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IVF for first baby Maffei

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We would like to say thank you for taking the time to read our story.  We are Alisha and Jonathon Maffei, and here is our story.

     I will start off by telling you a little about Jonathon and I.  We started dating back in 2007, and we got married in October of 2010. We live in Stockton, CA with our three cats: Shadow, Nala and Calypso. Jonathon is thirty seven years young and works full time at a dealership as a porter. I am thirty two years young and work full time at a mechanic shop as an office manager. We both work really hard for what we have. Life together is so amazing and I could not picture life without each other.

    
     A little bit about our background as children. I was born with Pyloric Stenosis which is a condition which the opening between the stomach and small intestine thickens causing me to throw up everything I ate. This condition made me very ill and was in the hospital for quite some time when I was just a few months old. This caused me to have a rough start but after a few months of recovery I was doing much better.
     Jonathon was born three month early and cause several parts of the body to not be fully developed yet. One of which was his heart. When he was born his heart would stop several times, and in order for him to make it through he had to have open heart surgery. Jonathon spent several months in the hospital fighting for his life and eventually he was able to go home. He as well had a very rough start in life but we both do not let this stop us from being our best.



     When we got married we both knew we loved children and always wanted to start our own family right away. We were both so excited to start this process. We decided that a few months before our wedding I would stop taking birth control and start right away on baby #1.
     After about a year of no baby we both decided it was time to start asking our Dr. to start making appointments for us to see what we needed to do. We started off by me going to the Dr. and after several test back to back the Dr. told me to try birth control again and continue to stay on this for 6 month. This was so hard to hear because we both knew that was another half year before we could try again. Although this was not the news we wanted to hear, I went back on birth control. After the 6 months was up our Dr. then said now wait yet another 6 months to see what my body will do. Needless to say nothing happened and she had no other ideas on what we could do. At this point I started doing some research about fertility and we both decided we needed to find another Dr. so we could get more options on what to do. We finally were able to get Kaiser insurance and start again. Because it took us so long to find the Dr. she then wanted to start this process all over again. This time without birth control to see what is really going on. Finally we have an answer after several years. I have a condition called PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome) which is a hormonal disorder causing cysts to form on the outer edges of my ovaries. This condition is one of the most leading causes of infertility in women. At this point we did not know anything about PCOS and we decided to research this condition so we knew what we were in for, but because it had been several years my PCOS was very bad. Our Dr. recommended me to be put on Metformin for a few month to help with the cysts. A few more months went by and although this help a little it was still not enough. At this point we were finally able to see a specialist.
     As we set up the appointments for the specialist, we were informed that our insurance will not cover this and everything is 100% out of pocket. We were so sad and felt let down. We talked this over and said we would love to start our family so lets do this.
     The Dr. ordered lots of blood work, FHS test, ultrasounds and a few more test as well. Just these test alone were about $1500.00. We started to worry about the cost but we also didnt want to stop this process because our ultimate goal is starting a family. After a few office visits we were told that we did not need to go directly into IVF, that with help from fertility hormones they believed we would ovulate. This was such a big relief to us and we were excited to start the hormones. Our first month on hormones I was taking Clomid. Unfortunately for us this did not do anything and we did not ovulate that month. We went back to the Dr. and they suggested that we try Letrozole. Letrozole is not FDA approved but has helped several people to ovulate so we decided to try this. After being on Letrozole we had our appointment to see if this was going to work, and although we got better news it just was not the news we wanted to hear. We were told that the eggs were larger but not large enough to ovulate. Honestly at this point I broke down because I Knew what they were going to say. They were telling us we needed to go to injections which is the next step down from IVF. Although we knew this was going to cost a great deal more we decided to keep going and somehow we will figure out how to pay for all this. We did not want to give up and will not give up on this so I decided to keep taking ovulation test every day even though the Dr. said I would not ovulate. About a week and a half later we got the best news ever and we have been waiting for this the whole time. We finally ovulated!
     A week after we ovulated we had already signed up for the injection classes so we decided to go just in case we were not pregnant. On our way home we got a phone call from Kaiser and the Dr. said my blood work was in and they have the results from our pregnancy test. Our results came back and confirmed that after 7 years of trying to start a family we were finally pregnant. I honestly can not describe the feeling that we had when we found out this news. We both started to cry              ( happy tears) and was so excited for this little peanut of ours to come.
     We had our first appointment to see the heart beat at 7 weeks. Unfortunately for us we never made that appointment. At 6 weeks to the day I was rushed to the hospital and confirmed we were having a miscarriage. Our numbers were so high they said we were having twins possible triplets. When we did our sonogram which we still seen the heart beat of one but the other sack(s) had nothing which the Dr. told us this was a partial miscarriage. We were so devastated by this news but had so much hope for the baby with a heart beat to make it. Unfortunately two days later I was going through the same process of bleeding and we knew what this meant. Our dreams and hopes of having this babies were gone just like that.

    A few months later my body was fully healed and our Dr. asked us if we were ready to try again. This was not even a question in our minds. We both were very ready to get this process going again. This last month is when our first month of hormones started and the Dr. said she would start us back on Letrozole but if it did not work the first month we would need to move to injections. Our appointment was yesterday to see if this round of hormones was going to work but unfortunately for us we did not get the news we wanted to hear. The hormones are acting different since the miscarriage and we have no other choice but to start injections next month. Injections cost $ 75.00 per shot and also need to take more hormones at the same time. Every Dr. visit is about $ 500.00 and we also have to travel from Stockton to Sacramento for every appointment. With having to go to injections I am told we would have to be watched very close and see the Dr. two to three times a week now.
 
      We know not everyone can help, or not everyone agrees with our process, but we greatly appreciate all the support and help that you are able to give. We ask that if you can not donate to our fertility funds that you share this post and get the word out. We truly are forever grateful for whatever donations you can give. Thank you for everyone who is able to donate, share and helps in one way or another.
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Donations 

  • Miguel Ayala
    • $150 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Alisha Hunt-Maffei
Organizer
Stockton, CA

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