Baby Millsap IVF
We are Nathan and Cheyenne Millsap. We first met in 2007 when we were just teens in middle school. In 2010 we started dating and by 2013 we were married. Nathan is in the Army, so with field training and deployments we never really decided to start a family right away. After his second deployment in 2016 we decided it was time to start trying. We were both young and healthy and excited for what the future held for us.
In July 2016, we quickly became pregnant for the first time. We were over the moon with excitement! We had previously planned a belated honeymoon to Maui. Enjoying island life and having a blast, all while drinking virgin pina coladas. Our last day of the most special trip of our lives, at six weeks pregnant we ended up having a miscarriage. Even though we were heartbroken with time we began to heal. After a few months we began to continue trying off and on.
Then in July 2017, exactly a year later we became pregnant for the second time. Man were we surprised! We had a weekend trip planned to go home and tell family all about our exciting news. Our family was thrilled for what was to come. We tried not to get our hopes up and continued praying. But that weekend ended up with a miscarriage yet again. This time we were devastated. Our hearts were broken even more over another loss. We decided then and there it was time to get answers. The first doctor I saw told me I was young and healthy to just keep trying. I wasn't satisfied with that answer so I moved on to seeking help elsewhere.
After multiple tests and blood draws we found out I had a uterine polyp. So in July 2019, I underwent my first surgery to have it removed. Then in August 2019, I finally started my first medicated treatment. For three months my body continued to not respond. It became pretty clear that I was not producing mature follicles. Ovarian follicles potentially release an egg. Since I wasn't responding we decided it was time to move on. I finally ended up getting a referral to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist. After another round of multiple tests and blood draws we found out that Nathan potentially had an infertility issue as well. The doctor told us we would only have a 5% chance of conceiving on our own, and that our miscarriage rate would be 85%. He said our highest success rate would be with IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). At the time we didn’t feel that was our next step just yet.
In January 2020, we became pregnant for the third time. On our own, by God's grace. Because I was already considered a high risk and seeing a RE, I had to go in three times a week for blood draws. My poor arms were bruised like no other, but we slowly kept getting excited for each new milestone. By six weeks we were both able to hear our sweet baby’s heartbeat. With tears of joy in our eyes we couldn’t fathom the gift we were given. We continued to pray that this baby would stick and it was finally our turn. At our eight week ultrasound, we got to see how much our baby had grown. With a funny look on the doctor's face he continued to apologize, confused as to why our baby’s heart had stopped beating. Once again our lives were destroyed! We were so angry and hurt, we didn't understand why God would give and take from us again. This loss hurt ten times worse and cut us deeper than the other two miscarriages.
After six months of healing, we have decided to continue moving forward with our fertility journey. We ended up doing two unsuccessful medicated cycles before we moved to Alaska. Unfortunately, our next step would be moving forward with IVF. Alaska doesn’t have a specialist so we will have to travel to Washington to continue our treatments. Although we have not given up on wanting to start our family our insurance no longer will cover the costs for our next step. If you're not familiar with IVF, it’s a very expensive treatment ($20,000). We will also have large expenses from traveling between Alaska and Washington. There is no guarantee that even doing IVF we will bring a baby home. We have very high hopes, but we still need your help! We need donations to raise funds to create our family. We understand not everyone can donate, so if you could just take a moment to pray for us, send your positive thoughts and well wishes our way we would appreciate it. Something as simple as sharing our story could go a really long way. Anything we raise over our goal we want to donate to other couples that too are struggling to conceive. Thank you so much for reading our story and hopefully being a part of it!