy of two embryos. One came back PGT normal. We transferred that euploid embryo.

It failed.

What do you say at that point? I told them to take a break. I spoke about more advanced testing like ruling out micro abnormalities, alloimmune factors. I gave them the information they needed for the next step.

They came back and asked if we could do an IUI.

Not because they thought it would work. They needed time to arrange finances for the next round of treatment.

I want to pause on that for a second. This girl who had been through three failed IUIs, a miscarriage after IVF, a failed PGT euploid transfer, had never once in front of me complained about the physical exhaustion or the emotional toll. Not once. And here she was, not asking for answers, not asking why. Just asking for time to sort her finances so she could keep going.

I said yes immediately.

We started the IUI cycle right after the failed transfer. No additional testing. Nothing elaborate. She wanted her scans done only by me not by another doctor. I don’t take that kind of trust lightly.

And I did my best.

We did a double IUI. I gave her all the support medication I’d give in a full IVF cycle because I badly wanted this to continue. I monitored her every two weeks. Every scan, I felt a quiet sigh of relief when things looked okay.

It worked.

I referred her when the time came. She should be in her last trimester now.

I’m waiting for the day I hear the news. This couple who carried everything alone, asked for nothing they couldn’t handle, and kept showing up — they deserve it more than I can say.

Somewhere between the failed transfers and the IUI that finally worked, this couple quietly reminded me of something I thought I already knew — that you keep going. Not because the odds are in your favour. But because sometimes, the next try is the one that changes everything