Building the Santiago Family
Building the Santiago Family
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$10,000.00
Fundraiser Goal -
$0.00
Funds Raised -
41
Days to go
Haifa Santiago is organizing this fundraiser.
Campaign Story
Victor and I ( Haifa ) never imagined our love story would take them on a path paved with syringes, hospital rooms, whispered prayers, and unbreakable hope. But this… this was the road we walked together. Hand in hand. Heart in heart.
Our IVF journey began with cautious hope on May 4, 2022, when we sat in a quiet consultation room, listening to possibilities, fears, and miracles wrapped in medical terms. And together, we decided: We are ready. On June 14, 2022, I began my first IVF cycle. The start of something so delicate, so scientific, and yet so profoundly spiritual.
By June 28, my body — strong, brave, and determined — produced an astounding 40 eggs.
28 matured.
24 fertilized.
10 embryos were frozen, waiting for genetic testing.
In the end, 3 beautiful, healthy embry-babies — their embabies — remained.
The next chapter began with FET preparation on July 24, leading to our first embryo transfer on August 16, 2022 — exactly one month after my 33rd birthday. A gift. A wish. A tiny spark of hope placed gently inside me.
But on August 29, that spark faded.
A chemical pregnancy — their first loss.
Embryo 1 slipped away before we ever got to meet them.
Still, we tried again.
A second FET cycle began on September 24, with a fresh wave of courage. On October 20, two embryos were transferred — tiny souls, tiny dreams.
At 7DPO, the test was negative.
At 8DPO, a faint positive glimmered like a whisper: maybe.
But on November 2, 2022, we lost embryos 2 and 3.
Three embabies gone.
Three little lights extinguished far too soon.
Yet Victor and I did not break.
We bent, we cried, we grieved deeply — but we did not break.Their next chapter began on March 3, 2023, the day before our wedding — a reminder that even on the brink of new beginnings, we were still fighting for our family.
On March 15, they retrieved 21 eggs.
18 matured.
15 fertilized.
7 embryos frozen.
4 genetically healthy — all boys.
Four sons waiting in the stars.
Then came my May 2 surgery — fallopian tubes removed, scar tissue cleared, healing inside and out. A warrior’s step.
Our next FET cycle began on August 14, leading to transfer on September 6, 2023.
Embryo 1 had already hatched, full of promise.
Embryo 2 was half-hatched, fighting to break free.
By September 12, the embryos should have attached.
But on September 19, both were lost.
Another silent heartbreak.
Still, Victor and I refused to lose themselves in the dark.
Another FET cycle began on October 23.
An intralipid infusion followed on November 9, a ritual of hope.
On November 15, they transferred another embryo.
We waited. Counting days. Counting heartbeats that weren’t yet there.
By November 22, the embryo should have attached.
But on November 27, 2023, another pregnancy slipped away. This journey was filled with numbers, dates, needles, procedures, and clinical words.
But what truly defined it were:
The nights Victor helped me when I felt empty.
The mornings I woke up determined to try again. “We’ll get through this” — and meant it.
IVF didn’t give us a baby — yet.
But it revealed something else:
✨ Our strength.
✨ Our love.
✨ Our refusal to give up on the family our hearts still believed in.
This isn’t the end of our story.
This is just the part where two warriors catch their breath.
And somewhere out there — in the waiting, in the healing, in the divine timing —
Our miracle is still making its way to us.
Donate to this campaign:
Haifa Santiago is organizing this fundraiser.
