Hello!

We are excited that you are learning a bit more about our family. We met through mutual friends in the fall of 2009 and were married in 2014. I told friends I was going to "make eyes" at my husband (whatever that means) and the rest is history, so I guess it worked. We have spent the last few years remodeling and updating our home and have done a lot of the work ourselves. And by we, I mean mostly my husband. We bought my grandparent's home after my grandmother passed away in 2010. I love that we have been able to keep the family home and continue adding new memories. My husband loves to stay busy and work with his hands and has taken on projects such as building new closet systems, adding a new back patio and updating flooring on his own. For my part, I have helped with basics such as painting. I am not as handy as my husband for sure.

In 2021, we survived a full kitchen renovation, while living in our basement living room with a toddler, surviving off take out, and getting through our first round of IVF that ended in an ectopic pregnancy. Looking back, its easy to joke that if we can make it through 2020, and then somehow an even harder year than a global pandemic, there is not much we can't figure out as a family. At the time although everything felt so heavy and like we might never make it through, we learned so much about supporting one another and how to adapt to challenges.

Flashback to 2017 when we welcomed our son. He was the first grandchild on both sides and was welcomed with so much love. My father was newly retired when he was born and took care of him during the work week after my maternity leave ended. When our son was around one year old, we had some concerns about his development. We dove head first into specialist appointments and early intervention and after a few months confirmed via MRI he had a rare neurological disability that caused his cerebellum to be underdeveloped. I won't lie and say we handled this news with grace right away. It took a few months to sink in and we owe our strength to our family and friends that rallied around us. And I mean this in the literal sense. Friends and family showed up unannounced to sit with us, bring us meals and help us navigate a scary time of unknowns.

I decided to take time away from my career to focus on his appointments and better understand his symptoms while juggling his busy therapy schedule and learn about the special education system. My husband has always been able to balance his career and take time to join me for the important medical visits. We have created an equal team that is able to manage our circumstances with a newfound ease. Afterall, this is all we have ever known. Our son is now in kindergarten and thriving. Originally, I had been thinking of going back to work, but as we were in the middle of IVF treatments and all that comes with it (surgeries and early morning monitoring) we decided as a family that I would continue staying home for the forseeable future. While I am taking time away from my career, I have also spent time fundraising and designing merchandise for our sons condition. It is something I am now very passionate about..

That brings us to why we decided to pursue IVF. With our son's diagnosis we were advised our best shot at expanding our family was through IVF with preimplantation testing for genetic disorder. Genetic testing had previously told us my husband and I were carriers of a genetic mutation that likely caused our son's disability. Although he is doing great and has no plans of slowing down, doctors cannot guarantee any future genetic children would follow the same path as he is one of only a handful of confirmed patients in the world known with this particular genetic mutation and little is known about it. Unfortunately after almost 3 years and several frozen embryo transfers that resulted in miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, our clinic determined the quality of my eggs may not result in pregnancy. We were told about embryo adoption which brought us here today and we are excited to move forward and hopefully bring home a baby with some help from another family.

We both have a wonderful support system and are very close to our families. Both sides of our family are local. We each have a younger brother, and neither have their own children yet. Although, we did just learn (as in 2 days ago) that our son will become a big cousin this summer! We also both have plenty of extended family in the area and frequently spend time with cousins and their children. We have explained to our families that we are pursuing embryo adoption and they are thrilled to welcome a new child into the family. We will be surrounded with help and care just as we were for our first child. We are excited to grow our family in this unique way.

We spend a lot of time with friends as well. We both have friends that we have made during our schooling as well as new friends we have made throughout our careers. We enjoy hosting BBQs in the summer and taking vacations with friends. We recently joined another family on a trip to the Polar Express. We also have weekly Sunday night dinners with our friends and their children at a local Restaurant which is my facvorite way to start a new week. It is important to us that we give our children a fulfilling and happy childhood full of memories. We both had very happy childhoods and hope to provide our children with the same warmth and comfort that we felt.

We cannot stress enough how happy we were to learn about embryo adoption. It felt like something that was made for our family and just instantly made sense to both of us as part of our next steps. Families that are willing to donate their remaining embryo's are the reason we can dream of completing our family and give our son a sibling. We never imagined our son as an only child and pictured our house full of chaos and laughter. Our home currently has the laughter and the space but we could use a bit more chaos. We have had a nursery ready since we first started fertility treatments that has currently morphed into a bit of an IVF medical storage facility. It is our dream to toss all of that medication and finally welcome a new child into his or her waiting room. Additionally, we are open to working with a donor family to make sure everyone is happy with an arrangement that benefits both families and is the best for all children involved. Thank you for taking the time to consider our family along this journey.

We wish you all the best on finding the perfect family to complete your match.