With a Little Help from My Friends

Opening up to people can be one of the scariest things you will encounter. When you open your heart and your vulnerabilities up to people, you never know what you'll be given in return. Will people judge me? Will they think differently of me? Will they feel bad for me? I don't want any of these things!

What I have been given in this short time is love, compassion, solidarity and support. People have offered their similar experiences, they have offered their time and a shoulder to lean on. Some have suggested ways to ease the financial burden and some have even offered money from their own pockets. All of these offerings are received with humility and gratitude and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The process of having a child through IVF and a gestational carrier is an arduous one. With insurance coverage, the cost can be steep. Without insurance coverage, which is what my husband and I face, the cost can be astronomical. And the financial hardships are just one aspect of it! So to have people taking time out of their lives to offer me help and ideas, eases the burden a bit.

That being said, a good friend of mine has recently signed on as a Younique Consultant, and she has generously offered to host an online party with 15% of the sales donated to our Baby Saint Fund! You can click here to see our party page and shop the products. You can also click here to view the Facebook event page.

Younique is known for the 3D fiber lashes which lengthens lashes by 300%  and is made from all natural ingredients. It is the MUST have product of the season! Younique products are paraben free, carcinogen free, chemical free, organic, cruelty free, gluten free and hypoallergenic...and amazing! I can personally vouch for the 3D lashes and the amazing effect they have, and I am a total lash girl!

Please check out the site and help ease our financial burden, every little bit is a huge help. And you get fabulous makeup to boot!

A dependable support system is absolutely necessary to get through the trials and heartache of infertility and your "road to baby." No one likes to talk about these kinds of things, myself included, but we need to. Infertility is an issue that many women can relate to and it's not something that we should be ashamed of. I thank you all for your kind words, your thoughtful gestures and your continued support.

What's Next?

Well it's been a while since my first blog! It took some time for me to gain the courage to share it with the world, in particular the beautiful people in my personal world, but you guys did not disappoint! Thank you for all your love and support.

So what's next? From what I can understand a lot of doctors appointments, a lot of financial planning and A LOT of emotions, and that's just for staters. We've started with the doctors appointments, the team at Baystates Infertility Clinic has come highly recommended by both friends and doctors and we will hopefully be getting to know them very well. 

To let you know a little bit about our story, my husband and I are capable of having a child who is 100% biologically ours, but I am not capable of carrying that child. We count our blessings that if and when we are ready to find a gestational carrier, that baby will be completely genetically ours. A gestational carrier differs from a traditional surrogate in that she has no genetic relation to the baby, she will be carrying a child who is a little bit of me and a little bit of my husband. What a beautiful possibility, isn't it?

It's an ongoing struggle as a woman to find peace with the fact that you will never bear your own child. I've spent the better part of my life being sad and bitter about it. But now, with the help of my husband and family, and all of you reading this blog, I move towards accepting that fact and focusing instead on getting what we want, which is a family, so I guess that's what's next!

Baby Steps

When I got married four years ago, my husband and I knew we wanted to have a family, that we wanted to be parents. We also knew that it wouldn't be simple and that it wouldn't be easy. There wouldn't be any surprise pregnancies, there wouldn't be any pregnancies. I found out when I was in high school that I would never know the blessing of being pregnant but that never stopped me from dreaming about being a mother. And now that I'm older, as I watch my friends and loved ones expand their families, my heart aches for that same joy. This is something that I rarely, if ever, discuss with anyone so it's surprising, even to me, that I have started a blog to document this adventure of ours. But it's something that is a part of life, something that a lot of women and their husbands can relate to. And it's something that I shouldn't continue to keep hidden away like dirty laundry. My husband and I recently decided to take the first steps (BabySteps you could say 😊) towards growing our family and I'm so excited to share what's to come with all of you. My pain, my joy, my questions and (hopefully!) some answers.