The Beverly’s IVF journey begins.
Some of you may be aware of the struggles we have had trying to first start and now grow our family. To understand how we got to this point (somewhere I never thought we would be) we need to start at the beginning. Xavier and I have been in each other's life for a very long time. First as “brother's best friend and best friend’s sister”, secret crushes, and then a couple.
Family has always been important to us. We never questioned that there would be children in our home. We married in 2017 and we knew we wanted to start our family right away. Our journey began. We did everything from ovulation strips, daily temperature check, using phone apps, to sitting in a fertility chair in Israel. Nothing was working. What seemed to come to others so easily and naturally, eluded us. After trying for over a year, we were referred to a fertility clinic. Xavier and I underwent many tests. I was diagnosed with PCOS and we came up with a plan. We started with timed intercourse and trigger shots. After our third round we were lucky enough to become pregnant in 2019 and blessed with our wonderful son.
Fast-forward to 2020. Knowing our history, we started trying for our second child right before our son’s first birthday. We tried on our own for a few months before reaching back out to our fertility clinic. They ran more tests and came up with a similar game plan as before. We did two rounds of timed intercourse and trigger shots with no luck. Our doctor decided to switch the medications in September 2021.
On September 27, 2021, one day after my birthday, one of the scariest moments of our lives, second to our son being rushed to the NICU at birth, happened. I woke up extremely dizzy and vomiting. The timing aligned with starting the new fertility medication. I assumed it was a bad side effect. After a few hours, I was rushed to the ER where I was diagnosed with having a small stroke. We are lucky there were no long-term effects. We had to put all our fertility treatments on hold until we could make sure everything was fine. I saw every type of doctor, Neurologist, hematologist, nephrologist, Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) physicians, my OB, my PCP. No one was able to come up with a reason for the stroke. We made the choice to resume our journey. We did two more rounds of timed intercourse before stepping up our approach. We did two rounds of Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) at $1,200 a round not including medication…. both failed.
So here we are, September 26, 2022, my birthday again, preparing for the next step of our journey, IVF. Unfortunately, our insurance pays for nothing related to fertility and medications for IVF. Like so many families facing infertility issues, we are faced with making difficult decisions. Fortunately, we have just been informed that we qualify for a program called Shared Risk 100% Refund Program at our fertility clinic. The program has a straightforward purpose: participants grow their families or receive a full refund to use for other family-building options. More than 30,000 participants have enrolled in the program to date, of which 82 percent take home a baby. We can do up to 6 rounds of IVF for one price, $30,000.00. This does not include the cost of medications.
This opportunity has given us so much hope! It would mean more than words could ever show if you could support us on our journey. Please help us make our dreams come true by donating to our fund or sharing our page. We promise to be the best possible parents, and to make sure every day our children know how much they are loved, not just by us, but also by the amazing community of family, friends and kind-hearted people who helped us during such a challenging time.
With love and gratitude,
The Beverlys