Forever a Part of Us
Between the two of us we kissed a lot of frogs but none turned into a prince or a princess until we found each other. We have a beautiful marriage full of love and laughter. We wanted to bring a child into our family but had no success on our own. We were good candidates for Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) and went into our first cycle very positive and excited. We had great response to the treatment, but were devastated when the process was not successful. Over the next five years we tried a total of three fresh cycles of ICSI and also used our frozen embryos; all without a baby.
During a visit to the clinic Dr. Scott suggested that we consider embryo donation. We were open to this suggestion, but not ready to give up on having a biological child. We met with Anne Boerner, the counselor at the clinic, to aid in our decision. Anne was an amazing support and we agreed to try ICSI one more time. This time we had a positive pregnancy test and were on cloud nine. At our seven-week ultrasound we were delivered devastating news; there was no baby. How could we go on?
After a great deal of soul-searching, we came back to the option of embryo donation, but were unsure. Should we put trying to have a child behind us and start living again? We felt that our lives had been put on hold through all the fertility treatments and had considered the idea of being child-free. Many of our closest friends did not have children or their children were older. How would a child fit into our lifestyle? We decided to accept our fate, focus on the good in our lives and slowly tried to begin to move forward. We took a vacation and had some fun. We couldn't do it!
We realized that we still wanted to have a child and were ready for embryo donation.
On our third attempt we received a positive pregnancy result! At our seven-week ultrasound there was a baby and a heart beat. On our due date, we brought a beautiful baby girl into this world. This precious girl is our baby and we love her with all our hearts. Embryo donation was the right path for us. It never crosses our mind that genetically she wasn't' made from us, but this little girl is forever a part of us.
It would take a kind hearted and open minded couple to give such a magnificent gift as embryo donation. We know only a handful of facts about our donors and none of their circumstances. We do believe that this couple had their journey to becoming parents and they wanted to bring the experience of having a child to another couple. Maybe one day these special people will learn that they have forever changed our lives and that our hearts are filled in a way that we never could have imagined. "Thank you" does not carry enough gratitude to the people who chose to donate their embryo. Theirs' is the most generous and selfless of gifts.
