Distinctly Montana Magazine

to implant." Nine months later, Kenna Bowers was born, with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. Brianne and Justin were pleased with their care at Billings Clinic. "Dr. Montville and his nurse Zoey were so helpful," says Brianne. "Dr. Montville called us back in person about all the lab results." Justin agrees. "I always felt comfortable with them and it didn't feel awkward talking about sensitive topics. They devoted all of their atten- tion to us. You wouldn't have known they had other patients." "Dr. Montville was always prepared and always remembered us. He didn't have to look at our chart every minute. They're just normal people who wanted to help us. They talk to you in a way you understand and explain things perfectly." They had to wait a few months to do the IVF treatment after they first saw Dr. Montville in the summer of 2010, but Brianne said the time went quickly. They had gotten used to getting tests and then waiting. Billings Clinic's state-of-the-art IVF lab opened in January 2011 at the Surgery Center in downtown Billings and the Bowers were in the first group of patients. "First I had to take birth control pills to set my cycle on schedule for IVF. Then I gave myself hormone injections for more than three weeks. The IVF injections weren't nearly as bad as the Clomid. I had no side effects." Brianne had done a lot of research and wanted to know all the details about the process. "Dr. Montville told me why he had to check things, do tests, what every medication was for. I rarely had to ask questions be- cause he explained everything to us. He drew diagrams and explained what was going on inside of me." "For example, when the follicles were growing inside my ovary, I started to feel a lump. I asked him what that was and he said that was good––it meant I had multiple eggs in my ovary." During the two-and-a-half weeks before IVF they drove to Billings every other day for ultrasounds to monitor her ovarian follicles. Justin says, "It's not every day that you get to see the fertilization process. We saw the petri dish, the 'fish' swimming, the eggs, and the embryo. We were so happy we were able to go to Billings for the tests and treatments, and then come home to our jobs and to see our daugh- ter every day." "My biggest concern was if it would work," Justin adds. "The three weeks we waited to find out if we were pregnant felt like the longest time in the whole process." Billings Clinic offers reproductive medicine and fertility care with Dr. Christopher Montville in Billings and Dr. Stacy Shomento in Bozeman. Learn more at www.billingsclinic.com/fertility. Brianne says she had a perfect pregnancy. "The pregnancy went very well. But when we reached the end of the pregnancy, my baby was breech." (The baby's head was up instead of facing down.) "They were going to do aversion [reposition the baby] but I went into labor first. I went to West Park Hospital in Cody. My ob/gyn had to do a C-section and everything went well. She was texting with Dr. Montville after Kenna was born." During the C-section they discovered that Brianne had endometriosis (meaning that a type of tissue that lines the uterus is also growing outside the uterus), which may have added to their difficulty getting pregnant. Endometriosis can happen without symp- toms and cause unexplained infertility. "You know, I thought most people were able to get pregnant for free," adds Brianne. "It should be easy. But then after going through this, we felt so special––we had all these people helping us to grow our family and we saw the whole process of pregnancy happening before our eyes." "IVF is a great option and a great opportunity for couples. It was a cool experience," says Justin. Shaylee runs over to the table where her parents are sitting. She is shivering and drip- ping wet from playing in the water. She checks on baby Kenna, tells her mom that Kenna looks hungry, and goes back to the pool. She is clearly happy to be a big sister. DISTINCTLY MONTANA WOMAN 12 PREMIERE ISSUE • SPRING 2012

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