I’m scared but I’m going to tell you anyway.

Are you ready?

Andrew and I have been undergoing infertility treatments since the beginning of this year.

I wish I could tell you that we have another secret to share, that the treatments were successful and that we’re now expecting a child. Sadly, that’s not the case.

You see Andrew and I have been trying to start a family for a really long time. Years, actually. We started out by trying to deal with all the side effects of my Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), in hopes that in controlling it we’d be able to conceive naturally. I tried herbs, teas, diets, exercise, and finally prescriptions that wreaked havoc on my body, all to no avail. Finally, fed up with getting no results, I asked to be referred to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE).

I started seeing my wonderful RE at Shady Grove Infertility a little over a year ago, and it took months before I could start any actual treatments. First I had to be poked and prodded — there were blood draws, ultrasounds, x-rays, more ultrasounds, more blood draws, etc. We were finally given the green light to start infertility treatments at the beginning of this year.

We prayed; we crossed our fingers; we held our breath; we waited and waited and waited. I had a very rigid schedule of medications, ultrasounds, and blood draws that I had to plan my life around; I had to learn to give myself injections in the stomach; it felt like I spent more time in doctor’s offices and waiting rooms than anywhere else. We did everything correctly, yet every month brought disappointment. Every month my body failed to do the one thing that it’s supposed to do easily and naturally. Every month more and more friends announced pregnancies or had beautiful babies while we still had no good news. Each announcement is a reminder that our hearts and our home are ready for another little life, and that that place still remains empty.

My RE told me that I’d get a certain amount of treatment cycles before having to go up to the next tier. Those cycles are up and it’s time to move on. Sadly our insurance doesn’t cover the next tier of treatment. Though our circumstances are such that we live comfortably, they don’t allow for the expense that comes with the treatment, and so we’re stuck in a very unfortunate place.

Still reading? Good. Because this is where you come in.

We’re fundraising so we can have a baby. Some of you may think this is in poor taste. That’s ok. We don’t much mind being tacky. We’re desperate for a child. We feel an urgency to start a family, an urgency that is compounded by certain circumstances that have arisen and that I’m not quite at liberty to share (otherwise I would, I promise). We’re scrambling for anything that will get us closer to having a child.

So here are the hard details. The cost of treatment is $1600 for each cycle, not including the cost of medication. We’d like to save enough for 3 cycles. That’s $4800 total. We don’t expect to fundraise every penny. In fact, Andrew has started a part time job that will give us a bit more disposable income to put toward treatment. But even then, it may be months before we can save enough, and those are months that we don’t really have to spare. Any help you can give gets us closer to having a child. Donations can be made to gsandor86@gmail.com via Paypal (or in person, if you’d prefer). Will you please consider helping us?