A Sibling for Nicolas

This is Nicolas Wardrop. He is my best friend/sister’s miracle baby. He loves people, his favorite animal is a blue whale and he can tell you about almost every dinosaur that has ever been discovered, but he can’t decide if he wants to be a paleontologist or a fertility doctor when he grows up. More than anything, Nicolas wants to be a big brother. He knows that his parents, James and Stephanie Reay Wardrop, have been trying to give him a baby brother or sister for over two years now, and he knows he has to be patient. In April, after exhausting every other option known to man, his parents started a process called In Vitro Fertilization. Although Nicolas is fascinated by the internal anatomy models at the doctor’s office, he doesn’t understand everything about the process, but he knows it might help him become a big brother. If he has a little sister he wants to name her Bingo Pequeno. (He will be surprised to learn he won’t be in charge of the naming.)
There have been several complications in this ten month process and Nic understands that it is very expensive. Luckily mom and dad have had great insurance, which has covered most of the cost, but those benefits have been exhausted. Even with insurance, out-of-pocket expenses have exceeded $10,000 since April. Nic doesn’t know how much that is, but he knows it’s a lot. Nic has watched mom give herself hundreds of shots in the belly, and he’s spent lots of time at grandma’s house while mom has visited the doctor. He’s dealt with mom for many months while she has been taking “crazy pills”; she hasn’t always been very patient or happy. She tells him it’s worth all of it. He loves every baby he comes in contact with, and he believes that mom must be right.
Out of 23 eggs harvested over several months, only one became a viable embryo. Two of the three rounds of IVF were unsuccessful, and heart breaking. But now Nic’s mom and dad are ready to transfer that precious embryo (set for February 1st) and become pregnant, but they don’t know how they will pay for it, and it has to be paid for in advance. Thankfully there is something each of us can do to help Nicolas. Maybe you know someone who would be touched by his story, maybe that someone is you. If you can give, please give; if you cannot, or do not feel inclined to give, please simply share and like this post. Either way you will be an answer to prayers. Thanks, Ashley Carter