TLDR:

After 13 years of struggling with infertility, one beautiful rainbow baby, we are attempting IVF to hopefully add one more baby to our family (a girl, if Dean has any say). IVF is not covered at all by our insurance, so we ask for your help.

Read on for more of our story:

Hi, we are Cassie and Alex Aschinger and have been married since 2007.

After having three years of growth in our relationship and lots of fun adventures exploring California, we decided to start our family in 2010. We unknowingly and naively entered into a very difficult and heartbreaking time.

While working to build our careers and living across the country from our families back in the Midwest, we struggled for 8 years with both difficulties getting pregnant and loss after pregnancy. We suffered 6 miscarriages over that time.

As a high school teacher, then counselor and Alex working as an actor, our health insurance did not cover any fertility testing or treatment. We struggled to understand what was going on. We had every test run and the best OBGYN in the world, but were still not able to come up with any answers. With one more attempt for a child prior to seeking alternative options, we got pregnant with our miracle boy Dean who was born in 2018.

We were over the moon to finally become parents.

Unfortunately, Alex’s mom got sick. During her illness, we came back to the midwest as often as we could and Alex very quickly realized the importance of having his siblings while traversing the pain of losing a parent. We knew that we wanted Dean to have a sibling, so in 2020 we decided to grow our family with the hopes that having had a baby, it wouldn't be such a challenge the next time around.

In addition to embarking on the journey to add to our family, we also decided to move back home to be closer to family. We bought our first house. A beautiful 1958 mid century gem that needs some work to bring it back to its former glory.

We essentially decided to start over at 38 & 42. We settled into our new normal, but unfortunately have had 5 additional miscarriages since trying to bring another baby into this world.

This past school year has been one of the toughest years for us physically, mentally and emotionally. I miscarried in the fall of 2022, winter of 2023 and spring of 2023. It was enough to move forward with fertility testing and hope for a solution.

Thankfully, we happened to find ourselves at a great clinic with a doctor who did everything she could to help us. However, after seeing numerous doctors and having countless tests done over the last 13 years, it seems our best option to provide a sibling for Dean is to try IVF.

As a high school counselor and creative, neither of us is in a position to afford this elective choice without outside assistance. None of the medications or procedures are covered by insurance and are all expected in full up front.

We need all of the help we can get. Please donate whatever you feel is impactful in helping us reach our goal. Thank you!