For more than a decade, Ethan Parmer didn’t think he’d be able to have children.
“After my accident I really didn’t think it would be a possibility,” he said.
In 2013, he jumped off a dock into shallow water. A broken neck left him paralyzed from the chest down, and having a baby was far from his mind. But when he met his soon-to-be wife, Kiana, in 2021 they spoke frankly about in vitro fertilization or IVF.
“It gave me a glimmer of hope, I guess. Something that I didn’t really know I wanted,” Ethan said.
Their IVF journey
The couple worked with a urologist to collect Ethan’s sperm. Then they met with Sheena Rippentrop, M.D., and the team at Sanford’s reproductive medicine clinic in Fargo, North Dakota.
“They came to us with some known male fertility factors, and so we were able to just kind of hit the ground running,” said Dr. Rippentrop, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist. “We strive really to show them the options and show them that there likely is a way for them to become pregnant. It just might take some extra effort.”
With IVF, the goal is to retrieve between 10 and 20 eggs from the female partner. About 70% of those eggs are then expected to fertilize. About half of those embryos make it to a stage where they can be transferred to the mother, or frozen for future attempts at a viable pregnancy.
“In Kiana’s case, she got a good number of eggs and we have a good number of embryos to use so that hopefully down the line when she wants more kids, we don’t have to repeat this whole process again,” Dr. Rippentrop said.
The Parmers worked with Dr. Rippentrop for about a year to get pregnant. The first attempt at an embryo transfer was unsuccessful and heartbreaking. But on attempt #2, the Parmers learned they were indeed pregnant.
“It was quite an emotional rollercoaster of a process,” said Kiana, who also has a 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. “We knew that there was a chance that we could potentially not be able to have another child. And we agreed that our family is great the way it is, the three of us right now. But we really did want to grow our family, and so it’s been great. (Ethan’s) a great stepdad, so I’m so excited for him to be a father to an infant and it’ll be a great adventure together.”
Thankful for their care
The Parmers are expecting a baby boy this October. In the meantime, they look back on their fertility journey in awe of the science and grateful for the support of the Sanford team.
“Everyone here at the fertility clinic has been so supportive, and they’ve been a great resource for every question that we have, whether it’s a medical question or just kind of the emotional side of things,” Kiana said.
“With science and medicine, it’s advancing rapidly and it’s always going to be advancing rapidly,” said Ethan. “Hopefully one day there’s a cure for spinal cord injuries, cancer, all that kind of stuff. But there are so many possibilities with things that you never really think are possible.”
Learn more
- Sanford Health helps navigate fertility options
- What’s it like to go through fertility treatments?
- Podcast: From IVF to NICU, one couple’s road to starting a family
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Posted In Endocrinology, Fargo, Pregnancy, Women's
