We were both in our thirties when we married and wanted to enjoy some time just the two of us. We agreed to wait at least a year until we tried to start a family.
After about six months, we changed course and decided to begin our journey to parenthood. After a year passed, I made an appointment to see an infertility specialist. I was sure that I was the problem. I was almost 35 after all and considered “geriatric” in clinical terms.
We both completed the required testing and discovered we had male factor infertility. My husband was diagnosed with azoospermia.
We were heartbroken, but determined! As soon as we found out, we did not let that deter us from starting our family. We began looking into foster care and independent adoption. Within a couple of weeks, we had heard about a single young woman who had two little girls and was now pregnant with twins. We met with her to discuss the possibility of adoption.
Three days before the twins were born, she told us she had decided to parent. We were devastated. We that God had a plan for our family, so we kept our heads up and kept trying.
We became a licensed foster family, but the waiting time for young children was one to two years. Our impatience grew as we waited and waited to receive a call. We realized while we love what the foster care system offers for children, we needed to find something that would move things along a little faster.
In February of 2021, my mom sent me a link to the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. My husband and I had discussed sperm donation but did not feel like it was the right choice for us. Embryo adoption, however, was something new and different.
We decided to explore the option and as we did, we had a strong feeling that this was how we were supposed to grow our family.
Our embryo donor family used both an egg donor and a sperm donor to create their IVF embryos. At first, we were hesitant, as this was a little different than we had imagined. We talked about it and agreed that God is the creator of life and where the genetics came from did not matter. After that realization, we excitedly accepted the match and our seven embryos arrived in July of 2021! We did our first frozen embryo transfer in November of 2021 and welcomed our daughter, Abigail, in July of 2022.
The Snowflake Embryo Adoption program gave us hope amid discouragement and disappointment. We cannot deny God’s hand in our journey. We have more faith than ever that He has a plan for our little family, and that Abigail is right where she is supposed to be.
Do you have an embryo adoption or donation story? Send your story and photos to us! Post them yourself via Facebook and Twitter or email us your story and we will make it available on our Family Stories page, found on our website.
Email Paige@nightlight.org and help another family build their embryo donation or adoption story.
To learn about embryo donation and adoption, visit EmbryoAdoption.org.
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