Our Story

When Collin and I were dating, we talked about the family we would have someday. Like all normal couples, we talked about how we would raise them, how we would discipline and special traditions we wanted to bring from our separate families. One thing we never even thought about was the idea that getting pregnant would be a problem for us. After we got married, we wanted to wait for a year before we started trying to get pregnant. Of course, our first year of marriage flew by and February, 2007 came up very quickly. I was so thrilled that we were finally going to have a baby!

But then, my body took over, my monthly cycles stopped altogether and after many failed pregnancy tests, we decided to see a doctor. I was given medication to induce my cycle, which didn’t work. I was then diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a fairly common condition where the body is insulin resistant and can stop or delay ovulation. I was put on Metformin, which is supposed to help even out the insulin levels and in turn, start the cycle back up again. After a few months, it started working, and I was back on track and ready to get pregnant!

During all of this, my doctor referred us to Kaiser’s Infertility Department. Since they knew we were trying to conceive, and since I was having trouble ovulating, they thought we might need a little assistance. Part of their process is to run lots of tests on both partners to make sure everything is working properly. Other than the PCOS, my tests all looked pretty normal. Collin’s test, though, is another story. His sperm analysis came up with very low numbers, morphology and motility. Basically, this means that his boys are few and they can’t swim. Our wonderful urologist explained it like this: “Imagine that your spermies are a car. A broken down car that can’t get anywhere without being towed. The people inside the car are healthy, smart and excited to get to their destination. But, the people inside the car can’t get to their destination without a little help.” Our doctor told us that with the numbers we have to work with, our only option to conceive would be through InVitro Fertilization (IVF). IVF would be our tow truck.

We knew the cost would be outrageous and of course our insurance doesn’t cover a penny of it. But after much prayer and discussion, we decided that we needed to give it at least one fair try to have a child of our own. Our urologist referred us to Huntington Reproductive Center (HRC). We made our first appointment and signed our lives away. After meeting with our new doctor, it was decided that we would undergo IVF with Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) and possibly Assisted Hatching. But first, there were more tests. From the beginning, we decided to do all of the testing, then find out exactly how much it was going to cost. We knew that we would most likely need to save up for a year or two in order to afford the procedure.

One of the blood tests is to measure my FSH level. This lets us know how many eggs I have in my egg reserve. (On a side note, I NEVER knew women had a reserve! I thought we just kept making eggs until our body was tired of making eggs. Oh no! We have a certain number of eggs that we are given and as we ovulate throughout our lives, we lose one egg a month. When we’re all out of eggs, we go into menopause.) The way the FSH test works is that it gives you a hormone level. The higher the hormone level, the smaller your reserve. I was told that we were looking for any number below 10. Once it gets above 10, it’s really not a good thing. Basically it means that you don’t have a lot of eggs to work with, and the success rates for IVF drops by about 50%. My level was 11.8. I was devastated. Our doctor was shocked. Collin was as supportive as he always is. Our doctor said that we could still try IVF with my own eggs (as opposed to donor eggs), but we would have to be very aggressive with medication, and that we would have to start right away. So now, we don’t have time to save, we have to start immediately. The longer we wait, the lower my egg reserve gets. I felt like I was being repeatedly punched in the stomach. Also, once your FSH level goes above 10, you no longer qualify for the low cost IVF Packages (where you basically pay for 3 cycles up front at a very discounted price). So, we would have to pay full price, and the cost of my medication would go up significantly to get me to mature as many eggs as possible. The total price for one IVF cycle will cost us approximately $15,000! This figure includes medication, egg retrieval, embryo transfer, ICSI, assisted hatching, anesthesia, ultrasounds and blood work.

This whole time, we kept quiet about what we were going through. We didn’t want to share anything until we really knew what was going on. Slowly, we told our immediate family and our close friends. Once we started to let the secret out, we were overwhelmed by friends and family’s encouragement, support and prayers. Many people asked what they could do to help. That’s when the light bulb went off and the idea of a fundraiser was born (pun intended).

While it is different to have a fundraiser to bring a baby into the world, we feel that even if we can raise a little bit of money to help with the cost of this, that would be awesome. We realize that some people may be uncomfortable helping with the cost of IVF, and we understand that. Basically, we’re asking for your support. If that means financial support, wonderful. If it means that you will pray for us and keep us in your thoughts, that’s equally as wonderful. Collin is amazingly creative, and we thought that we could use the talents God has given him to our advantage. He designed the T-Shirt we are selling and I think it looks pretty cool!


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