Seeds of Success: The Majusiak Family

Sometimes, the road to success can be longer than expected for couples with fertility challenges, but for Meredith and Kenneth Majusiak, there was a rainbow after the storm. The couple’s fertility journey began with trying to conceive naturally without success.

“My husband and I had been trying on our own for two years with no success, so my OB suggested that we see a fertility doctor,” Meredith said.

Meredith and Kenneth met with Dr. Feinberg at RADfertility to try and find answers. He determined Meredith had a blocked fallopian tube and would need surgery to remove the blockage. After surgery, Meredith started her first fresh IVF cycle and froze several embryos in storage for future frozen embryo transfers.

“We were ecstatic when our first embryo transfer resulted in a pregnancy,” Meredith said. “However, at 18 weeks, my cervix dilated and my baby was born sleeping.”

Remaining Optimistic

Meredith saw multiple specialists over the next few months to try and determine the cause of her early delivery. One specialist diagnosed Meredith with an incompetent cervix. As a baby grows during pregnancy, it presses on the cervix. In women with an incompetent cervix, the baby’s growth can put pressure and cause the cervix to open before the baby is ready to be born, causing a miscarriage or premature delivery.

To potentially prevent a future loss, Meredith agreed to surgery once she was pregnant a second time so she could receive a transvaginal cerclage (TVC), where a surgeon would place a suture through her vagina at 14 weeks to close the cervix.

With the couple remaining optimistic, Meredith underwent a frozen embryo transfer.

“We found out we were pregnant again, this time with twins. We were hopeful, and had the TVC placed at 14 weeks, but it sadly failed,” Meredith said. “Despite efforts to try to stop labor and save one of the twins, I delivered both babies and they passed away after only one hour of life.”

Moving Forward

Meredith said RADfertility’s doctors and clinicians, in addition to her family and friends, helped her throughout her fertility journey, but especially after each loss.

“As sad as it was to go back after each preterm delivery, it was also comforting to see familiar faces and receive hugs,” she said.

The couple decided they would move forward with a more invasive surgical procedure to repair Meredith’s cervix, called a transabdominal cerclage (TAC). The surgeon used laparoscopy to insert a small, woven synthetic band on the cervix that would prevent it from opening and causing a second trimester loss.

After one unsuccessful frozen embryo transfer in February 2012, the couple decided to try another frozen embryo transfer that April. Meredith became pregnant, and in December 2012, delivered her son Miles John Majusiak.

The couple returned to RADfertility to add to their growing family. Meredith suffered two early miscarries before becoming pregnant with their daughter Olivia Jane Majusiak in May 2015.

Weathering The Storm

Meredith said the staff at RADfertility and the couple’s friends and family helped them each step of the way, and noted how important it is for couples to not give up.

“Although we had a very difficult journey, RADfertility has been an unbelievable support system for my family,” she said. “I can’t imagine going through this emotional process without them.”

She also said that the IVF process helped her grow as a person.

“When I first found out I had to go through IVF, I didn’t even want to talk about it,” Meredith said. “After going through the past few years fighting for the family I wanted, I know that I am more courageous, compassionate and stronger because of it. Life’s challenges don’t take away from the person you are; they bring you to the person you are meant to be.

Meredith said one of her greatest passions is to mentor friends going through the process, being a good listener, sharing laughter and tears gives her a greater sense of purpose.

“There is a rainbow after the storm—you just have to be able to weather it long enough to see it.”