Our advocates

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We had an appointment with our doctor in January of 2021 and signed the consents for IVF.  We started our IVF cycle at the end of May. During my SHG and trial transfer we found out that I had polyps in my uteru. My doctor recommended surgery to take care of those before attempting transfer. I had my retrieval in June. I had 9 eggs retrieved, 6 were mature, and two made it to freeze as grade C embryos. I was quite bummed at our numbers as with my age and seeing so many others with way more eggs and embryos than I had, I just thought I would have more. I had come to terms with it and took it as having two shots at a transfer. 

The milestone we all look forward to, and the one I wondered if I’d ever get to experience. I had 3.5 weeks of ignorant bliss before my world was once again flipped - I went in at 11w3d for an ultrasound. I was so looking forward to hearing the heartbeat for the first time because my RE had only ever let me see it on the screen. But there was no heartbeat. The baby had stopped growing probably weeks before. My teeny baby with the cutest nub arms and legs was gone, and unrecognizable. An image I hope to one day forget. So ten months after my first d&c, I was having another. 

Having lost so much money at this point, we felt defeated. Nonetheless, I decided to post a snippet of our family and a picture in an embryo donation group I’m in on Facebook. Three days later, our donor family reached out to us. We chatted via text & messenger, Facetimed, and they chose to give us their two remaining embryos!...The RE gave us a 10% chance of them both working, so we transferred both to give them both a chance. I will never forget the look on my husband’s face when we went in for our first ultrasound and she said, “Yep. Looks like you’re having twins!!!”. It was PRICELESS.

Every month was filled with countless doctors’ appointments, constantly making sure OPKs were in stock in my bathroom, changing my diet, blood work, multiple rounds of fertility drugs, and the dreaded pregnancy test that always seemed to come back negative. Tears, lots of tears were shed in my bathroom floor, countless cries out to God asking him why me, walking out of each doctor’s appointment to confirm BFN filling so discouraged, and each month I seemed to feel less like a woman.

I carried a lot of guilt and shame having to have help not only with getting pregnant, but paying for everything as well. After my egg retrieval, lots of waiting, stress, tears, pain, and medication, we ended up with 4 embryos and transferred 2 of them by IVF in August of 2014, which got us our precious firstborn, Cantley. He is now six. We felt so humbled that our IVF worked the first time, because I know many are not that lucky.

Finding this out was extremely scary, especially when thinking about all the money we would need to spend. Neither of our employers offer infertility coverage, but we knew that having a family was the most important thing to both of us. We made it work, and in August of 2020 we had our first transfer. Thankfully our first transfer was a success, and we are now blessed with our miracle little girl, Beckett Holland Moss. 

When we first got engaged, we both decided we wanted to start trying for kids fairly quickly, 6 months after we married. We tried for 7 months with no luck. I went to my OBGYN just to talk...he ran some blood work on us and a sperm analysis came back with very low motility. He told us we would never have a child naturally. Our hearts were broken.

For a very long time infertility was not something we discussed and was a very sore subject but has helped us communicate better in our marriage and helped us to become stronger!...it is an overwhelming thought that financially we may never be able to afford our dream of becoming parents...

Alex and I went to a local Ultrasound boutique in our town to find out the gender of our sweet baby. Not long after beginning the ultrasound I knew something wasn’t right. Then those dreaded words, “I’m sorry, but I can’t find a heartbeat.” I was instantly crushed. “How could this be me? 

My sister told me I should see a fertility doctor. What? Because of my age she told me not to wait. So....that’s what we did. 2 surgeries for endometriosis later, and me being thrown into “menopause” in between....I just knew that was going to get me pregnant! NOPE.

Not long after his procedure, we were ready to move forward with IVF. After a lot of thought and consideration, we decided that would need to take out a loan on our home to pay for it, so that we could expand out family. In November 2019, we had our retrieval where only two embryos made it to day 5. Unfortunately, neither transfer took. We were devastated...

This disease percentage rate in males is only 33.3%. The news we received that day made him question himself & what he could do to “fix” it. He felt like his role as a husband had been striped from him. He couldn’t give his wife (who could get pregnant with no issues) what she had dreamed of being her entire life, naturally without some science & a whole lot of prayers. 

In the spring of 2018, we started our third round. We ended up with three good embryos, and sent those off for genetic testing. One came back normal. We were so excited, but so much pressure with just one. We transferred that embryo June 2018. Nine days later at my beta, it was negative. We couldn’t believe it. We finally had a pgs tested embryo and it didn’t even take. We had our consult and decided that an ERA was a must. We also made the decision that a 4th round of ivf was all my body could handle, and this would be it for us. 

After my third failed IUI, I didn't know how much more I could take and deep down I knew we were probably going to have to look at IVF if we wanted to have a natural pregnancy. However, since we had gone through a lot of out of pocket expenses and my insurance doesn't cover fertility treatment, my RE suggested that I have another laparoscopy so he could explore and remove endometriosis if it was there.

For many years, Frances was plagued with physical pain related to endometriosis along with a great deal of emotional pain due to her inability to conceive. Tormenting herself with toxic devaluing thoughts, she quietly lived a life of shame, embarrassment, frustration, hurt, guilt, and condemnation. She and Chris underwent several unsuccessful attempts to conceive with Intrauterine insemination (IUI). 

We found out earlier this year that I have a condition that causes my blood to produce antibodies that make it clot too thick and also some other issues. IVF is our only next option with my condition that gives us a possible chance of growing our family. I can't even begin to explain the isolation, sadness, and rollercoaster of a ride that infertility brings! It is absolutely one of the hardest things to go through especially with costs all out of pocket and the hurt of month after month of disappointment. 

Since we had our daughter so easily, we just assumed that we would have no problem expanding our family. As before, we got a positive test immediately but I began to bleed shortly after and was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy. 

She tested my ovarian reserve and it came back very low. This was the moment I realized all those years of not getting pregnant and all the ruptured cysts meant I truly did have a problem. This was the moment the pressure and emotions of this process began for me. I sat in my car and cried. It never felt real until this moment. I knew it was going to be a long road from here.

Our journey started in 2016 after I graduated from PA school! We were ready to start a family. Months went by, and nothing was happening. I knew in my heart God was preparing me for something bigger. I knew we had a problem, but I did not want to diagnose it myself as a clinician. 

I told Sante that whether we get our baby or not, I was going to fight for all the women and couples that go through this. I was going to figure out how I could make Tennessee a state that requires fertility coverage. I told him that something good has to come of this.  He has been 100% supportive of me...

My husband, Max, and I are high school sweethearts and were married in 2015.  We were ready to start growing our family in 2017. After months of negative tests, we decided to seek the help of Dr. Shannon at MOGA. I was diagnosed with PCOS. PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is a hormonal disorder among women and has many side effects...

The two years we had of trying to conceive were the toughest years we have ever experienced.  All of the medications and disappointment took a huge toll on my mental health, as well as Ben’s.  As we were going through all of the medications and shots, it seemed as if everyone around us were getting the blessing we wanted. 

We sat down with Dr. Ke on January 10th 2018 and told him our history. Immediately after I began more (expensive) testing. He  eventually concluded that he expected I had endometriosis, but needed surgery to confirm. We paid $5,000 upfront for this because my insurance would only cover a small portion AFTER my extremely high deductible. The surgery did prove that I had Endometriosis.

In January of 2020, we did our first transfer and were told the amazing news that I was finally pregnant. I will always remember exactly where we were when we got the news. It felt like everything we had been working towards the past two years was finally happening.  Unfortunately, only two days later we were told that my HCG levels were dropping and I was experiencing what they call a “chemical pregnancy”.  I could not wrap my mind around how I could be pregnant one day and the next day I wasn’t.