Campaign Story

My name is Samantha and I married my wonderful husband back in October of 2017. After the success of our first pregnancy, we were so naive to think it would just happen again. For the past 3 years we have been dealing with “unexplained secondary infertility”.
The road to our second baby has been so long and hard. These past 3 years have been filled with countless doctor appointments, test after test, blood draws, medications, trigger shots, so many ultrasounds that never show a baby, LH tracking, temperature tracking, vitamins, and four IUIs. Not to mention the emotional side of hope, excitement, heartbreak, anxiety, depression, and the devastation of a miscarriage.
We both have had extensive testing done and the doctors just are not finding anything to explain why we are not getting pregnant this time. One hand that is great that we are both healthy and there are no problems but on the other hand it is so hard not understanding why this is happening. Especially cause it happened before. My body has regular cycles, ovulates normally, lining thickens, everything does what it is supposed to but it just won’t work.
We have done four clomid IUI cycles. The first one did not work. The second one worked. After 2.5 years I finally saw that second line. I felt like we finally made it. We climbed those stairs to reach the top of this journey. But it all crumbled down when we found out my HCG was low and not doubling. By week 5 we were told this wasn’t a viable pregnancy. We tried two more IUI cycles. Neither worked. We needed a break emotionally and financially.
Fast forward 4 months we are now in August of 2024. This month marks 3 years of trying. I can’t believe it has been 36 months of this never ending carousel that circles from hope to grief then back again.
We have decided to try two more clomid IUI cycles. Because I ovulate regularly there really isn’t a need to try injectable meds with the IUI. Clomid and the trigger shot work well for me. So if these are unsuccessful, we want to move to the next step of IVF.
All our treatments are 100% out of our pocket. Neither our insurance nor employers help cover any cost of infertility treatments. So anything you can give is a huge help. It is hard enough to worry about just trying to make a baby that the financial strain is not helping our stress factor.
Thank you for helping make our rainbow baby number two come true!