Hi! We are Pete and Ansley Ervin, and we are trying to have a baby. We met and fell in love in 2014. On our first date we went to the library, got dinner on the square in Covington, Georgia, and had ice cream at Scoops afterwards. Ever since then, we’ve barely spent any time apart. We started our careers, married in October ‘15, bought a house, and a car, all with having a family in mind. Pete is athletic and has always seen himself sharing his love of sports with our kids. Anytime our neighbor’s grandkids are over he (along with our dog, Tolkien) is outside with them, chasing, catching, and throwing a ball, or teaching them how to swing a golf club. Ansley grew up with several younger siblings, and has always loved babies and children. She is a NICU nurse, and puts her heart and soul into caring for her tiny patients, and their parents, as they navigate life in the NICU. We both share a love of reading and music (Pete plays the guitar, and Ansley plays the piano) and hope to be able to share our favorite stories and songs with our children one day. Our first years as a couple weren’t always easy, so we hoped our inability to get pregnant might just come down to stress. Pete’s grandad passed away, Ansley worked night shift for a year to when she started her dream job in the NICU, and her dad passed away. After a year of trying and no baby, Ansley was diagnosed with PCOS. Eventually we realized that our infertility couldn’t just be stress, and we tried all of the things. Clomid, letrozole, trigger shots, opks, tracking basal body temperature, etc. You name it, we tried it. Our doctor suggested we move on to a fertility specialist in Atlanta for IVF, but due to the cost, we chose to wait and see. People like to say, “just relax,” and “it’ll happen when you least expect it,” or “just stop trying and you’ll get pregnant!” but that didn’t work out for us, either. In Fall 2020, just before our 5th anniversary, we decided to try IUI(intrauterine insemination)with an OB in town. Our new OB suspected Ansley had endometriosis, and did surgery a week later to confirm, and remove it! We were hopeful that we would be pregnant soon afterwards, but,4 IUIs later and still no baby, we decided it was time to consider IVF. In April 2021 we met with Dr. Slayden of Reproductive Biology Associates, and started all of the required tests and bloodwork. We did one last IUI which, as expected, was not successful. Our first IVF cycle for egg retrieval (September ‘21) was cancelled due to Ansley having several ovarian cysts. We had a successful retrieval in November ‘21, and are grateful to have 6 little Ervin embryos on ice. Each one of these embryos represent the chance to get pregnant. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that an embryo transfer will work. We are hoping and praying to bring one of our little embryos home to Ansley’s uterus in the next several months! While we are incredibly blessed with good jobs, neither of our employers offer infertility benefits. The procedures themselves are incredibly expensive, and so are the medications Ansley has to take. So expensive that we put off IVF for several years. One of the things that hurts the most about infertility is having to pay such a high price for just a chance at conceiving- something so many others get to achieve at little to no cost. Additionally, the financial cost is only one aspect. The emotional, mental, and physical costs are significant. It hasn’t been an easy road. We have been married now for 6 years, and would love nothing more than to be able to have children. Asking for help and support is difficult, and very humbling. However, if you would like to support us as we try to have a baby, please know that we appreciate you more than words can say. much love, Pete and Ansley (and Tolkien, who will be the best dog a kid could ever have!)