Emily and Scott

Before my husband and I got married we had talked about our future plans and how we were so excited to have 3 or 4 little kids running around. After getting married and going straight into a deployment, we were sad to learn that there was a high chance of us having difficulties getting pregnant after my diagnosis with uterus didelphys. Uterus didelphys is a rare condition where your reproductive system does not form correctly. Because of it I have short tubes, 2 uteruses and 2 crevices. A few months into actively trying to have kids to no avail I knew in my gut something was going on. With further testing it was determined that my tubes weren't only short, but also blocked leaving IVF to be our only way to conceive and get pregnant.

It was a harsh reality, but we were determined to make it happen. My husband re-enlisted so we could afford it and a few months later started IVF. A week of shots and hormones, going crazy we found out I wasn't responding to meds and it was determined that I would not be able to have genetic children. Being devastated was an understatement. My entire life and dreams crumbled and I didn't know how I was going to decide what to do next. We could use donor embryos, we could privately adopt or we could foster. We did lots of research, made lots of calls and ultimately decided that experiencing pregnancy was important and went on to find our perfect egg donor.

We were super lucky and I saw a profile that seemed to describe myself. This never happens and so many people struggle hard to find the right donor, and here I was finding her within 20 profiles. That same day we made an appointment to start our new IVF donor egg journey. We fertilized our 6 eggs and got 4 beautiful embryos. We transferred one embryo and it stuck! We were so overjoyed until we miscarried at 8 weeks. We were heartbroken but knew that God was showing us that this can work, so a few months later we transferred again and it stuck! The HCG numbers started off good but then started to indicate there may be a problem. They started to become concerned about a possible tubal pregnancy. I didn't even know that was possible with blocked tubes. (And side note this was all happening while we were moving with the military to another state. Talk about stress on stress!)

But the doctors were wrong and we just had a strong little girl inside us who was determined to come into this world! She was perfect and an absolute miracle.We enjoyed a year of being parents before deciding if it was time to try for a sibling. We had 2 embryos left and unfortunately both of those failed. We thought our journey was over until a friend asked us if we wanted their 2 embryos. We were so excited about the chance to continue to grow our family. Unfortunately neither of those 2 embryos stuck either and we were back to where we started after 3 years of trying to make our daughter a big sister.

We recently had another friend reach out and offer us their embryos. We were humbled and so grateful that another couple found us worthy to essentially raise their children. This is where we are at today. We're gearing up for our 7th transfer in hopes to make our daughter a big sister and to complete our family. We have faith that this is our time and that we can finally have another little nugget to call our own.

️Emily is using her passion by painting incredible art work to help grow their family through IVF adoption and she has wonderful embryo paintings! Check out her work on social media or Etsy (itsanartlife)