LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – For those planning a family it can be emotional and distressing when it doesn’t happen right away. While doctors say the chance of infertility increases once women turn 35, other factors could be at play, especially for younger women.

In January 2018 high school sweethearts Andrea and Dane Dekerlegand were ready to get pregnant. It wasn’t happening, but they never gave up their dreams of starting a family. 

“We had just suffered that miscarriage and I knew it was something i had to keep trying for. So I wasn’t ready to give up. We took it one day at a time,” Andrea Dekerlegand said.

The Dekerlegands said they never imagined a miscarriage would happen to them. After conducting many tests, doctors told Andrea she wasn’t ovulating. 

“Through three rounds of the medicine every three months I still wasn’t ovulating again. About six months into trying that’s when they referred us to a fertility doctor,” Andrea Dekerlegand said.

Medical Director of Fertility Answers Dr. John Storment said doctor may not treat infertility with in vitro fertilization (IVF) right away – as commonly thought.

“The goal is less aggressive and less invasive. If someone can get away with just taking ovulation medicine, that would be the better option,” Dr. Storment said.

For Andrea the other options were not working. In a quick decision, she began IVF. 

“IVF is literally just trying to fertilize the egg and the sperm in the lab so that we can view the embryo development and be able to transfer the embryo back to the uterus,” Dr. Storment said.

By October Andrea was finally pregnant. She said it was the best day of their life.

“When you first start this you feel as if something is wrong with you. Like you’re the only person that suffers from this but actually a lot of people aren’t getting pregnant and don’t realize it’s to do with a lot of stuff I had like egg growth,” Andrea Dekerlegand said.

“At the end it was all worth it, every step we took,” Dane Dekerlegand said.

Andrea and Dane’s baby is due in June. 

According to Dr. Storment, for those struggling with infertility, knowing your options sooner rather than later is the best way to go.