Help Rich and Danielle through their IVF journey.
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Short Story of our fertility struggle and loss Journey
Hi, we are the Evans (Danielle 32 yrs. old & Richard 38 yrs. old) and this is our story of fertility struggle and loss. Growing up I knew I always wanted to have what every woman wants, a loving husband and children to call her own. I found the man of my dreams but having children on our own has come with many challenges. We have been trying for two years for children of our own. During those two years, we have experienced heartbreak after heartbreak. We have experienced one ruptured ectopic pregnancy with which my fallopian tube was removed, and I almost died from bleeding internally. Then about 6 months later, we experienced another ectopic pregnancy and the loss of our second baby. After the second ectopic pregnancy we were told we can no longer do it on our own because the next pregnancy could kill me. So, our remaining options for having a family are IVF or adoption. We have decided we want to try all options to have our own baby first, so we have decided to try the path of IVF. We are asking for prayerful and financial support on our journey.
Now, if you are looking for in-depth detail, then this read is for you:
A little about us, we met about 7 years ago on a dating site and were friends about 5 of those years as he was pursuing his career and I was mine. About 3 years ago, life settled down for us and we realized we were more than friends and started dating. We dated for about 9 months before we were engaged in May of 2018 and in December of 2018 we were married. We both knew we wanted to have kids so about two months into our marriage we started trying to have a little family of our own. We tried for almost a year and a half. After each month of heartbreak after heartbreak upon looking at the negative pregnancy test, we knew it was time for help.
So, we decided to seek help from our OBGYN. They ran all sorts of tests on us-flushing fluid through my tubes to see if they were open, ultrasounds, vaginal exams, blood, and sperm analyses on my husband. The doctor came back with the test results and the only reason he could find for infertility was the date of ovulation. I was ovulating on day 18-19, when most women ovulate on day 13-14. He suggested we try fertility medicine to help my body ovulate at the correct time.
We started the medicine and within the first cycle I found out I was pregnant. I was over the moon because I couldn’t believe the medicine worked! I wanted to make sure I was pregnant before I surprised Rich with the news, so I called the doctor and they got me in for bloodwork ASAP. The bloodwork came back that I was pregnant (35 HCG). I surprised Rich with the news and we both cried tears of joy because we had been waiting for this day for so long! Two days later, I went in to get my bloodwork again and when I got my results back the HCG levels didn’t double like they are supposed to within a 48-hour time period. The doctor said not to worry at this time, but to come back in two days to repeat the bloodwork. Two days later I went in for bloodwork and my HCG levels dropped to 24. The nurse called me and told me I was having a miscarriage and I would start seeing the effects of it by the weekend. I was heartbroken, I felt like a piece of me had died, and I felt like I was in a horrible dream. My body did exactly what the nurse said, and I thought I had lost our baby. I was devastated and felt like I did something wrong. WHY COULDNT I GET AND STAY PREGNANT was a question I kept asking myself.
A month went by and I felt like we were ready to start trying for our rainbow baby. We decided not to use any ovulation medicine because we wanted to take a break from doctors and leave it in God’s hands. We did and in May we found out we were expecting again. I couldn't believe I was pregnant with my rainbow baby and the best part-my HCG levels were in the thousands, much higher than they had been a month ago. They never doubled, but they were rising, and we just knew we would be having our rainbow baby. We surprised our family with the news on May 10th and we were all so excited for this baby. A couple days after announcing we were going to have a baby, I started bleeding again and I knew something wasn’t right. On May 18th, I went to the doctor for an ultrasound and they informed me that most likely I was having a miscarriage again. My heart was broken and upon getting my HCG levels back it was confirmed that I was losing the baby.
Later that night, I was having sharp pains in my side, so my husband ran a bath for me to help ease the pain from another miscarriage. While relaxing, I noticed that the pain started traveling up to my ribs, then to the back of my shoulder blades. I stood up from the bath and instantly had tunnel vision, horrible pain in my abdomen area that took my breath away, and I started screaming for Rich. He helped get me out of the bath, helped me get dressed and we called the doctor. The on-call doctor told me to get to the emergency room ASAP as this sounds like an ectopic pregnancy.
My husband rushed me to the hospital, where they ran several tests and within 30 minutes of being admitted to the ER I was being prepped for surgery. The scariest part of all, I was alone. Rich was not able to be with me due to COVID protocol. They found I was two months along, so I had been pregnant since my first pregnancy and had not miscarried like I thought. They explained my fallopian tube had ruptured and I was bleeding internally. The on-call doctor looked me in the eyes and told me that I would die within two hours if I didn’t go into surgery immediately. I just started praying because I knew that God was with me no matter what was happening. Once they got me back into surgery, I had 4 liters of blood in my abdomen and my fallopian tube was about the size of a golf ball. They had to remove my fallopian tube on my right side. That day I lost my first baby and a part of me. I was heartbroken and felt like less than a woman. Now, I only had one fallopian tube left to be able to give us a baby. I was lost, angry, sad, depressed, scared and all the emotions you could feel when you lose something, someone. I felt like my world had been ripped away from me.
At first, I was angry with God, but as I healed, I drew closer to Him. He was, and still is my rock through this dark time in my life. Once I was healed from my surgery the doctor felt like I needed to rest my body for about a month. After the month, we decided to start trying again because I still had one good Fallopian tube left. We started back on the fertility medicines. After six months of trying nothing was happening. I felt completely defeated and scared that I would never be able to give my husband a baby or have that family that I had always prayed for.
The doctor suggested an IUI along with the fertility medicine, so we tried it. After trying the IUI we patiently waited until it was time to take a pregnancy test. The pregnancy test came back negative and two days later I had a normal period. But I knew God had a plan for us and knew that we could try an IUI again the next month. Three days after my period ended, I noticed I was bleeding again, and I instantly knew something was wrong. I took a pregnancy test and it said positive. Rich rushed me up to the hospital where they confirmed I was pregnant; however, the bleeding was a concern to the ER doctor.
For the next week every other day they were doing bloodwork and ultrasounds to make sure the numbers were going up and doubling, as they should, and they were. I was praying that this was going to be my rainbow baby and that the bleeding was from implantation, but my worst fears were realized when my HCG levels went down. This meant I lost my second baby. They conducted an ultrasound on me and found the baby was stuck in my fallopian tube. This was my one and only good fallopian tube left, and I was devastated. The doctor told me the baby could not survive in the fallopian tube and the only way to safely remove it was to take methotrexate. I had to take the medication to prevent the fallopian tube from rupturing and being sent back to surgery. That was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life. In my mind I knew it had to be done, but in my heart, I wanted to protect my baby. While the medication was being injected into me it felt like my soul was leaving my body. I have never cried so much in my life, but I also had peace because I knew God was going to get us through this hard time.
I went back to the doctor after the shot and I was informed since I have had two ectopic pregnancies I should not try to conceive on my own anymore. I was told next time it could kill me because my chances of having another ectopic pregnancy now increased by 60 percent. My heart was broken because our options for having a family were now dwindled down to IVF or adoption.
We are asking for help through this hard and long journey of IVF. We would love to go through our insurance, but insurance does not cover IVF, so we must find the money on our own. We are currently still paying medical bills from the last two pregnancies and all that entailed. Now having to pay for IVF seems almost impossible. We understand if you are unable to financially support us but sharing our story and praying for us helps us as well. Thank you for taking the time to read our story, donating, and sharing. You all are such a blessing to us, and we will never be able to THANK YOU enough for your loving, caring support.
We will be starting the process within the next couple of months and anything that you would be willing to donate to help us would be greatly appreciated as the funds are due upon treatment.
Hi, we are the Evans (Danielle 32 yrs. old & Richard 38 yrs. old) and this is our story of fertility struggle and loss. Growing up I knew I always wanted to have what every woman wants, a loving husband and children to call her own. I found the man of my dreams but having children on our own has come with many challenges. We have been trying for two years for children of our own. During those two years, we have experienced heartbreak after heartbreak. We have experienced one ruptured ectopic pregnancy with which my fallopian tube was removed, and I almost died from bleeding internally. Then about 6 months later, we experienced another ectopic pregnancy and the loss of our second baby. After the second ectopic pregnancy we were told we can no longer do it on our own because the next pregnancy could kill me. So, our remaining options for having a family are IVF or adoption. We have decided we want to try all options to have our own baby first, so we have decided to try the path of IVF. We are asking for prayerful and financial support on our journey.
Now, if you are looking for in-depth detail, then this read is for you:
A little about us, we met about 7 years ago on a dating site and were friends about 5 of those years as he was pursuing his career and I was mine. About 3 years ago, life settled down for us and we realized we were more than friends and started dating. We dated for about 9 months before we were engaged in May of 2018 and in December of 2018 we were married. We both knew we wanted to have kids so about two months into our marriage we started trying to have a little family of our own. We tried for almost a year and a half. After each month of heartbreak after heartbreak upon looking at the negative pregnancy test, we knew it was time for help.
So, we decided to seek help from our OBGYN. They ran all sorts of tests on us-flushing fluid through my tubes to see if they were open, ultrasounds, vaginal exams, blood, and sperm analyses on my husband. The doctor came back with the test results and the only reason he could find for infertility was the date of ovulation. I was ovulating on day 18-19, when most women ovulate on day 13-14. He suggested we try fertility medicine to help my body ovulate at the correct time.
We started the medicine and within the first cycle I found out I was pregnant. I was over the moon because I couldn’t believe the medicine worked! I wanted to make sure I was pregnant before I surprised Rich with the news, so I called the doctor and they got me in for bloodwork ASAP. The bloodwork came back that I was pregnant (35 HCG). I surprised Rich with the news and we both cried tears of joy because we had been waiting for this day for so long! Two days later, I went in to get my bloodwork again and when I got my results back the HCG levels didn’t double like they are supposed to within a 48-hour time period. The doctor said not to worry at this time, but to come back in two days to repeat the bloodwork. Two days later I went in for bloodwork and my HCG levels dropped to 24. The nurse called me and told me I was having a miscarriage and I would start seeing the effects of it by the weekend. I was heartbroken, I felt like a piece of me had died, and I felt like I was in a horrible dream. My body did exactly what the nurse said, and I thought I had lost our baby. I was devastated and felt like I did something wrong. WHY COULDNT I GET AND STAY PREGNANT was a question I kept asking myself.
A month went by and I felt like we were ready to start trying for our rainbow baby. We decided not to use any ovulation medicine because we wanted to take a break from doctors and leave it in God’s hands. We did and in May we found out we were expecting again. I couldn't believe I was pregnant with my rainbow baby and the best part-my HCG levels were in the thousands, much higher than they had been a month ago. They never doubled, but they were rising, and we just knew we would be having our rainbow baby. We surprised our family with the news on May 10th and we were all so excited for this baby. A couple days after announcing we were going to have a baby, I started bleeding again and I knew something wasn’t right. On May 18th, I went to the doctor for an ultrasound and they informed me that most likely I was having a miscarriage again. My heart was broken and upon getting my HCG levels back it was confirmed that I was losing the baby.
Later that night, I was having sharp pains in my side, so my husband ran a bath for me to help ease the pain from another miscarriage. While relaxing, I noticed that the pain started traveling up to my ribs, then to the back of my shoulder blades. I stood up from the bath and instantly had tunnel vision, horrible pain in my abdomen area that took my breath away, and I started screaming for Rich. He helped get me out of the bath, helped me get dressed and we called the doctor. The on-call doctor told me to get to the emergency room ASAP as this sounds like an ectopic pregnancy.
My husband rushed me to the hospital, where they ran several tests and within 30 minutes of being admitted to the ER I was being prepped for surgery. The scariest part of all, I was alone. Rich was not able to be with me due to COVID protocol. They found I was two months along, so I had been pregnant since my first pregnancy and had not miscarried like I thought. They explained my fallopian tube had ruptured and I was bleeding internally. The on-call doctor looked me in the eyes and told me that I would die within two hours if I didn’t go into surgery immediately. I just started praying because I knew that God was with me no matter what was happening. Once they got me back into surgery, I had 4 liters of blood in my abdomen and my fallopian tube was about the size of a golf ball. They had to remove my fallopian tube on my right side. That day I lost my first baby and a part of me. I was heartbroken and felt like less than a woman. Now, I only had one fallopian tube left to be able to give us a baby. I was lost, angry, sad, depressed, scared and all the emotions you could feel when you lose something, someone. I felt like my world had been ripped away from me.
At first, I was angry with God, but as I healed, I drew closer to Him. He was, and still is my rock through this dark time in my life. Once I was healed from my surgery the doctor felt like I needed to rest my body for about a month. After the month, we decided to start trying again because I still had one good Fallopian tube left. We started back on the fertility medicines. After six months of trying nothing was happening. I felt completely defeated and scared that I would never be able to give my husband a baby or have that family that I had always prayed for.
The doctor suggested an IUI along with the fertility medicine, so we tried it. After trying the IUI we patiently waited until it was time to take a pregnancy test. The pregnancy test came back negative and two days later I had a normal period. But I knew God had a plan for us and knew that we could try an IUI again the next month. Three days after my period ended, I noticed I was bleeding again, and I instantly knew something was wrong. I took a pregnancy test and it said positive. Rich rushed me up to the hospital where they confirmed I was pregnant; however, the bleeding was a concern to the ER doctor.
For the next week every other day they were doing bloodwork and ultrasounds to make sure the numbers were going up and doubling, as they should, and they were. I was praying that this was going to be my rainbow baby and that the bleeding was from implantation, but my worst fears were realized when my HCG levels went down. This meant I lost my second baby. They conducted an ultrasound on me and found the baby was stuck in my fallopian tube. This was my one and only good fallopian tube left, and I was devastated. The doctor told me the baby could not survive in the fallopian tube and the only way to safely remove it was to take methotrexate. I had to take the medication to prevent the fallopian tube from rupturing and being sent back to surgery. That was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life. In my mind I knew it had to be done, but in my heart, I wanted to protect my baby. While the medication was being injected into me it felt like my soul was leaving my body. I have never cried so much in my life, but I also had peace because I knew God was going to get us through this hard time.
I went back to the doctor after the shot and I was informed since I have had two ectopic pregnancies I should not try to conceive on my own anymore. I was told next time it could kill me because my chances of having another ectopic pregnancy now increased by 60 percent. My heart was broken because our options for having a family were now dwindled down to IVF or adoption.
We are asking for help through this hard and long journey of IVF. We would love to go through our insurance, but insurance does not cover IVF, so we must find the money on our own. We are currently still paying medical bills from the last two pregnancies and all that entailed. Now having to pay for IVF seems almost impossible. We understand if you are unable to financially support us but sharing our story and praying for us helps us as well. Thank you for taking the time to read our story, donating, and sharing. You all are such a blessing to us, and we will never be able to THANK YOU enough for your loving, caring support.
We will be starting the process within the next couple of months and anything that you would be willing to donate to help us would be greatly appreciated as the funds are due upon treatment.
Organizer
Danielle Evans
Organizer
Lakeland, FL