Campaign Story

My name is Bree and my wife is Ashley. We have been married for 4 years now and we have a beautiful little girl, Phoenix. When I was 14 years old I was diagnosed with PCOS and was told that if I ever had children, it would be extremely difficult and there was a high possibility of miscarriage. As a teenager, I went through some dark times and ended up miscarrying twins at about 7 weeks gestation. After that happened, I was so sure that I would never be able to have children and that if I did, it would have complications; I was terrified. When I met my wife, we knew that we wanted children but I wanted to make sure that I got my health to where it needed to be before even considering it. I talked with doctors, lost a major amount of weight to help my chances and started the process of IUI in January 2021. We had 3 failed IUI cycles and on the fourth, it was successful; my due date was January 2022. We went through med changes, cryo bank changes and many challenges. We were ecstatic when we found out we were finally pregnant. Unfortunately it was not a great pregnancy. I was extremely sick for the first 27 weeks. When I was 35 weeks, I got diagnosed with the Flu. Everything was fine until that night when I started having a lot of pain and pressure, extreme nausea and I couldn’t feel the baby moving. We called my doctor and went in to get checked out. On the way there, my contractions started but my water hadn’t broke. After a few ultrasounds, fluids and stress tests, we realized that my baby wasn’t moving as much as they would like and every time I had a contraction, my heart rate would elevate while hers would drop. The doctor told me I needed to have a c-section right away; that if I were to be induced, they wouldn’t be able to get my baby out in time to save her. She was born at 35 weeks 6 days on December 22, 2021. She was a tiny little thing at 4 pounds 9 ounces but she was very healthy. We got to go home on Christmas Eve! My doctor said that I had a placental abruption which is what was causing all of the pain. She also told me that it is rare for it to happen again but that they would monitor me closely for future pregnancies. After talking with Ashley, we knew we wanted to have more children; we wanted Phoenix to have siblings. We decided that we would wait until December (doctors recommendation) to start trying for the next child. The costs that we incurred while trying to have Phoenix put us in debt as my insurance didn’t cover anything. It costs us roughly $1000 – $1500 per IUI cycle. We are asking for any donations or grants to help us create the family we so much desire to have.