Antoine and Nikki's Quest to Start a Family
Donation protected
The date was April 16th, 2013. It was dark, rainy, and I was in traffic. I was running late to meet Antoine, which is unusual for this punctual gal. He, however, wasn’t bothered. He simply ordered me a drink and some truffle popcorn.
And so our first date began. Less than an hour later, he was planning our second date. And from then on, we’ve been a pair. He survived dating a nursing student. We moved to Wenatchee for my first nursing job. I enjoyed dating a wine connoisseur. We were married September 20, 2014.
Life brought us to Issaquah, and closer to our family. We found jobs we love, and we began our quest to start our family. The road has been rocky, to say the least, and so here we are to ask for help. That may be the hardest thing we’ve ever done.
Did you know that 1 in 8 couples will face infertility? After a year of trying for a baby “the old fashioned way,” we found ourselves at a fertility clinic. We learned that we would need to use donor sperm to conceive, and this came with a hefty dose of heartbreak. We persevered, though, and found a donor who met all of our criteria. We thought we’d done the hard part!
We tried 6 cycles of intrauterine insemination (IUI). This is a fairly mild procedure that places the donor sperm inside the uterus at hopefully the ideal time for it to meet and fertilize an egg. Every cycle ended in heartbreak: we weren’t pregnant. The data shows that going beyond 6 cycles of IUI doesn’t increase the chances for pregnancy.
Our latest visit was an IVF consultation. In-vitro fertilization is a much more invasive procedure that involves self-injecting medications - multiple times a day, every day, - for a few weeks, in order to produce as many eggs as possible. Those are then collected in a surgical procedure and fertilized. The resulting embryos are carefully transferred to the waiting womb, (1 to 2 at a time, to avoid too many babies) where they will hopefully implant and grow into a new member of the Pin family.
As is common, insurance does not cover any of the treatment. All of the diagnostic testing and imaging has been covered well, which has been very helpful. I actually have pretty good coverage with a low annual deductible. The total expected cost for our IVF cycle, including medications, is nearly $30,000 payable in full before you begin. This includes unlimited transfers of embryos that have resulted from the egg collection, all cycle-related blood tests and ultrasounds, and the actual egg-collecting procedure.
We have, so far, spent upwards of $8,000 on this quest. You cannot put a price on family, nor on love. Our marriage has been tested, but we keep moving forward. Please consider helping us reach our dreams.
Our journey to parenthood began in October, 2016. With any luck, our IVF cycle will begin in mid-April. We're not getting any younger over here! Antoine has already collected enough rubber duckies to last a lifetime of bath times!
We can't begin to thank you enough, for all your support along the way. So many people have shared their stories and kept us in their prayers. We truly are loved.
And so our first date began. Less than an hour later, he was planning our second date. And from then on, we’ve been a pair. He survived dating a nursing student. We moved to Wenatchee for my first nursing job. I enjoyed dating a wine connoisseur. We were married September 20, 2014.
Life brought us to Issaquah, and closer to our family. We found jobs we love, and we began our quest to start our family. The road has been rocky, to say the least, and so here we are to ask for help. That may be the hardest thing we’ve ever done.
Did you know that 1 in 8 couples will face infertility? After a year of trying for a baby “the old fashioned way,” we found ourselves at a fertility clinic. We learned that we would need to use donor sperm to conceive, and this came with a hefty dose of heartbreak. We persevered, though, and found a donor who met all of our criteria. We thought we’d done the hard part!
We tried 6 cycles of intrauterine insemination (IUI). This is a fairly mild procedure that places the donor sperm inside the uterus at hopefully the ideal time for it to meet and fertilize an egg. Every cycle ended in heartbreak: we weren’t pregnant. The data shows that going beyond 6 cycles of IUI doesn’t increase the chances for pregnancy.
Our latest visit was an IVF consultation. In-vitro fertilization is a much more invasive procedure that involves self-injecting medications - multiple times a day, every day, - for a few weeks, in order to produce as many eggs as possible. Those are then collected in a surgical procedure and fertilized. The resulting embryos are carefully transferred to the waiting womb, (1 to 2 at a time, to avoid too many babies) where they will hopefully implant and grow into a new member of the Pin family.
As is common, insurance does not cover any of the treatment. All of the diagnostic testing and imaging has been covered well, which has been very helpful. I actually have pretty good coverage with a low annual deductible. The total expected cost for our IVF cycle, including medications, is nearly $30,000 payable in full before you begin. This includes unlimited transfers of embryos that have resulted from the egg collection, all cycle-related blood tests and ultrasounds, and the actual egg-collecting procedure.
We have, so far, spent upwards of $8,000 on this quest. You cannot put a price on family, nor on love. Our marriage has been tested, but we keep moving forward. Please consider helping us reach our dreams.
Our journey to parenthood began in October, 2016. With any luck, our IVF cycle will begin in mid-April. We're not getting any younger over here! Antoine has already collected enough rubber duckies to last a lifetime of bath times!
We can't begin to thank you enough, for all your support along the way. So many people have shared their stories and kept us in their prayers. We truly are loved.
Organizer
Nikki Pin
Organizer
Issaquah, WA
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