The Riley's Snowflakes
Donation protected
"I will be giving birth to our adopted child."
Sounds weird right? We thought so too at first, but after looking into the process of embryo donation/adoption we feel this is the best fit for our family! Thanks to the suggestion from a friend we feel so blessed to still have the chance at having children! We have been dealing with infertility for over 4 years with 3+ years of treatment. My body has been put through the wringer with the hormones and drugs I have put into it and poor Mike has to deal with the crazy mood swings! At one point I had an adverse side effect which could have left me with loss of half my vision. Although my vision is back to normal now (for the most part), the scare was enough to decide to stop with that medication.
We had seen a reproductive endocrinologist, neurologist, OB, fertility specialists and lots of other doctors. We had multiple rounds of different medications, trigger injections and IUIs without success. So we were looking into different options.
We had some "signs" that have really led us to thinking this is the right option for us. One of which being Nolan’s begging for a sibling. Since he was little he has asked "when will we pick out a baby". We have always corrected him and explained that a mommy and daddy have to make a baby, that they are not picked out. No matter how many times we have told him this he continues to use the phrase "pick out". We took this as a sign that maybe he knew all along that we would truly be picking out a baby.
Soon after we were lucky enough to match with wonderful donors who have become like family to us.
Although the embryos are donated to us there is a lot of expenses in lawyers, shipping, medications, the transfer(s), medical care after transfer, storage for remaining embryos until we are ready to use them, and we also want to go to some counseling on how to explain this to Nolan and our adopted embryos as they grow.
We have had 3 transfers so far and 3 early losses. The first pregnancy was what is called a chemical pregnancy (the embryo implants but does not grow any further) that ended at 4.5 weeks. Our second pregnancy was a molar pregnancy (the embryo was genetically abnormal) and although we saw a perfect heartbeat at 7 weeks the pregnancy ended at 7.5 weeks. This pregnancy required a surgery (D&C). Our 3rd pregnancy was a normal healthy growing baby that had the most perfect heartbeat, but unfortunately was implanted in my left fallopian tube. Due to the baby being 7 weeks and me being on blood thinners we had to have an emergent surgery to remove my fallopian tube and the pregnancy. This has not only been emotionally devastating, but each transfer adds on multiple additional costs.
We are hoping to get everything moving fairly quickly so that we may have a baby in our arms as soon as possible! We appreciate your prayers/thoughts and are so grateful for any donations to help us grow our family.
Sounds weird right? We thought so too at first, but after looking into the process of embryo donation/adoption we feel this is the best fit for our family! Thanks to the suggestion from a friend we feel so blessed to still have the chance at having children! We have been dealing with infertility for over 4 years with 3+ years of treatment. My body has been put through the wringer with the hormones and drugs I have put into it and poor Mike has to deal with the crazy mood swings! At one point I had an adverse side effect which could have left me with loss of half my vision. Although my vision is back to normal now (for the most part), the scare was enough to decide to stop with that medication.
We had seen a reproductive endocrinologist, neurologist, OB, fertility specialists and lots of other doctors. We had multiple rounds of different medications, trigger injections and IUIs without success. So we were looking into different options.
We had some "signs" that have really led us to thinking this is the right option for us. One of which being Nolan’s begging for a sibling. Since he was little he has asked "when will we pick out a baby". We have always corrected him and explained that a mommy and daddy have to make a baby, that they are not picked out. No matter how many times we have told him this he continues to use the phrase "pick out". We took this as a sign that maybe he knew all along that we would truly be picking out a baby.
Soon after we were lucky enough to match with wonderful donors who have become like family to us.
Although the embryos are donated to us there is a lot of expenses in lawyers, shipping, medications, the transfer(s), medical care after transfer, storage for remaining embryos until we are ready to use them, and we also want to go to some counseling on how to explain this to Nolan and our adopted embryos as they grow.
We have had 3 transfers so far and 3 early losses. The first pregnancy was what is called a chemical pregnancy (the embryo implants but does not grow any further) that ended at 4.5 weeks. Our second pregnancy was a molar pregnancy (the embryo was genetically abnormal) and although we saw a perfect heartbeat at 7 weeks the pregnancy ended at 7.5 weeks. This pregnancy required a surgery (D&C). Our 3rd pregnancy was a normal healthy growing baby that had the most perfect heartbeat, but unfortunately was implanted in my left fallopian tube. Due to the baby being 7 weeks and me being on blood thinners we had to have an emergent surgery to remove my fallopian tube and the pregnancy. This has not only been emotionally devastating, but each transfer adds on multiple additional costs.
We are hoping to get everything moving fairly quickly so that we may have a baby in our arms as soon as possible! We appreciate your prayers/thoughts and are so grateful for any donations to help us grow our family.
Organizer
Jenna Riley
Organizer
Brainerd, MN
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