First IVF baby in America was born in Norfolk 42 years ago

By Beverly Kidd

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    NORFOLK, Virginia (WTKR) — History was made in Hampton Roads 42 years ago: The first in vitro fertilization (IVF) baby in the United States was born in Norfolk.

But it wasn’t without controversy. When the first patients began treatment, protests erupted here and around the country.

However, since then, IVF has helped thousands of couples dealing with infertility realize their dreams of becoming parents.

Brandon and Brittany Williams are one of those couples. Friends since middle school, they grew closer together and got married after college. Then came talk of starting a family.

“We tried for a couple of years, and then when nothing happened, I was like, something is not right here,” said Brittany.

She was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, which is known to cause infertility.

They turned to the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk — now a branch of Shady Grove Fertility — where they started IVF treatment.

“Overall, the prognosis for women with infertility can be quite good,” said IVF expert Dr. Nicole Banks with Shady Grove Fertility.

IVF is a process where the doctor retrieves the woman’s egg and the man’s sperm and manually combines in a lab. Then, they wait for an embryo to form, and place it back in the woman’s uterus.

Brittany and Brandon were hopeful that IVF would work for them.

“In her case, we were able to get the embryos,” said Dr. Banks. “But keeping that pregnancy, especially that first pregnancy, we don’t know why it didn’t work.”

She miscarried after seven weeks.

“I was just not prepared for the heartache that came with it, the frustration, feeling hopeless like we’re doing all these things, nothing is working,” said Brittany.

IVF is a common treatment for infertility now, but 42 years ago, it was considered experimental. Many religious groups and others protested at the Jones Institute in Norfolk and around the country saying IVF was unnatural, immoral and should be banned.

“It leaked in the news and we were getting all sorts of calls from sensational magazines,” said Virginia Beach resident Sarah Houck, the first patient in the U.S. to undergo IVF at the Jones Institute.

“They were protesting loudly, screaming negative things and this kind of stuff. They were yelling, ‘Incest, incest, the whole world will be in vitro.’ I couldn’t believe people were so mean,” said Houck.

While walking by protesters several times a day to get treatment, Sarah and her husband pressed on and eventually had twin girls, Heather and Ashley, now 37.

Sarah Houck and her husband pressed on and eventually had twin girls, Heather and Ashley, now 37. Dr. Banks tells me a lot of progress has been made since those early days.

“A process called vitrification, which is essentially flash freezing embryos. And the ability to test those embryos for their chromosomes,” said Dr. Banks.

With those types of advances, success rates went from 20-30 percent in 1982 to nearly 60 percent currently – which is why Brittany and Brandon decided to give it a second try.

After nine years of trying and hoping and heartache, Bailey Journey Williams was born on Oct. 11.

“She’s starting to smile a lot so now everything is funny or she’s smiling at it,” said Brittany. “I feel like now she gets so much love because everybody has been invested in our story.”

And for the Williams family, that story has a happy ending.

While Sarah Houck was the first IVF patient in the U.S., a lady named Judy Carr from Massachusetts gave birth to the first IVF baby at Norfolk General Hospital on Dec. 28, 1981.

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