IVF Journey to Baby Whittington

I know this is a long post, but I hope you will take a moment to read our story. Everyone who knows us, knows that this isn't the easiest thing for us to do. We're not ones to put our issues on social media, or post asking for anything so this is hard for us to ask at all. Thomas and I have been together for almost 4 years now, & married over 2 years and we have struggled with growing our family for over 2 years. We first started trying to grow our family in October of 2021 right before we were engaged. We tried naturally for quite a few months with no success. I then brought up the topic to my regular OB and she started us on simple medicated cycles using Letrozole (a medication used to help grow eggs & induce ovulation). We tried 4 rounds of Letrozole with my OB before she referred us to see a fertility specialist. Our first appointment with The Center for Reproductive Medicine was in January of 2022. At this time we met with Dr. Emmi who took us through multiple different test & procedures to attempt to locate the cause of my infertility. Majority of the test were normal & there was no definite cause to my infertility. However, I was diagnosed with a few different conditions such as Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, Hashimoto Thyroid Disease, Insulin Resistant Diabetes, & Vitamin D Deficiency which could all factor into my infertility. We did 16 medicated cycles (16 months) with CRM using different protocols of Letrozole, Gonal F (a hormone injection to grow eggs), & Ovidrel (an HSG shot to induce ovulation). After all of the failed cycles, we decided to try the next step which was IUI (Intrauterine Insemination). Each IUI cycle cost roughly $1700 for procedure & medication not including my regular ultrasounds & blood work. Keep in mind, my insurance does not cover any fertility treatments. Everything we have done we have had to pay completely out of pocket. After our 1st failed IUI and fertility treatments taking a severe toll on our finances & my mental health we decided in June 2023 it was time to take a break. We took close to a year break from treatment just trying to recoup our finances and during that time I started therapy & medication to help my mental health. Fast forward to April 2024, we decided we were ready to start trying again but this time wanted to seek a second opinion & use a different doctor. My first appointment with Dr. Plessala was in May 2024 where we discussed all of our past treatments and how hard it has been for us. Starting in May we did a medicated cycle using Clomid (a medication used to help grow eggs & induce ovulation), this round we doubled the dose of Clomid & used the Ovidrel injection to induce ovulation. This double dose of Clomid did the job of growing eggs I had my biggest eggs I’ve ever had during all treatment, sadly the cycle still failed. After the medicated cycle with Dr. Plessala, he recommended we try IUI again instead of wasting time with just medicated cycles since I had already done so many in the past. We continued treatment using double dose Clomid along with injections during the IUI. My 2nd IUI was in June where I had 2 mature eggs at time of insemination. The 2 week wait from the time of insemination to the time of testing is the longest, most stressful, & anxiety filled time. The 2nd IUI failed. The heartbreak is real. Though we couldn’t give up, we decided to do a 3rd IUI cycle in July, producing 7 mature eggs this cycle at time of insemination with my biggest follicle measuring 26mm. We were so hopeful with having so many mature eggs we just knew this would work. Sadly, the second week of August we have learned our 3rd IUI has failed. Our hearts are broken. We have tried for so long. After so much prayer & consideration and the recommendation from our doctor, we have made the decision we are going to start the process of IVF (In-vitro fertilization). We have researched many options of IVF and have learned the estimated cost of IVF in Alabama is upwards of $35,000 for 1-2 IVF cycles. After further research & seeing stories of a clinic in New York, I started researching CNY Fertility. A lower cost IVF option in the state of New York. Dr. Plessala supports using CNY for a lower cost IVF. Using CNY would require travel to & from New York at least twice during IVF for the egg retrieval & embryo transfer. However, the cost is significantly less than in AL. For 6 IVF cycles with CNY the cost would be roughly around $20,000. While we pray & hope it will not take 6 IVF cycles, the future is unknown. Any treatments are not guaranteed success. We are asking your help to grow our family. We know there isn't always the option to donate, and there is no amount too big or too small to help us out, we know that everyone has their own stories, but we would be forever thankful to each and everyone that is willing to donate or even read and share our story. Every single one of you have a special place in our hearts, and we will be forever grateful while we move forward on this journey to making Baby Whittington. We will also be organizing many fundraisers in the near future to help as well. If you can, please share our story so we can reach the hearts of others, and we will make sure to keep everyone updated on our process!!