Hello,

My husband and I are so excited to “meet” you and so grateful for the opportunity you are giving us to have a baby! Let me introduce us. I am 33 years old and my husband is 30. We have no children and have been trying for a baby for 2 years now. We own a nice, spacious 3 bedroom house with a decent yard, close to a park and the local schools. My husband is a software engineer and I am a stay at home wife hoping to become a stay at home mom. We have 2 dogs and a cat, all of whom are very good with children. We have the privilege of living close to both my parents and my husband's parents, as well as most of our siblings.

I will start by telling you about our infertility journey. Our struggle with infertility came as a surprise to me, this was something I never expected. We both knew from the beginning that we wanted a family so we didn’t wait long before we started trying to make that dream a reality. But after a little over a year of trying with no luck, and my periods becoming increasingly irregular we began to think something might be wrong and decided to start seeing a doctor. Initially I was diagnosed with PCOS and ovulation failure, so I was put on Letrozole. After the first 3 months on Letrozole the doctor offered two more diagnostic tests: a saline ultrasound or a hysterosalpingogram (both as a way to check for tubal blockage), he also said we could do IUI or keep trying on the Letrozole for a while longer. Since I had none of the risk factors for or the conditions that can cause tubal blockage we initially passed on the diagnostic tests. Not ready to jump into IUI, we opted to continue trying on the Letrozole. I had been on Letrozole for about 9 months and was getting good follicle scans but we still didn't have any luck getting pregnant.

Shortly before Halloween we decided to do the cheaper of the 2 diagnostic tests and I went in for a saline ultrasound to check my uterus and my fallopian tubes. The good news was my uterus looks good and the bad news was my fallopian tubes are apparently blocked. We were offered the hysterosalpingogram again as it would be able to show us where and possibly what the blockage might be. After the saline ultrasound appointment I went home and did my research. I found that most tubal blockages have to be treated surgically and that in rare cases it can be a birth defect that is not fixable. Not wanting to waste more time and money, and not being completely comfortable with the idea of surgery, we started having serious conversations about what family building options were available to us that didn’t require fixing my tubes.

We ruled out IVF pretty quickly for several reasons among which were the cost, my fear of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, my fear of the egg retrieval procedure and my inability to inflict pain on myself which would greatly hinder me from stabbing myself with needles. Having been exposed to adoption most of my life and knowing several people who were adopted as infants, adoption is something I have always been comfortable with. I quickly came to terms with the idea that adoption could be the way we have to build our family. My husband and I had already talked about the possibility of one day pursuing an adoption of some kind. As I continued to research and discussed the different adoption options with my husband in more detail it didn’t take long for us to settle on embryo adoption as the option that was right for us.

Well, enough about that. I am sure you would like to know more about us, my introduction was brief after all. Our family consists of myself, my husband, our 2 dogs (1 is an Aussie and the other is a Cavapoo) and 1 cat. We are both introverts, so we live a pretty quiet life.

Husband

So this is the part where I'm supposed to convince you that your decision to allow us to use your embryo’s is a safe and sound one. I understand that there are two parties at work here and both sides have an equally difficult decision to make. I'm not a huge fan of talking about myself, usually I prefer to have the results speak for themselves, but I will give it my best shot.

As my wife has already mentioned, we are a pretty introverted couple, especially me. Growing up I was always a shy kid that was more than happy to be left to his own thoughts and devices. Especially devices, I love technology. Picking my career choice as a software developer was pretty easy as a result of that. I guess I got lucky that way. Working from home is also another huge perk of my job/career, which has an endless amount of perks with it. The main one being able to watch our future kids grow up without having to “disappear” for 40 hours a week like most jobs.

It's probably easy to deduce that one of my longest and main hobbies is playing video games. Sometimes for the escape, sometimes for the competition, but mostly for the social aspect of it. I love jumping on with the “The Boys” on a Friday night and playing for a couple of hours with them. Sometimes longer than 2 hours… ok fine, most of the time. My wife won't let me get away with saying 2 hours. Sometimes she's the one staying up late playing games with me when I want to go to bed.

3D printing is another nerdy hobby of mine. I got into that right after college when one of my instructors was talking about it. It started with a cheap machine that I could tinker with and print pretty much anything. Watching a 3D printer is oddly mesmerizing. Now I have a couple of more advanced printers and I prefer to draw something up in CAD and print it. Functional prints I create myself are the most rewarding. I'm excited for our future children to draw up some wild things and then turn them into a physical object. From mind to matter.

I recently got a table saw and a miter saw. Before they arrived in the mail I found some workbench build plans on Etsy for the saws and built them. I probably should have waited and used my new saws to build the workbenches, but I had a week off of work and needed another project. I plan on putting new trim in the bedrooms fairly soon. I'm by no means good at woodworking, but I like to think I'm getting there. I like staying busy and am always lining up projects. Having a house is good for that as the cycle of breaking, fixing and upgrading never ends. I prefer to learn how to fix something myself rather than call someone.

Being that I sit a lot during the day for my job I make a point in my life to stay active. During COVID I really got into exercising and built out a home gym. I was a little too self conscious back then to go to a public gym (and most were closed), so building out my home gym was really the “no excuses” mentality I needed. During my workouts I listen to audiobooks as I feel like I've run out of music to listen to. It's become a little therapeutic and a nice after work routine. I also work from home most of the time so instead of taking a lunch break I take an hour long dog walk to break up the day and burn some of my Aussies energy.

And then there are Sundays. I like to sit back and relax before the work week starts as Saturdays tend to be the “get stuff done” day. Usually this means watching football. My wife isn't a football fan, but she does root for a certain team that isn't my team. The things we do for love. My dad and I usually call each other and talk about the games in the 4th quarter as the clock ticks down. It's become a fun tradition we do. He roots for the enemy, but I just pretend he's color blind and can't tell what team he's rooting for.

If football isn't on that usually means it's spring/summer so we like floating on the lake at the parents house. The lake has always been a focal point for my family. My brothers and their families are always there as well, we are all pretty close. My brothers have kids, 4 girls between the 2 of them. The nieces are youngsters all under 4 years old. It's awesome that they get to experience hanging out on the lake as we did as kids. Mom usually makes a big meal when we are all there. Dad will smoke ribs pretty often as well, but he cremated a rack of ribs once and we never let him live it down. Tons of memories and many more to come.

One of the hardest parts of this whole journey, which I'm sure you understand, is just feeling like we have done everything right and still are not having success. We have a house, a stable career, a nice income and all we are missing now are kids. Dogs are great, but they don't speak English. We are very excited to get the ball rolling and feel like we are closer than ever to finally starting a family.

Wife

Oh where to begin, I am really not good at talking about myself. I come from a large family, I am the oldest of seven children. With that many siblings there is always something going on. At any given time there are a few siblings at my parents house. As you could guess, the gathering place for my family is at my parents house, or “the ranch” as two of my brothers call it. As time has gone on some have moved away to where life takes them. They always come back home a few times a year, usually around the holidays and for the birthdays, luckily there are a lot of birthdays in my family! We are always in contact with each other outside of those times. Naturally, being the oldest came with responsibilities such as helping care for them when they were little. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a wife and mother, so wanting to become a mother has probably been the easiest decision I’ve had to make in my life. Honestly it wasn’t really a decision at all, just a simple “Yes, please!”.

Growing up I was often described as “quiet and reserved” and frequently had my nose stuck in a book. I would get in trouble for reading instead of doing my chores or going to bed. I’ve always enjoyed reading a mix of different genres with historical romance, mystery, fantasy, and classics being the most frequent ones. I still enjoy reading, although I don’t get to read anywhere near as much now as I did growing up. I hope to one day pass on a love of reading to my children.

Reading is probably my oldest hobby, but sewing is my favorite. My mother taught me to sew when I was about 10 years old and I have enjoyed sewing ever since. My mom and I still get together for sewing dates as we like to call them, my younger sister has also been joining in lately. I mostly sew clothing, but I have done everything from doll clothes to historical costumes and corsets to wedding gowns (including my own wedding dress). I have even done some quilting. I have been knitting for almost as long as I have been sewing, learning to knit from my grandmother and my mom. I currently knit socks, hats, and other small items but I’m trying to work up the courage to attempt sweaters.

History was always my favorite class in school and remains one of my interests to date. In my senior year of high school I started volunteering at a local open-air museum. I still volunteer there a few times each season and I currently serve on the museum’s Board of Directors as the secretary. My husband and I actually got married at the museum in a little church that they have on the grounds.

I’ve never been career minded and had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated high school, so I didn’t go to college right away. I took a full-time job at a local newspaper, which I really enjoyed. In fall of 2018 I finally decided to go to college, I pursued an associates degree in Paralegal Studies. My internship turned into a full-time job when COVID hit and all my classes went online. I interned at a criminal defense law firm, where I continued to work until I resigned in September of 2024. I am now a stay at home wife, which honestly has always been my dream job. However, I am sure you are wondering why I resigned. Simply put I was finding the world of criminal defense to be super stressful and many of the cases to be traumatizing. My husband and I had already decided that I was going to be a stay at home mom once we had kids, so we decided with our fertility struggles to up the timeline and bring me home earlier allowing me to just focus on our family building journey.

I sure there is more I could tell you, things like how Christmas is my favorite holiday and all the Christmas traditions I’ve loved since I was a child. Or some of my favorite childhood memories. However, I don’t want this letter to get too long so I think it is best that I wrap this up.

So instead I will tell how my husband and I are filled with excitement as we look forward to sharing our favorite traditions and creating new ones with our children. We can't wait to pass down the special customs that have been a part of our lives—like holiday celebrations, weekend habits, and simple family moments that bring us closer together. At the same time, we look forward to creating new traditions that reflect our family and making life-long memories. We dream of building a life where our children can feel the excitement of both inherited and newly created traditions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and your consideration,

The hopeful future parents.