7 Years in the Making: Our Journey to Baby Montague

Meet the Couple

Hi! We are Michael and Ashley, an outdoor-loving couple who strives to live life with fun, generosity and connection at the center of everything we do. You can usually find us exploring with our fur babies or planning our next project.

But the one adventure we want more than anything is parenthood. We have spent years pouring love into our nieces, nephews, and friends’ children, and we want nothing more than to pour that love into a child of our own. If you can donate or share, you are helping make this dream a reality

The Medical Journey

As many of you know, we have been dreaming of growing our family for quite some time. What you may not know is the medical battle we have been fighting behind the scenes to make that dream a reality.

In January 2019, Ashley was diagnosed with Stage 4 deep infiltrating Endometriosis and tubal occlusions (blocked fallopian tubes). While it was heavy news, we had a better understanding of our challenges.

We spent the next few years navigating specialists exploring our options. Despite being told early on that in vitro fertilization (IVF) would be our only route, we wanted to exhaust every other possibility first. Before turning to medical intervention, we changed diets, adjusted our lifestyles and invested in every over-the-counter medication, vitamin and supplement recommended to boost fertility. We did everything “right” for a long time, hoping a healthier lifestyle would help us overcome the odds.

In November 2024, we found new hope when updated testing cleared us to try an alternative option. Starting the new year with high hopes, we began a Clomid trial. Despite excellent test results and perfect responses to medication, we completed the maximum number of cycles our specialist would allow without success.

Why We Need IVF

The frustrating part of our journey is that, on paper, we are ready to conceive. My ovaries are producing eggs, and Michael has had multiple screenings over the years with perfect results. We have all the right `ingredients` but endometriosis and scarring are keeping them apart.

After years of trying, tests, and failed cycles of medication, we are circling back to the advice we received from the specialists at Oregon Reproductive Medicine: IVF is our only path to conception.

Despite the heartbreak of the last few years, our doctors have given us a silver lining: We are ideal candidates. IVF is designed to bypass exactly this kind of mechanical blockage, giving us a very high probability of success.

How You Can Help

We are ready to take this next step but the cost of IVF is overwhelming. We are swallowing our pride to ask for help funding this procedure and starting our family. Every donation brings us one step closer to the baby we've been waiting years for.

Where Your Donations Go

We value transparency and want you to know exactly how your support is helping us. IVF is a complex medical process with separate and extensive costs.

Total Estimated Goal: ~$25,000+, and this doesn’t include travel expenses to get treatment.

We both want to thank you for your kindness, your generosity, and for believing in our dream of parenthood! Every share and every donation is a tangible step, helping us take the last, most important leap toward finally growing our family tree. We are determined to start our IVF journey this year. With your help, we can make this dream a reality.

We plan to add updates as we move through the process.

To donate directly:

An IVF Fund account is setup in our names at Old West Federal Credit Union.

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