Hi! As two moms who have been lucky enough to have had Ashley in our families' lives for over ten years, we want nothing more than to see Ashley and Moni fulfill their dream of having a baby. Please read their story below, we know that this has been an incredibly long journey for them and it is our hope that those that know and love Ashley and Moni can help provide this support. 

Carolyn and Seana



if you’re reading this, you’ve most likely been following along on our fertility journey for the past three years. we never thought it would take this long to get to our baby. after moni closed the door with DOD after 26 years to be home with our family more, we took a huge pay cut. and here we are today, continuing our quest, not ready to give up our dream of having a baby. we want you to know how much your continued support means to us. we wouldn’t have been able to keep going without your devotion to our dream.
so thank you!!!

 

if not, here’s a long story shortened…

we started TTC (trying to conceive) in november 2018, right after our wedding. after a few months of trying without success, i decided to have some bloodwork done. we quickly learned i wasn’t ovulating on my own. and after countless scans and procedures and a look at my tubes, we learned i had blocked fallopian tubes and hydrosalpinx, a toxic fluid that must be removed. so in may 2019 i went under to have a bilateral salpingectomy (double tubal removal). we would never be able to conceive naturally, ivf was our only option at a biological child and we thought with me being young-ish and in good health it wouldn’t take long. but god had a different plan for us, we’re not sure why and we may never know. 

 

since 2019 we have gone through five rounds of ivf (five egg collections) and three frozen embryo transfers. each procedure costing us up to $10,000 at a time. i have had more needle pokes in my body than you could ever imagine-blood draws, intralipid infusions, acupuncture, stimulating injections, progesterone in oil. countless doctors appointments, scans, procedures and trips to new york for treatment. we’ve had incredibly high hopes at times and we have seen some of our darkest days. we’ve exulted more money, blood, sweat and tears than you could imagine  trying to expand our family. after our last failed transfer and fourth lost embryo, we were told we should move on to a gestational carrier, we needed someone to carry our remaining embryo. with shattered hearts we picked ourselves back up and did just that. we made a vulnerable plea on social media to our close friends and family and started the search for a gestational carrier.

 

on monday august 16th we made the post and that same afternoon i had a long voice memo from my friend britt. we didn’t talk regularly so when i saw her name pop up i sat with the idea for a moment, could she be the one? i pressed play and listened to her five minute and forty three second long message and i couldn’t believe my ears! we then listened to it three more times just to be sure. her and her husband had been talking for months about helping us make our dream a reality.

we. couldn’t. believe. it.

we still can’t believe it!

 

we really have no idea where this new journey will take us or how it will end but moni and i have never, ever felt more gratitude towards two humans before in our lives. to have the enthusiasm and openness to give us this gift is absolutely overwhelming. we are counting our blessings twice for these two incredibly kind human beings.

 

a lot of people have been asking how they can help us and we never know what to say. it’s hard asking for help, especially the way the world is these days. but my dear, sweet ann arbor mamas, carolyn and seana offered to create this go fund me fundraiser for us. and although we were very hesitant at first, we’ve felt a nudge to surrender. if you feel so inclined to “help us”, please know you’ll be supporting us with the costs we will endure on our surrogacy journey-legal fees, health insurance, medication and fertility procedures. we have absolutely no fertility coverage and have paid for everything out of pocket thus far. 

 

we love all of you no matter what and are eternally grateful for your continued love and support on this long and wild road to bebe laube.

 

-ashley and moni