From Infertility to Innovation

The IVF Rollercoaster

Annie and Gene felt confident in their ability to handle the medical aspects of IVF. As pharmacists, they weren’t new to administering injections and were already familiar with the medications used during an IVF cycle, as well as their potential side effects. However, Annie soon discovered that self-administering medication was a very different experience than giving a vaccination or injection to someone else. "As soon as I hit my belly, I just kind of stared at the needle, like looking at it as if expecting it to go in by itself," Annie recalled. Thankfully, Gene was able to jump in.

Their first IVF transfer resulted in a pregnancy, but their joy was short-lived, as they experienced a miscarriage weeks later. "For weeks you think everything's going great," Annie said, "So that was a little bit of a hit". Then the second transfer was not successful, leaving Annie feeling ready to give up.

The Birth of a Child and a Business

During discussions with their doctor, Annie expressed her increasing stress and the burden of the injections. The doctor suggested a natural cycle IVF, which eliminated the need for daily injections and instead relied on Annie's natural ovulation cycle. This approach greatly reduced Annie's stress levels, and the third transfer led to Annie and Gene welcoming their first child, a daughter, into the world.

After their daughter was born, Annie and Gene reflected on their difficult IVF journey and realized there was a significant gap in medication and administration education. “We actually asked, did we get a shortened version of the training since [our clinic] knew us since we worked in the same health care system,” Gene recalled, “but they said, ‘no, this is the training we give everyone’.” Since they were finished with treatment for the moment, Gene contacted their fertility clinic and volunteered to provide extra support to patients who were struggling with their IVF medications. He soon found himself biking around South Philadelphia most nights, providing training and support around mixing medications and administering injections to patients. 

The demand for their assistance quickly grew through word of mouth, and eventually reached a point that was beyond what they could handle with a bike and a newborn at home. So Annie and Gene recruited a few local friends who were nurses and officially started Fertility Home Care. And as the business grew, so did their family. While gearing up to start round two with their fertility clinic to add another child to their family, Annie and Gene were surprised to find that they had conceived their second child without fertility treatment.