Campaign Story

My name is Meg and my husband’s name is Nick.  Our story is made up of an unusual sequence of events but it is a truly an organic one in which we have both grown immensely.  We met on a cruise ship in 2019 in which both of us took the cheapest cruise we could find with each of our best friends that almost did not happen for either of us but luckily fate stepped in and brought us together. At the time and for the first 2 years of our courtship, we lived 5hrs apart from one another in different states. Now over 3 years later, we are happily married and I have 3 bonus kids from Nick’s previous marriage. And although I have loved being a bonus mom in many ways, the best present I could ever get would be to have a child of our own and give them another sibling.

For starters, no one every thinks they will be in this position, certainly not me who is from a very large family and has hips that look like they were designed to have a baby.  After following many different accounts and stories of infertility, I have discovered just how important it is to be transparent about what’s going on so that others in the same situation can feel that they are not alone.  Unfortunately, our road block is one that does not get discussed very often and that is Male Factor Infertility (MFI).  It’s a very sensitive subject that a lot of men do not feel comfortable talking about even though MFI is a factor in almost half of all infertility cases.  We have a rather severe case, so after our first procedure did not work, we sought out a fertility clinic and they let us know that we had basically no shot of getting pregnant naturally and that IVF with ICSI was our only real path to take. Then each of us was thoroughly tested and screened, you begin to feel like a human pin cushion and started our first round of IVF with lots of excitement. The egg retrieval went very well but by 8am the next morning our hopes were shot down by that call from the doctor.  Out of 19 eggs retrieved, we ended up with just 3 embryos fertilized and only 2 survived thawing. Those two were implanted at the clinic during Hurricane Ian (literally same day) but sadly they did not make it past the horrid 2 week wait and our hopes for a baby were diminished back down to almost none.

We have been through multiple procedures and so much time spent but are still fighting the good fight to make our baby a reality.   A big hurdle is the costs involved have been substantial and have depleted the savings that I worked so hard for my whole life. Our insurance (BCBS) does not cover anything to do with infertility as many across the country do not despite an active medical diagnosis of infertility. I have never asked for financial assistance for anything but I cannot give up on this dream until we have tried every option. I simply cannot accept the cost of IVF as a good enough reason to never birth a child for the rest of my life.  Our clinic also does not offer programs we qualify for due to Nick’s MFI which makes no sense either.  Both Nick and I are employed, working full time jobs, the last thing we ever wanted was to ask for a handout so we managed to cover the first round (far more than this fundraiser) with savings and my parent’s assistance which was so kind of them as they are not exactly rolling in money either.  My mom currently has a recurrent cancer diagnosis so time is of the essence not only for my eggs in my thirties but for her to have time with her grandchild.  We are going to try again after consulting with a urologist as recommended by our fertility clinic and have come up with a new plan for this 2nd round of IVF with ICSI.  This new plan is a bit complicated and invasive for Nick so I don’t want to get into the itty gritty details on a fundraising page but suffice it to say that we both are giving it our all! We want this more than anything and any amount that anyone out there feels inspired to give is appreciated more than you could possibly know.  For those of you close to Nick or I that may see this, I really do not expect anything but your love and support as that is so powerful.  It’s a hard time of year with the holidays and pregnancy announcements everywhere but we are keeping hope alive at all costs!