Erica, Tuiofu, and Thalia

The first embryo created at Mission Bay is now in second grade.

Faced with unexplained infertility, Erica and Tuiofu began treatment at UCSF hoping to grow their family. Their story ended up being an extraordinary first at UCSF’s Mission Bay location. Their embryos were the first created in the new lab – on the day they opened.

"My husband and I were married in 2010, and we started trying to conceive in 2012. We had what they call unexplained infertility, and heard that UCSF did research on IUI cycles. We did about five cycles that were, unfortunately, all unsuccessful.

We took a break, came back, and tried IVF. We had a successful retrieval, but the day of the embryo transfer, I was in the room ready to go, and Dr. Huddleston noticed that I had some fluid in my uterus. She didn’t want to transfer the embryo into an environment where it was unlikely to succeed, and they made the decision to freeze the embryos. It was devastating, and I remember thinking, “What if we just try the transfer?” But Dr. Huddleston was looking out for me as a person — she wanted me to have the best possible outcome in the long run. Even though it was heartbreaking, a couple of months later, we cycled again and did a successful frozen embryo transfer. We found out I was pregnant a couple weeks later, and I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in March of 2016.

Our daughter’s name is Thalia. She’s eight years old now and in the second grade. She is a ball of energy and so much like me. 

At CRH, they really put patients over stats, numbers, and money. We are so happy, we came back for baby #2!

I was fairly confident that I would get pregnant as easily as I did with Thalia, but I did unfortunately suffer an early miscarriage. 

I know from working in fertility, that miscarriages are normal and very common, however, I just wasn't prepared for that emotional roller coaster. 

The miscarriage was hard, but we were determined to have our second baby. We met with Dr. Huddleston to discuss our treatment options, and this time wasn't easy. Nothing was going our way. My lining was not adequate, I kept ovulating early, and it just didn't seem like this was going to happen. 

Until it did! Because of the determination of Dr. Huddleston and the care team, we were able to have baby Elizabeth in August of 2022.

The girls are amazing. Parenthood definitely has its challenges, but they complete our family and I wouldn't have in any other way.”