Making Mini M&M
Making Mini M&M
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$8,000.00
Fundraiser Goal -
$330.00
Funds Raised -
0
Days to go

Marisa Eccles is organizing this fundraiser.
Campaign Story
Howdy!
My name is Marisa and my husband is Mariner. Together we are M&M. We have been married for 6 years, live in Texas, have a 10 year old terrier mix named Layla, and we are huge Office fans.
For the past 6 years we have been trying to make a Mini M&M. I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 22 and knew creating a mini would be a challenge. Once my husband and I decided to expand our family, we basically started with leaving it up to chanceโฆ but with my PCOS, I donโt ovulate so that made things difficult. We then tried 6 rounds of Clomid through my Obgyn. Clomid helped me to ovulate but I never did fall pregnant. It was then discovered I had a few uterine polyps that were removed but it was time for us to move forward with a fertility clinic and an RE.
After our initial meeting with our RE, we decided the best next step was IVF. We had our first egg retrieval February 2020. We ended up with 15 embryos that we did not have PGT tested. Our first transfer was the next month. It ended up being a failed transfer. I then had an endometrial biopsy to check for chronic endometritisโฆ it came back that everything was normal. We then had our second transfer in June. I ended up pregnant but I miscarried at 5 weeks and 4 days. My husband and I then did karyotype testing; and I did a RPLโฆ everything came back normal. Our third transfer was in September and we transferred two embryos. I again ended up pregnant but I miscarried at 6 weeks and 2 days.
At that point, we decided to thaw our remaining 11 embryos to get them PGT tested. We ended up losing 3 embryos at the initial thaw but we had 8 embryos that got biopsied and were refrozen. 6 out of our 8 embryos ended up being genetically normal. We then moved forward with our fourth transfer in February 2021. I ended up pregnant but again miscarried at 5 weeks and 4 days. We then decided to repeat my RPL and do a mock transfer so that my RE could get a few biopsies to check progesterone levels, check for silent endometriosis, and any type of inflammationโฆ everything came back normal. We opted to move forward with our 5th transfer in June, but tweaked my protocol slightly even though all tests thus far have shown no reason for my recurrent miscarriages. Well, I had a biochemical.
At this point, we felt that maybe thawing and having our embryos biopsied did more harm than good. Plus, we only had 4 not so great graded embryos left. So we did another egg retrieval in November. Once again we ended up with 15 embryos that we biopsied for PGT testing before freezing. 10 out of our 15 embryos came back genetically normal. We moved forward with our 6th transfer with an embryo from our new batch in Decemberโฆ but it was another biochemical.
Another reason we decided doing another egg retrieval was the best choice was because after our 5th transfer, we had considered surrogacy. Doing another egg retrieval would allow us to make sure we had FDA Guideline testing done at the time of retrieval, have PGT testing done right away this time, and if we were needing to turn to surrogacyโฆ we would be starting with better graded embryos. We always knew that our 6th transfer would be our last transfer using me before turning to surrogacy.
We did turn to surrogacy and our amazing friend offered to be our gestational carrier. We did a 7th transfer with her and we finally made it to the 6 week ultrasound. We got to see a baby, see the little heart flicker, and even heard the sweetest little heartbeat. When we went back for the 8 week ultrasound, we found that our sweet baby had stopped growing at 7 weeks.
Because of how the miscarriage went and some other complications that arose later, our amazing friend no longer is our gestational carrier. She is still our amazing and fantastic friend that will forever play a major role in our story. We also are very hesitant of moving forward with surrogacy as we canโt guarantee another miscarriage wonโt happen as we are left to believe we have some type of embryo issue. The plan, for now, is for the next transfer to be with me. And depending on how that goes, we will reevaluate. We arenโt saying we wonโt ever turn to surrogacy again but for now, we feel trying with me again is best.
We have always found a way to make our dreams of a Mini M&M happenโฆ but every little bit we get to help us out along the way makes a HUGE difference and is extremely, greatly appreciated. Trust us, our Mini M&M will know how much love and support they have received since the beginning. Please, consider helping us out if you can. Thank you!!!!
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08-31-2022
Surrogacy Journey
So we did a transfer with our gestational carrier. We however lost the baby. We had seen and heard a strong heartbeat at our 6 week ultrasound. But at our 8 week ultrasound, we found that the baby had stopped growing around 7 weeks and there no longer was a heartbeat. Currently we all (Mariner and I, plus our gestational carrier) are taking time to heal emotionally and our gestational carrier is healing physically. We arenโt sure exactly what we will do next but we are leaving the door open for another transfer. We are planning on sending the tissue to get tested to potentially get some answersโฆ but we also plan on meeting with our doctor to discuss a few things. Iโm leaving our fundraiser open and have decreased our amount needed as itโs mainly the cost of another transfer we will need to figure out. We absolutely appreciate any amount we receive! We also know so many have contributed so much already and we canโt say thank you enough! We never thought it would take us this long or that we would be spending this much on this trek of making our dreams of having a Mini M&M a realityโฆ but here we are and we are just rolling with it. Thanks again for the support!
Name | Donation | Date |
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Cynde Quinn | $150.00 | April 26, 2022 |
Christina Scoggins | $100.00 | April 12, 2022 |
Anonymous | $25.00 | March 09, 2022 |
Kristine Hunton | $50.00 | January 20, 2022 |
Anonymous | $5.00 | January 10, 2022 |


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Marisa Eccles is organizing this fundraiser.