The Road to Parenthood Can be Difficult

Dustin and I decided after our 2nd wedding anniversary (Nov. 2015) to begin trying to start adding children to our family. To our surprise, it didn’t happen right away.

In December 2016 we finally had a positive pregnancy test! Everything progressed as normal until our 20-week appointment. It was confirmed, our baby was suffering from a type of skeletal dysplasia and would not survive. That was in March 2017.

After this terrible experience we did genetic testing and discovered I am a carrier of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. If we were to get pregnant again, our boys would have a 50% chance of being affected by the disease and girls would have a 50% chance of being carriers. We decided these were not odds we were willing to accept. Our doctor suggested using an egg donor.

We attempted a pregnancy using donor eggs, which only resulted in one viable embryo. We did achieve a pregnancy, but miscarried at 11 weeks. It was heartbreaking.

We learned about embryo adoption and decided to use a private agency and matched with a family with a single embryo. It was an unsuccessful transfer.

We decided pregnancy was not going to be an option for us so be began pursuing a private domestic adoption through an attorney. Simultaneously we established ourselves as licensed foster care parents. We were matched with birth parents through the attorney, but after the baby was born, they decided to parent themselves. Failure again!

Our first foster placement was a little girl names Brenley. We cared for her for 2 years and we were finally able to adopt her! Foster care and adoption allowed up to take a break from the world of infertility and pregnancy loss.

When we decided we were ready to try pregnancy again we contacted the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. It sounded like a very good option for us. They made the process so easy compared to all of the other experiences we had. Snowflakes was the best! Our journey went quickly and we were matched with an amazing placing family who gifted us with 6 embryos. We were ecstatic!

In February 2021 we transferred one of our frozen embryos and on my birthday in March we learned we were pregnant! We communicated with the placing parents to let them know the good news and kept them informed throughout our pregnancy. In October 2021 we rejoiced at the birth of our son Arlo – an experience we never thought we would have.

We can’t begin to explain how grateful we are for our donor placing family and for the Snowflakes team. What a wild journey we have had trying to build our family. We will be forever thankful for the Snowflakes program and how they helped us experience pregnancy and childbirth. We would recommend the Snowflakes program to anyone and love sharing information about the process and opportunities that they offer.

Arlo is a year old now. The past year has been an amazing time for our family. He brings all of us so much joy and has helped my husband and I heal in a way we never thought could be healed. He is the happiest little guy and so loveable – he brings us joy!

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