Greetings! We are [her name] and [his name], currently living in [State]. Both of us recently celebrated our 39th birthday. We wanted to take this opportunity to share our story and allow you to get to know us as we embark on this journey of growing our family.

 

My husband [his name] was born and raised in North Florida. He is the youngest of four children, which includes two sisters and a brother. His extended family includes several nieces and nephews, most of whom are all grown up. Most of his family, including his parents, still reside in Florida. [his name] joined the Army out of high school in June of 2002, where he has served for the past 21 years as a paralegal specialist. His service includes deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He recently completed his B.S. in Sports Management and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration from Troy University. As [his name] nears retirement from the Army, he plans to pursue a second career within the Sports Management field. In his spare time, [his name] has been volunteering as a youth soccer coach with the Youth Sports Program at our current duty station. He coaches two teams with kids ranging from ages 7-13. Growing up he played a variety of sports including baseball, basketball, and soccer. [his name] is an avid sports fan and enjoys watching most sports on television and in person. His other interests include spending time with family and friends, bike riding, painting, working out, and being outdoors.

 

I, [her name], was born in Manila, Philippines where I lived there until the age of 5. I then moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia after my mother got married to my father. Being the only child, growing up, I spent a lot of time around my cousins, who were like my brothers. I was a cheerleader in high school. In 2007, I obtained my B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Old Dominion University. Growing up, my dream career at the time was to be a teacher as I was raised around teachers my whole life, my father was my inspiration. For several years, I taught fourth grade and Kindergarten in North Carolina and Georgia. I then changed careers and became an Administrative Assistant for the Director of Graduate Programs at the Parker School of Business at Georgia Southern University, until our last move to [State]. I am a hands-on person that likes to do all kinds of crafts, read, cook, and be involved with our Army community.

 

We currently reside in a great community at our current duty station. The benefits of being associated with the Army, we have met many people who have become lifelong friends, and some of those friends have become family to us. Since moving to [State], we have found enjoyment in going to the local Arts and Crafts Center to paint, and I have recently started to learn how to sew and quilt. Other activities we enjoy doing around our area include going to festivals, sporting events, and other local events throughout the West Central Louisiana area. When my husband takes leave, we like to travel back home to hang out with family and friends.

[her name] and [his name] met through mutual friends. We were married on September 16, 2006. Due to [his name's] military career, we have lived in several states. Our immediate family consists of [her name] and [his name] and Minnie, our 15-year-old Labrador retriever mix. Minnie has been a staple within our family since April 2008. We adopted a second dog, Duncan, that same year however, he passed away last year.

 

Our parenthood journey started in April 2019 when we started our first round of IVF. As a result of our first cycle of IVF, we were successful in getting four embryos. Based on the recommendation of our doctor, I went through a fresh transfer with two embryos. With this, the transfer was a success! At the first ultrasound appointment, we found that we were having twins. I progressed into my 2nd trimester and found that we were blessed with twin boys. At that time, we had a setback and found that my cervix was starting to thin, and was given medication in hopes that it would fix the issue. Two weeks later, on August 27, 2019, I went into preterm labor due to an incompetent cervix and was hospitalized. The plan was for me to stay at the hospital in hopes that our boys would continue growing for a viable birth. On September 2, 2019, things did not go as planned. Our boys had a mind of their own and I gave birth at 21 and ½ weeks. Both E and J lived for about an hour after birth before passing away. The loss of our beloved sons was a traumatic experience for both of us.

 

In August 2020, I underwent a transabdominal cerclage (TAC) procedure to prevent the thinning of my cervix during any future pregnancies. In November of 2020, I went through a frozen embryo transfer of the two remaining embryos from our first round of IVF. Only one embryo was implanted successfully, however, the pregnancy ended due to a chemical miscarriage. We then found that due to [his name] career, we would be moving. In March 2021, before our move, we went through our second round of IVF. This round only gave us one embryo however, the transfer was unsuccessful. After our move to [State], we found a new fertility doctor. This is where I was officially diagnosed with PCOS and was given proper treatment. With treatment and close monitoring with my current fertility clinic, we went through our third round of IVF in October of 2022. This round only yielded one embryo, which we elected to have PGT-A tested in which we were then informed that the embryo was viable and that it was a girl. We went through a frozen embryo transfer in February 2023. Unfortunately, it was an unsuccessful transfer. After the latest unsuccessful round of IVF, [her name] and [his name] had many discussions and talks of options, and we decided to investigate embryo adoption.

 

Given my age, and the lack of quantity and quality of eggs/embryos yielded through our last two rounds of IVF, we felt embryo adoption would be the best way to move forward in our journey to grow our family. We are at the age and stage in life where growing our family is a priority for both of us, especially given our difficult journey to raise a family over the years. [his name] is at the tail end of his military career, and I am currently not working, so there would not be any effect on the ability to parent and raise our children. We do hope to move closer to my parents, back in Virginia, in the next couple of years so our family will be around lots of family members. As far as the number of children is concerned, we are happy with however many we can have through this process. Our main wish is to just be parents in life.

 

Currently, the only tradition we have is celebrating both of our boys’ birthdays. We bake a cake and sing happy birthday. This is a way for us to keep the memory of our boys’ time with us, even if it was for a short time. We plan to continue this tradition even after we are blessed with kids in the future. We are certain as we grow our family, we will add other traditions along the way. Since we are so far away from home, we do try to make trips back and visit when we can. If we do not get the opportunity to visit, we celebrate holidays not only together but with our military family.

 

We hope this letter gives you an insight into our family and our journey to grow our family through embryo adoption. We are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives. We do hope we get the opportunity to be part of your family as well as you are a part of ours. Family is very important to us, and we found that family does not always come in the form of biological relatives but ones that we can build strong and long-lasting relationships with. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us and we hope we will have the opportunity to get to know you and your family as well.

 

Much Love,

J and J