Heather & Ryans IVF dream

Ever since I was a little girl, I had always dreamed of the day I would become a mother. My mother came from a large family, and my family was very close. I met my husband Ryan in 2013, and instantly knew he was the love of my life. He had a son from a previous relationship, and wanted more kids. We became engaged in early 2014, and were married 6 months later on October 11th. We knew we wanted to start a family right away, and I was turning 34 that year, and Ryan was 28. We started ttc in September 2014, and when we hadn't become pregnant by December, we started to be a little concerned. The doctor said due to my "increased age," that there was no need for concern until we reached 6 months-a year. February 2015 hit and we still had not become pregnant, we made an appointment with a highly recommended obgyn in the area that we paid out of network cost for. We spent the next 6 months paying for testing to be done of all sorts and kinds, multiple office and hospital visits for labs, and a lot of poking and prodding me in painful ways to determine if there were any underlying fertility issues. Other than a thyroid concern which was previously known, there were no other issues that they could find other than me having a thin uterine lining. Finally, after 6 months of visits and tests, we were approved to start Femara, a hormone based drug that helps with issues of ttc. We got the prescription sent to our pharmacy, and two days before we were to pick it up, we found out that we were pregnant naturally. Unfortunately, 5 days later after sharing the news with family and close friends, we had a miscarriage on September 25, 2015. We were completely devastated. We had to wait another cycle to start the Femara. We took the Femara and went to the obgyn twice for an ultrasound for the next 3 months. When paying out of network that cost adds up quickly. In January 2016, I was at the hospital waiting for my God daughter to be born, and I got a call from the obgyn saying that there was nothing more she could do for us, and that she would be referring us to a specialist in Fort Wayne. Our hearts again were broken. It took us 5 months to finally accept that we were most likely not going to conceive on our own, or with mild scientific intervention. We made the call to the specialist, and made an appointment to do an IUI procedure in July. Our insurance does not cover fertility treatments, so we had to take out a loan (which we are still paying off) for $2,000 to cover the cost of the IUI and the medications which were $625. They told us there was a 10% chance of it taking the first time, and on July 16, 2016, we found out we were again pregnant. We shared the news with close friends and family, and began enjoying the symptoms and signs that came with the pregnancy. When we went to our first ultrasound appointment in August though, the baby was measuring 2 weeks behind. We came back the following week, and nothing had changed. A week later, we miscarried at 8 weeks. We took time off from trying, prayed a lot, and did our best to accept it. In November 2016 we tried a 2nd IUI, which did not take. This IUI was paid out of pocket by us, while we still were paying off the first loan we took. With the holidays approaching and my husband's work going on shut down for 2 weeks, we had to put any further plans on hold. When we got our taxes back in March, we scheduled our final IUI that we said we would do. We again paid out of pocket, and found out on April 7, 2017 that it had worked. It was short lived joy, as on April 10th, we started to miscarry for a third time. After talking with the specialist, they have decided that IUI is no longer the route they would like to see us go, and that they would strongly suggest doing IVF. I will be 37 soon, and they do not want to wait much longer. We have spent $7000 in specialist fees for the 3 IUI procedures, as well as $2000 in ultrasounds and lab work for our deductible when we were pregnant for the 8 weeks in the last year. The cost of ivf starts at $20,000, and again, is not covered by insurance. To take out a loan for this, it would be equivalent to adding another car payment to our monthly bills. The only reservation we have about the ivf procedure is the money. We want a baby more than anything, but we also have to be realistic that we have every day bills that need to be paid. Any assistance that we can get would be helpful, and we have a hard time even asking for anything at all. It has come to us putting our pride behind us, and realizing that any help we can get will lead us to possibly getting the baby we so desperately desire. Please consider donating to our cause, as we can assure you that you will be helping us to make our dream come true. Thank you so much for taking the time to hear our story.