Brown’s Surrogacy Journey

My name is Maryum Brown, 39 years old, happily married to the best husband in the world, Omar Brown. I am the owner of Little Futures Daycare LLC with an associate degree in Early Childhood as well as Psychology. Words cannot explain my love for children, and it has always been my dream to become a mother. Even though I have been dealing with infertility for 10 years, I still hope the dream will be fulfilled one day. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 6 years. In 2019 before starting our IVF journey, my OBGYN doctor started me on Clomid (a medication that increases the level of hormones that support the growth and release of mature eggs). This was the last result before referring us to an IVF doc, which was so scary early on when Kroger Pharmacy gave me the wrong medication. My name and the name of the medication were correctly labeled on the bottle, but the pills inside were different. Without knowing the mishap, I began taking the medication daily as prescribed. Within a few days into the medication, I began experiencing fatigue and extreme emotional imbalance. By day 4, I got a total breakdown such that I could not take care of Daycare children properly. I immediately realized something was wrong and Thank God I had the strength to call my parents and my sister, who is a registered nurse, and explain how I was feeling. Immediately she advised me to check my medication and send her pictures, and that is how we realized that I was taking Clomipramine Hydrochloride (treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and depression). As a result of taking the wrong medication, my balance was off. I fell in my kitchen, hitting my head on the kitchen table, where I ended up with a concussion and a back injury. In 2020, we started our IVF journey, and we were so excited to finally get answers. We found out I had PCOS and Asherman’s Syndrome, while my husband had Abnormal sperm (sperm had two heads, two tails, and thick necks, most swimming in a circular direction rather than a forward direction), so they would have to use a zymot to be able to select the good sperm. In order for us to have a successful pregnancy, we would have a better success rate with IVF instead of IUI. As I prepared my body with various medications and vitamins for successful egg retrieval, I would have a breakdown, scared to take any type of pills because of what happened previously with Kroger. In my first retrieval, they retrieved 26 eggs, 19 mature, 7 made it to blast, and 4 were normal. In my second retrieval, I ended up with 2 normal embryos (all embryos were PG tested). In Dec 2020, my husband and I decided to transfer a girl embryo, and it was a success. Jan 1st, I found out I was pregnant. Words can’t explain how happy our hearts were; my family was so excited. I was 10 weeks pregnant, and my pregnancy was going great. I graduated from my IVF clinic and scheduled my first appointment with my OBGYN at 11 weeks; little did I know that this day would be the worst day of my life. The doctor couldn’t find a heartbeat with the Doppler, and after doing an ultrasound, my baby was just sitting there, not moving at all. Just a week before, she had a strong heartbeat, flipping all over the place. I was completely broken. A week later, I had a DNC, and my doctor ran multiple tests when we realized that I have NKC (Natural born killer cells, which means that my body basically fights off the embryos as if it’s a virus) as well as Protein S deficiency. This means I would have to take blood thinners as well as Intralipid infusion. Since then, we have done 3 transfers. 1 failed, and 2 ended in a chemical (early miscarriage). I’m tired and exhausted, I have done over 300 injections, and I can’t do another one. I have one boy embryo left, and although it would be nice to carry my own child, I rather not risk it. My husband and I, as well as my doctor, feel it’s best to go with a surrogate. Unfortunately, our insurance doesn’t cover surrogacy, and we will have to pay 70,000 out of pocket. I am asking you to help us on this new path by donating to our fundraiser. We are seeking assistance with the financial burden of surrogacy, and we would be honored if you could help. Even $5 would mean the world to us and help me fight for our future family. Thank you for reading.