Here is the original post from our Youcaring site that has now been updated for our new adventure!
For some people, the stork doesn't offer free delivery. After countless tries the natural way, and three failed procedures, we have one chance left with IVF and are asking for a little help.
We met while both attending Cal State Northridge in 2001. Eli was on exchange from Winthrop University and never expected to fall in love with a California girl. By the time we were officially dating, I knew we'd marry and start a family.
Ten years ago we got married on the beach in California. Before our third anniversary, we got pregnant and miscarried during a colitis flare. I'll spare the details of the pain and suffering that came with colitis. I'll skip over the violent attack at work, once I was healthy and ready to start our family.
After every falter, we found strength in each other to take the next step.
We met our fertility doctor in 2014; he was confident in our ability to start a family, with a little help from In Vitro Fertilization. Though we can't verify without another surgery, Dr Slayden thinks that all my surgeries and abdominal trauma from colitis may have caused scar tissue to block some essential functions for fertility. Everything pointed to IVF being the answer to our infertility- bypass the scar tissue and we should be good.
We took out a loan to start IVF and decided that we could only afford to do this once. We were not strangers to medical procedures and we knew we had to discuss all the options before we got too wrapped up in the possibilities. After the miscarriage we had already talked about adoption and we still know that we will adopt when the time is right for us.
Our IVF harvest yielded seven strong embryos. We decided our first transfer would be one embryo; our strongest embryo. It failed.
Our second chance, we would transfer two embryos. Transferring two would increase our chances that at least one would be successful. Both failed.
Our third chance felt differently. As you can imagine, there is a waiting period where you don't know if the transfer worked or not. The third time was the charm when signs of the transfer not working, did not show up during the waiting period. I marched into the nurse's office for my blood test, practically positive we were finally pregnant.
That night the doctor called us with sadness in his voice. He said two words, "I'm sorry."
We have turned everything upside down trying to figure out the best way to support our last two embryos. I have reduced my hours and stress at work. We have improved our diets and have taken time to slow down and decompress.
We hope to have a successful final IVF round this fall. But we need some help.
Over the last couple years we have spent a lot of money on IVF procedures. We have been extremely lucky to borrow money from our families and we have been even luckier to have both friends and family donate their tax refunds or overtime pay to our "baby fund," though no official fundraiser was ever created. Until now!
We created this page to see if anyone else would be willing or able to support us in our last chance at IVF. As you can imagine, financial struggles are an inevitable part of IVF and being able to reduce that stress could be the miracle we need.
Any amount you can donate to our fund is very much appreciated. Every dollar makes a difference; every share of our story gets us closer to our goal of $9000 to cover medication, embryo thaw and doctor visits not covered by insurance.
Above all else, we want to thank everyone who has offered us love, kindness, and support during all our tribulations in the past. Your continued love is all we need. But a few bucks could help too. ;)
