Andrew and Katie

Hi Everyone! I'm Katie and my husband is Andrew and we live in Murfreesboro, TN. We have been married since January of 2017. In the spring of 2019, we decided it was time for us to begin trying to have a baby. We knew it may take a while since I was diagnosed with PCOS in college but imagine our surprise when we conceived in our second month of trying! We were ecstatic and over the moon happy.

At 16 weeks, we found out we were having a little boy who we named Ollie James but our hearts were broken at 22 weeks when we learned our son no longer had a heartbeat. Our beautiful son, Ollie James Mefford, was stillborn on September 6, 2019. We spent three days in the hospital holding and memorizing every detail of our boy before saying goodbye. 

We began trying again just three months after losing Ollie. I foolishly thought that because we got pregnant so quickly the first time, we'd be pregnant in no time at all but month after month, we kept getting negatives and I grew more heartbroken and frustrated by the month. Through various testing, we've discovered that on top of PCOS, I have a genetic mutation of the MTHFR gene as well as a fully blocked fallopian tube.

We're now approaching three years of trying and still have empty arms. It's been the hardest thing Andrew & I have ever walked through, grief coupled with infertility, but we know that the only thing we can do is have faith and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Although we do have some limited fertility coverage with our insurance (to which we are extremely grateful), we are still paying a significant amount out of pocket. As any family struggling with infertility would tell you..we're putting every extra penny we have towards a chance to have a baby earthside and in our arms....and we'll do it again next month and the month after that and so on until we've run out of options. 

I'm so thankful for this group that has encouraged me along the journey and for Mollie & the team for advocating for coverage in Tennessee. Sending so much love, prayer and baby dust to all the Tennesseans fighting for their families!