Kevin and I were married in late spring of 2015. From the beginning, we knew Kevin faced a significant challenge with infertility, as he had been diagnosed with azoospermia—meaning his sperm count was nearly zero, and doctors gave us less than a 2% chance of conceiving naturally. Even with this news, we felt destined to be parents.
After six years of trying naturally and building our lives together as a family of two, a family friend introduced us to the idea of embryo adoption.
We had not heard of it before, so we did some research and discovered Nightlight Christian Adoptions and their Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. Right from our first phone call with them, we felt their warmth and support, and we knew this was the path for us.
Coming from moderately big families, we both dreamed of having (hopefully!) five children. We knew that no matter how they came into our lives, we would love and cherish them because we believed God would bring them to us. Through the Snowflakes Program, we matched with an incredible donor family and were blessed with 11 embryos.
After undergoing all the necessary tests, doctor visits, and exams, we were finally ready for our frozen embryo transfer. I was both excited and terrified, knowing how deeply I wanted to be a mother and how committed I was to nurturing and protecting our child.
The two-week wait for the blood test results was excruciating, but in September 2022, we finally received a positive result! We were overjoyed!
In January 2023, we learned we were having a baby girl, though she was measuring on the smaller side. Worry set in, and we prayed for her protection. During the week of Valentine’s Day, I was admitted to the hospital with preeclampsia and placed on bed rest for close monitoring. My amazing doctors arranged for me to come in 3-4 times a week for ultrasounds, blood work, and check-ups to ensure everything was progressing well.
Then, in March 2023, a routine Friday appointment took an unexpected turn. As I lay on the monitor, our baby girl’s heart rate dropped from 138 to 60. After observing for a bit and seeing fluctuations in her heart rate, my OB made the call: “We’re going to deliver right now.” I could not believe it—we were at 31 weeks, and I worried she was too small. But soon, through an emergency C-section, I heard her tiny but fierce cry. She was here and absolutely perfect!
After 55 days in the NICU, she made incredible progress, surprising her doctors and nurses with her resilience. They even nicknamed her the “easy baby.”
She may be small, but she is a fighter, and she is everything we dreamed of in our eight years of marriage. I thank God every day for protecting her, for the amazing team at Snowflakes, and for the generous donors who made our dream of parenthood possible. They have given us the most precious gift of all.
Do you have an embryo adoption or donation story? Send your story and photos to us! Post them yourself via Facebook 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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