Chris & Lilly Lille's IVF

Hi! We are Chris & Lilly Lille. We are husband and wife and are both elementary teachers at the same school. I teach 4th grade, and Chris teaches P.E. Chris and I have been married since April 2017, where shortly thereafter we began trying for a baby.

In early October 2017, we had our first positive test. We were both so excited, and of course, I immediately imagined all things “baby”. I scheduled blood work and a new OB appointment, and everything seemed to be like a typical early pregnancy. Toward the end of that month, I was teaching and started spotting. I called my OBGYN right away, while an amazing co-worker covered my class. I went to get checked out later that afternoon, where the ultrasound was not promising, and was told we had to wait and see what my labs would show. A few days later, I started to miscarry at school. It was an utterly painful process, physically, emotionally, and mentally. You’d think, you miscarry, and everything is over, but that’s often not how it works. You’re subjected to blood draws every other day and, as a teacher, this often means having to share details with coworkers you wish you could keep to yourself because you need sub coverage. For my first miscarriage I was monitored for over a month, going in every other day to check to make sure my levels continued to drop.

This was just our first loss.

Since then, we’ve lost 5 more natural pregnancies, including 1 ruptured ectopic that resulted in the loss of my left tube, and went through a IVF cycle in 2018, where the only embryo we had to transfer failed to implant.

In November 2020, Chris and I made the decision to seek help from a reproductive endocrinologist again. We decided to switch to a new clinic, hoping for better care and communication than where we did our first IVF treatment. Here, they ran tests that had not been run before, which helped us see that I had some obstacles that might be preventing a viable pregnancy. We were hopeful that after having some other testing and a procedure done, we may be able to have a healthy pregnancy on our own.

Unfortunately, in July 2021, after meeting with our specialist, we were handed some new data that points us back down the road of IVF again. My ovarian reserve is considered “old” for my age, and I likely have a tubal abnormality on my right side, which raises concern for another tubal ectopic. We also discussed possible endometriosis, another factor that can make getting and staying pregnant difficult, if untreated.

As of now, we have been told that IVF gives us the most hope to grow our family. Also, with the “old” ovarian reserve, it is best if we start the process as soon as possible. We are currently on the list for a laparoscopy to check for endometriosis this August/September and an egg retrieval cycle for October. With lots of love, prayers, and positive vibes, our hope would be to have an embryo transfer in November.

Chris and I have been down the IVF road before and know how intense and draining this process is. Our biggest concern is the financial side of IVF. Our cycle in 2018 cost us over $30,000 with lab fees, office visits, medication, a retrieval procedure, and an embryo transfer. Unfortunately, our health insurance through the school system does not cover anything related to infertility (diagnostic or treatment).

We would appreciate any help you can offer to help us add to our family. No donation is too small, and if you cannot donate at this time, we would appreciate a “like” or a “share”, to help share our story with others.

Thank you to everyone who has shown us an immense amount of love and support over the last four years. It means much more than you will ever know.

-Chris & Lilly Lille