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For those of you who personally know Matt and I, you know that we are both determined to become parents. Kids are one of the greatest sources of joy for us; therefore we decided early on that we wanted to have children right away. As months went by with no results we decided to do some testing as a way to calm our nerves (who am I kidding?! It was MY nerves!). We both expected the results to come back normal, being that we are both young (ish) healthy adults, what could be wrong? As we waited for the results to come in we pondered the idea of ‘what if?’ What if the results showed that something was wrong? I told myself to remain calm; again we hadn’t been trying for a very long time and this was just to give us peace of mind. Relax, I told myself, and it would happen in God’s time.
After a few anxious days of waiting the results were finally in! I felt myself exhale a sigh of relief as I began to open the letter. However, the exhalation was cut short as I began to read the words that lay before me. Abnormal, abnormal, abnormal… One result after another pointed out that our largest goal in life was dwindling away. We found this information out during the busiest part of basketball season. I’m sure most, if not all, know that Matt is a VERY dedicated basketball coach. Basketball has been and will always be his life! He has spent the last ten years transforming kids’ lives with coaching. Basketball season for a husband and wife is incredibly difficult, especially when your husband works an hour away AND is on third shift! The time we spent together was minimal and the majority was spent with me watching from the sideline. Now, back to the day of finding out results, I had to call Matt prior to a practice to tell him our results showed we had male factor infertility. Telling him this news without being in person was one of the hardest things I have had to do as a wife. Hearing the sigh of frustration from the other side of the phone broke my heart. I thought to myself, here is a wonderful husband, a great person, a dedicated coach, and an outstanding uncle to all of our nieces and nephews; and now he is being told he may not have children of his own. I have never cried so hard in my life than I did after I had to call and tell him this news.
Fast forward a few months and we went to our first infertility consultation. The doctor told us this could be a fluke; let’s repeat the test and we will go from there. Test number two was taken and results were finally in… Again abnormal, abnormal and abnormal; hope of a faulty test was now gone. Not only were the results consistent with the first test in the ‘abnormal’ parts, but they also showed a decrease in most of the levels as well. The results of these tests put things into perspective of what our future could look like. Never in my wildest dreams did the thought cross my mind that at twenty-three years old, I would be told that I could potentially not have children. What a whirlwind of emotions! In the past few months I have felt every ounce of sadness I think I can possibly take. I have to thank God everyday that he put such a strong and stable man in my life to help support me through this! Matt has handled this news with such grace and open mindedness. Though we have been diagnosed with male factor infertility- Matt is the one raising me up!
Our life has been thrown curve balls before, but nothing to this extent. We have become so much stronger since receiving that first test result, both as a couple and as friends. Our vows to each other, for ‘in sickness and in health’, have been proven to be true within our first year of marriage. Despite this setback with my husband, I will love him exactly the same as I have since he entered my life. Nothing he could be diagnosed with could ever change my view or love for him. It takes an incredibly strong man to find out that you cannot naturally create a child and still find a way to smile and go on with day-to-day life. Now do not get me wrong, Matt has grieved, has had times of struggle and moments in which he has questioned why… But wow! What an amazing man to continue to get up and be my support system, soul mate and best friend.
Now here we are on the eighteenth of May, Matt and I had our long awaited for appointment with the infertility specialist. This appointment was made to find out what options were available to us as prospective parents. This appointment was in Indianapolis which meant for a bit of an anxious drive. Going into this new office was slightly nerve racking, exciting and gut wrenching all at the same time! I didn’t know whether to smile or cry; anticipating the worst but hoping for the best. Our physician was absolutely great! He made us feel hopeful and reassured that we were going to be okay in due time. We had some more tests done and received so much information that we are still trying to sort through it all! After a lot of thinking, talking and praying we have decided to start our journey to parenthood with the assistance of our doctor.
Our physician informed us that he confidently believes we have a 70 percent chance success rate for IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). With the encouraging words “it only takes one.” We feel very blessed by this news. The outcome he gave us is a VERY good percentage for this process; one that gives us some peace of mind. This amazing procedure could change our lives forever blessing us with what we cannot create on our own. God has blessed Matt and I both with the appropriate cells needed to create a baby they just need some assistance to form together a beautiful and healthy baby. We are so thankful that this is an option for us and cannot wait to take the next step on this journey called life.
With this all being said we are looking for friends, family and others whom may be in our same boat to just be a source of positive thoughts, good vibes and prayers. IVF is a very physical and emotional roller coaster for both wife and husband. We could not imagine going through such process without the love and support from you! IVF comes with a price tag and that is something we are willing to overcome. Though the process may not be as soon as we had hoped we will not let a dollar sign come in between us and our unborn child. We absolutely will do everything we can to possibly save every spare penny we have until we reach our $20,000 needed to begin this journey. For family and friends that want to help us start this process sooner than later- we promise you every single cent received we will be forever grateful and unbelievably appreciative! Please know a donation is not why we are opening up about our problems what so ever. The reasoning behind this is to show others in this position that to overcome some battles you need the love from those around you and without knowing of these triumphs people will not know what is truly happening behind the forced smile. If we could potentially touch just one life with our story we would be fulfilled. Life is a beautiful thing and we feel so blessed to be able to share it with you. We plan to keep everyone who wants to follow this journey with us up to date with our blog: http://ourjourneytoyou.blog.com/
For any donation received we will set a side a square piece of fabric in honor of you, as the squares begin to multiply we will create a quilt for our future child. We want to be able to one day pull out this quilt with our child and show them how much they were wanted and how so many people gave up a piece of themselves to help bring you to us. We will then keep a small swatch of the fabric in a journal so we can show our child who sponsored each separate square of the quilt. We would love for each donor to type a note during donation or in the comment section to either our future child or just positive thoughts so we can save these memories to share for a lifetime. There is no bigger importance to Matt and I than to make sure every single day our child falls asleep knowing how loved they are! And what a better way than to wrap him or her up in a quilt truly built from love!
With love, hope & positivity we can conquer all
Matt and Taylor Landis
After a few anxious days of waiting the results were finally in! I felt myself exhale a sigh of relief as I began to open the letter. However, the exhalation was cut short as I began to read the words that lay before me. Abnormal, abnormal, abnormal… One result after another pointed out that our largest goal in life was dwindling away. We found this information out during the busiest part of basketball season. I’m sure most, if not all, know that Matt is a VERY dedicated basketball coach. Basketball has been and will always be his life! He has spent the last ten years transforming kids’ lives with coaching. Basketball season for a husband and wife is incredibly difficult, especially when your husband works an hour away AND is on third shift! The time we spent together was minimal and the majority was spent with me watching from the sideline. Now, back to the day of finding out results, I had to call Matt prior to a practice to tell him our results showed we had male factor infertility. Telling him this news without being in person was one of the hardest things I have had to do as a wife. Hearing the sigh of frustration from the other side of the phone broke my heart. I thought to myself, here is a wonderful husband, a great person, a dedicated coach, and an outstanding uncle to all of our nieces and nephews; and now he is being told he may not have children of his own. I have never cried so hard in my life than I did after I had to call and tell him this news.
Fast forward a few months and we went to our first infertility consultation. The doctor told us this could be a fluke; let’s repeat the test and we will go from there. Test number two was taken and results were finally in… Again abnormal, abnormal and abnormal; hope of a faulty test was now gone. Not only were the results consistent with the first test in the ‘abnormal’ parts, but they also showed a decrease in most of the levels as well. The results of these tests put things into perspective of what our future could look like. Never in my wildest dreams did the thought cross my mind that at twenty-three years old, I would be told that I could potentially not have children. What a whirlwind of emotions! In the past few months I have felt every ounce of sadness I think I can possibly take. I have to thank God everyday that he put such a strong and stable man in my life to help support me through this! Matt has handled this news with such grace and open mindedness. Though we have been diagnosed with male factor infertility- Matt is the one raising me up!
Our life has been thrown curve balls before, but nothing to this extent. We have become so much stronger since receiving that first test result, both as a couple and as friends. Our vows to each other, for ‘in sickness and in health’, have been proven to be true within our first year of marriage. Despite this setback with my husband, I will love him exactly the same as I have since he entered my life. Nothing he could be diagnosed with could ever change my view or love for him. It takes an incredibly strong man to find out that you cannot naturally create a child and still find a way to smile and go on with day-to-day life. Now do not get me wrong, Matt has grieved, has had times of struggle and moments in which he has questioned why… But wow! What an amazing man to continue to get up and be my support system, soul mate and best friend.
Now here we are on the eighteenth of May, Matt and I had our long awaited for appointment with the infertility specialist. This appointment was made to find out what options were available to us as prospective parents. This appointment was in Indianapolis which meant for a bit of an anxious drive. Going into this new office was slightly nerve racking, exciting and gut wrenching all at the same time! I didn’t know whether to smile or cry; anticipating the worst but hoping for the best. Our physician was absolutely great! He made us feel hopeful and reassured that we were going to be okay in due time. We had some more tests done and received so much information that we are still trying to sort through it all! After a lot of thinking, talking and praying we have decided to start our journey to parenthood with the assistance of our doctor.
Our physician informed us that he confidently believes we have a 70 percent chance success rate for IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). With the encouraging words “it only takes one.” We feel very blessed by this news. The outcome he gave us is a VERY good percentage for this process; one that gives us some peace of mind. This amazing procedure could change our lives forever blessing us with what we cannot create on our own. God has blessed Matt and I both with the appropriate cells needed to create a baby they just need some assistance to form together a beautiful and healthy baby. We are so thankful that this is an option for us and cannot wait to take the next step on this journey called life.
With this all being said we are looking for friends, family and others whom may be in our same boat to just be a source of positive thoughts, good vibes and prayers. IVF is a very physical and emotional roller coaster for both wife and husband. We could not imagine going through such process without the love and support from you! IVF comes with a price tag and that is something we are willing to overcome. Though the process may not be as soon as we had hoped we will not let a dollar sign come in between us and our unborn child. We absolutely will do everything we can to possibly save every spare penny we have until we reach our $20,000 needed to begin this journey. For family and friends that want to help us start this process sooner than later- we promise you every single cent received we will be forever grateful and unbelievably appreciative! Please know a donation is not why we are opening up about our problems what so ever. The reasoning behind this is to show others in this position that to overcome some battles you need the love from those around you and without knowing of these triumphs people will not know what is truly happening behind the forced smile. If we could potentially touch just one life with our story we would be fulfilled. Life is a beautiful thing and we feel so blessed to be able to share it with you. We plan to keep everyone who wants to follow this journey with us up to date with our blog: http://ourjourneytoyou.blog.com/
For any donation received we will set a side a square piece of fabric in honor of you, as the squares begin to multiply we will create a quilt for our future child. We want to be able to one day pull out this quilt with our child and show them how much they were wanted and how so many people gave up a piece of themselves to help bring you to us. We will then keep a small swatch of the fabric in a journal so we can show our child who sponsored each separate square of the quilt. We would love for each donor to type a note during donation or in the comment section to either our future child or just positive thoughts so we can save these memories to share for a lifetime. There is no bigger importance to Matt and I than to make sure every single day our child falls asleep knowing how loved they are! And what a better way than to wrap him or her up in a quilt truly built from love!
With love, hope & positivity we can conquer all
Matt and Taylor Landis