How IVF for Military Families Helps Our Heroes

After trying to get pregnant on three continents, Master Sergeant Chasity Bingley knew she needed to enlist the right fertility specialist. She and her husband Herman, who was also active duty military in the U.S. Army, had just returned stateside from Germany when she suffered a miscarriage after her third IVF attempt.

Fortunately, her decision to try again led the Bingleys to a fertility center known for providing IVF to military families – Texas Fertility Center.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Chasity and Herman met on an Army base in Savannah, Georgia before duty called. Chasity was deployed to Germany; exactly four years later, on Jan. 18, 2008, the two met again for their first date in St. Louis, between Fort Riley in Kansas and Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri where they were stationed. They met in the middle on a snowy night and eventually married.

“He is my best friend,” said Chasity, “We love each other — and the qualities in each other — so we wanted to give those qualities to our children.”

Although Chasity soon conceived, she unfortunately suffered a devastating miscarriage. To make matters worse, Chasity needed to have her blocked fallopian tubes removed while she was stationed at Fort Hood.

Around this time, the Bingleys considered fostering or adoption rather than going through more fertility treatment. “We were ready to give up,” she remembers. “But we also very much wanted [a child] who was a part of us both.”

Enlisting a Round Rock fertility specialist uniquely qualified to provide IVF for military families

Chasity believes that when you talk to that perfect doctor, you will know it’s right. She searched #1 Round Rock fertility clinic; results from that search as well as a recommendation from a friend led her to Texas Fertility Center in Round Rock.

When she and Herman met Dr. Anthony Propst, they felt comfortable right away. Finding out he had retired from the United States Air Force at the rank of Colonel after 21 years of service sealed the deal.

“In walked Dr. Propst,” she said. “He is former military and understood our struggle, the challenge of dual deployment and our hectic schedules. Dr. Propst made sure that all of our [fertility treatment cycle] dates were in line and didn’t interfere with my mission.”

She remembers feeling that everything would work out. Even though this self-confessed control freak was continuously researching IVF on her own, she trusted Dr. Propst with decision making.

“That should tell you how comfortable he made me feel,” Chasity said. “There was just something about Dr. Propst that made everything so much better. Some doctors use the big words, the medical terms. He broke down the IVF cycles and how they work. He explained what we needed and what we didn’t. He would say: Don’t waste your money on this or that. He really wants you to have that blessing.”

The first IVF cycle did not result in a pregnancy. However, after Dr. Propst met with the couple to make a new plan, the second cycle had different results.

“I wasn’t supposed to call,” Chasity said. “I was supposed to come to the Round Rock fertility center the following week, but I was so anxious.”

The on-call nurse checked her pregnancy test result and called her right back.

“I was holding my chest when the nurse said, ‘We have the results. Congratulations!’ I was screaming through the house and then I called Herman at work.”

“It’s still a dream to us.”

Baby Cooper is now six months old, and his parents say they still can’t believe it. Herman has since retired after 23 years in the military to serve as a stay-at-home dad, and the couple is preparing for a two-year Permanent Change of Station (PCS) overseas. They will contact our Round Rock fertility center and Dr. Propst to schedule a transfer of the remaining frozen embryos when they return.

“So many military families going through this struggle give up hope,” she said. “The one success makes it all worth it. We wanted this from the time we said I do. It’s amazing. I would do it all over again,10 times over.”

She encourages her military friends, especially older couples who are trying to balance career and family building, to get fertility testing and ovarian reserve testing.

“People say don’t stress … pray about it … it will happen,” she says. “It’s so much easier said than done. The older you get, the harder it is to conceive, and your egg numbers go down. If it’s really what you want, go for it.”