Bri & Josh Baby Makin’ Fund ?

Hello. Our journey for conception began nearly 10 years ago. During this time, we have tried multiple medications, 5 surgeries, and most recently the path to IVF.  Heart breaking for us, the last surgery resulted in a hysterectomy.  We are now left with gestational surrogacy as the only option for a child of our own genetics. Unfortunately, the cost difference is extreme in combination with the already high costs of infertility treatments.  Most won't even know that any of this has been going on because we have kept it to ourselves. But at the end of the day, we must put everything else aside to try and grow the family we deeply desire to have together. If you know us, you know pride is part of both our DNA and asking for assistance is of the most difficult task for both of us. With that you also know we are stubborn, determined, and refuse to give up.  We are leaning into letting go of trying to deal with this alone and letting our friends and family be there for us just as we would want to be there for them. Thank you for supporting us and loving us and in that also supporting and loving our unborn child. We quite literally could not do this without our loved ones and truly appreciate any help or love you can send our way. ? Little update on what's been going on- since the hysterectomy we have now gone through the IVF medications and egg retrieval process. After 27 self-administered shots we had the egg retrieval procedure on the 14th of October. (Queue Thomas Rhett). They retrieved 5 eggs, 3 of which made it past initial stages and are now currently being biopsied and tested to see if they are viable for surrogacy. We should find out more in another week or so the final outcome for options and whether we can move forward with finding a surrogate or need to try the retrieval process a second time. We will continue to update as this process unfolds and will be forever grateful to all of you ?

What feels like the first good news in this process is that all three of the eggs sent off to testing came back viable. This essentially means that there are no chromosomal abnormalities among them and that they grew to a level of maturity in order to meet surrogate implantation standards. The doctor has reminded us it is quality over quantity. She stated that with 3 eggs able to transfer there is a high chance of one successful birth through surrogacy. After the retrieval surgery the doctor thought we would have to do the whole process again with the low egg count, so this news was a breath of fresh air. We are now at the point in the process of picking an agency and then a surrogate that is right for us. In order to move forward we will definitely need some help due to crazy costs but getting to this point was half the battle. There will never be adequate words to illustrate how grateful we are for the support of our family and friends. ?