(Finally!) An Update!

Hi Friends!

A little over a month has gone by since Trent and I first came to you and asked for your help in our next steps to grow our little family.

We have been overwhelmed by your love, support, and generosity. In just over a month, we have raised $12,521.32!!

Coming to you and asking for your help was no easy task. It took swallowing our pride, sharing our deepest fears and desires, and telling you of our tremendous loss. You all have been so kind, generous, and supportive in return, and we are so thankful.

We have had friends and family walk up to us and hand us cards filled with notes of love and generous generous gifts. We have sold over 100 Hope Together shirts! One of my most favorite things is seeing you all wear them!! Strangers have donated or purchased shirts! (We’ve raised about $1,750 from t-shirts so far!) We’ve had a handful of friends step alongside and offer up their businesses for our little cause. Our Hope Together, Shop Together fundraiser raised over $800, and our raffle raised $550!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

A brief recap of our story so far:

* January 2015-August 2018 included lots of pregnancies (8), lots of losses (8), 4 likely ectopic pregnancies, 1 emergency surgery, 3 doses of chemotherapy, diet changes, and countless supplements, tests, and acupuncture.

*September 2018, we switched doctors and had the (some what shocking) news that IVF was our best option. (Also, more tests).

* October 2018, we shared about our losses and found hope and strength in that sharing.

* November-December 2018, medically, we waited and emotional/financially/spiritually, we asked for your help.

*January! We learned on January 2 that we did not get a grant that we were hopeful would help us pay for the prescriptions. I cried a bit that day and couldn’t sleep. Instead of wallowing, I got up and sent out some (overdue) thank you emails and ordered thank you post cards that I have been thinking about for weeks! I am disappointed that we did not get that grant, as I think Trent and I will be amazing parents and that we were very deserving, but we have to just take each day as it comes.

Then, we talked to the doctor’s office and got things moving! We have our next appointment scheduled for JANUARY 15! This is where we will sign lots of papers, get baseline information, pay what feels like a zillion dollars ($14,500, in reality), get a lesson in how to take the medication, and learn about our next steps. I have already started taking some medication, but will start the shots (eek!) after that.

If everything goes as it should, we hopefully be doing our egg retrieval this month! We will definitely share with you, but will do so on our own time. We aren’t sure yet if we will share before or after the retrieval. We are trying our best to be optimistic and hopeful and will take each day at a time. That might mean that we we share with you the day of the egg retrieval, or it might mean we will share later. Either way, we will share. :) Depending on the results of the retrieval, we will hopefully do a transfer sometime in the spring.

At about the same time that will be paying our clinic, we will also be paying our pharmacy. (Somewhat frustratingly,) we do not yet know the cost of our medication. The doctor’s office can only give us a range of $3,000-$5,000. We qualified for a discount of 25%, but the office is vague about what that means.

IVF/infertility in general, is a lot of waiting and not knowing. Hoping but trying not to get your hopes up. Feeling in your heart that you will become a parent, but not putting all of your hopes into the particular cycle that is in front of you. It’s scary and expensive, but it also opens you to whole new community. It makes you really decide that THIS is what you want. There are no accidental pregnancies or trying but not trying. There is just trying. Commitment. Hope.

We are very close to our goal! The time leading up to our January 15 appointment is the time that we will need to close in on our goal. If you or someone you know where considering donating or buying a shirt, now would be a very helpful time! Please feel free to share our story and this page.

To donate, check out our gofundme page.

To purchase t-shirts, checkout bonfire.com/trentandjeanne.

For information about IVF and infertility in general, checkout pregnantish.com and fertilityiq.com.

#hopetogether #teamcharles