Help the Tyree's Make a Family

Our Story
My husband and I met when I was 17 through (surprisingly) my ex-boyfriend. I stayed with the ex-boyfriend until 2009, and when he dumped me, Mike and I reconnected on Facebook. We started talking and it felt like we picked up right where we left off. We both had just gotten out of long-term relationships, and were clear about what we wanted: a serious relationship, no bull crap, and eventually a family. He proposed on August 13, 2010 and we were married October 8, 2011.

I knew from an early age that I was going to have difficulty conceiving. I had horrible ovarian cysts that sent me to the hospital on several occasions. However, no one deemed it necessary to tell me why I was having a difficult time with my menstrual cycle.

Once we got married, we started trying to conceive right away. My doctor prescribed Progesterone and Clomid to help start a period since I wasn't having periods at the time, and we got incredibly lucky and conceived on the first round. We were over the moon excited! Since I had conceived through a fertility medicine, the doctor required me to take blood tests every few days to ensure my hCG levels were going up like normal. Unfortunately, we learned on February 14th that something had gone wrong, and we miscarried our first and only pregnancy.

It wasn't until after this event, at the age of 23, a nurse let it slip that I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). Apparently the doctors that had diagnosed me in my teen years didn't think it was important for me to know. The conversation went something like this:

Nurse: "Well, the doctor will need to see you back in the office again before he will put you back on clomid because of your PCOS".

Me: "My....what?"

Nurse: "Your PCOS...polycystic ovarian syndrome? Didn't the doctor talk to you about that?"

Me: "uh....no?"

Nurse: "oops....uh-oh....uhhhhhh....hold on a second...." *puts me on hold* .....Dr. Robertson needs to see you in his office today. Can you come in the next thirty minutes?

And that's how I learned I had an infertility diagnosis.

It has been 9 years since I lost my first and only pregnancy, and we have tried various procedures and methods to get pregnant. We have been through four or five rounds of Progesterone & Clomid and two IUI treatments. We have also tried timed pregnancy, OTC supplements, ovulation kits, and some hormone helpers.

After six years of trying and failing, we tried to give up on our dreams of having our own child and instead chose to focus on another dream of ours: becoming foster parents. We knew that families are made in many ways, and that maybe eventually this could be our way of making our family whole. Fostering for the past three years has added even more pain, disappointment, and heartbreak to our family, and made us realize that, just like our foster kids, we need permanency. The hope of having our own child hasn't died.

It has been 9 years of looking at a "not pregnant" window on every single pregnancy test I take. Nine years of blood tests, ultrasounds, and being told to lose more weight. Years of failure and disappointment. Years of wasted money and anger at insurance companies who cover 0% of the cost. We tried to give up and move on, but this is one dream I cannot give up on.

The Impact
So why do I tell you all this? Why have I finally posted all of this? Those who know me know that I am pretty open about the fact that I am infertile, but I have not shared how big of a loss infertility can be. This is something I have spent years of sleepless nights crying over, begging and bargaining with the universe for a child. There are days and nights where Mike and I have fought and argued over what we could have done differently. It has been hard to pretend that life is great when your body rebels against you and cannot do what so many others around you can so easily.

At the end of the day, we need your help. It is only through your generosity and love that our dream can become a reality. As a disclaimer, there is no guarantee that any procedure might work. We will be pursuing IVF or surrogacy, depending on the news we get from the fertility clinic. We CANNOT do this without you.

What We Need: $25,000
We have set our fundraising goal to $25,000. We have two options of creating a family: IVF or surrogacy. The costs for both are similar, although surrogacy will be a bit more.

Breakdown of Expenses for IVF:

• Intake Appointment $500
• IVF with ICSI $25,500 (includes 3 IVF Egg Retrievals for Embryo Banking + PGT-A + Unlimited Frozen-Thawed Embryo Transfers)

Breakdown of Expenses for Surrogacy

**This option will only be pursued if it is found that my uterus cannot house a fetus. I am RH- on top of having PCOS. The $25,000 will be a down payment into the cost of surrogacy, which runs as high as $90,000 in Virginia. This is not our preferred method of starting a family due to current surrogacy laws in Virginia and concerns about attachment.

Perks

• We don't have much to offer, but anyone who donates will receive a handwritten thank you note from us and I will gladly send you updates on the pregnancy if you'd like them.

Other Ways You Can Help

• Spread Awareness - Talk to your friends/neighbors about infertility and be supportive. Let those who are suffering know they are not alone.
• Take a Stand - Write to your local congressperson and request that more grants and funding be made available for infertility or request that infertility treatments be covered by insurance companies.
• Be Supportive - Please keep us in your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, candle lighting ceremonies, etc.
• Share - Share this site with your friends who may feel led to donate.