Our Wish for a Family!

My name is Shaylene McCoy and I feel as if my husband Branden and I have one of the most solid relationships as a couple and as friends. We have now been together for seven years! We've had a few things here and there in our past that have tested our relationship but nothing like the path we're on now. Before we got married we were excited to start our family, after months of not being successful we found out our only option was to do In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Many couples are able to try some less invasive alternatives to becoming parents but IVF is usually the last and most expensive option. It begins with lots of medications and injections (needles) to trick your body into being pregnant. Then you have a minor procedure knocking you out and collecting all the embryos your body produced- some people produce a lot and some get none. We got 32 which is absolutely amazing!! Then they combine the embryos and the sperm in a petri dish- not a test tube like most people think! We had 24 viable embryos at this point. Next I had to begin taking injections in my stomach every day for about two weeks which Branden administered. If that wasn't fun enough, after the stomach shots came these giant needle injections in your hip. They don't hurt going in but the next day sucks- it's hard to sit down! This process gives you every symptom of being pregnant: Finally we went in and had the embryos put back in (we did only two). Then we had to wait and it was two weeks of hell! We did one IVF cycle starting in November 2013 ending in December. The IVF success rate is about 40% and I would have bet my life I was pregnant but in the end it was a fail: It was one of the saddest moments of our lives... I was an idiot and got the results at work and couldn't stop crying in the back room. Lucky for me, I have the best salon team and they continue to be very understanding and supportive. Not to be discouraged we immediately tried again. The second IVF procedure was so painful and I felt bad for Branden as he held my hand. I was a lot more relaxed through this one- I told myself there's no use in stressing- I can't change the result. We have had the best support system considering how hard it must be to understand what we were going through from the outside. The results for the second IVF were negative: I was a lot more calm but still completely discouraged. The stress was compounded by the expense- we've invested more money then I even knew we had in this process and no part of it is covered by insurance.
After taking a much needed break, we have decided to keep trying but rather than keeping it to ourselves, we've decided to share our journey and ask for the support of all our family and friends. We need your emotional support which includes prayers and positive thoughts. We need your physical support which includes an encouraging post, email or text. But we also know that a lot of people don't want to stop there. Which is why we have created this page- A simple way for those who want to give in a monetary way as well.
Our families have been very generous and we are prepared to max ourselves out financially again. However, we are asking you to consider helping us as we continue this amazing journey as well. We thank everyone for the love and support that we have already received!
Please feel free to share our story with others.
Branden and I thank you for reading this through to the end. Thank you for joining us as we get closer to our dream of becoming parents.
Love,
Branden and Shaylene