A story of sixteen babies, a lifetime of hope, and learning to carry love differently In 2006, I was 23 when I met my future husband online. He was 32, and we lived five hours apart. Distance didn’t stop us. Within 21 days we had met in person, and two days later we became an
Ashley met her husband, Tom, in 2012 and they were married in 2016. With difficulty starting their family, they turned to IVF. After some setbacks, they had success. In June of 2019, they welcomed their first son, Benjamin, to the world. They hoped to grow their family further and unexpectedly became pregnant naturally. Unfortunately, this
My name is Maggie, and I’m from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At four years old, I was diagnosed with cancer. Although it was one of the hardest experiences of my life, it taught me that life is precious and that hope can carry us through even the darkest times. Growing up, my faith, education, and life experiences
I have been walking the road of infertility for nearly ten years. My first husband and I spent years pursuing treatments without success, and eventually our marriage ended. Later, God brought my now husband into my life, and he stepped into this journey with me with incredible strength and faithfulness. I have PCOS and, at
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a mom. When I picture little me, I see dolls lined up across my bedroom floor, Barbies with elaborate lives and stories, and little sisters who always had another game to play. I don’t know why motherhood mattered so much to me, but it
In the Summer of 2022, I found out that I was pregnant. My husband Daniel and I were overjoyed, and enjoyed a healthy and uneventful pregnancy. At 37 weeks, I had a very fast and relatively easy labor. But things suddenly changed once my daughter was born. They placed her on my chest, and I
Madison Pico is a mother of two living children who has also experienced three pregnancy losses while navigating complex family-building decisions. In this episode of Finding Hope After Loss, Madison shares her journey through miscarriage, chemical pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, IVF, and a genetic diagnosis that changed the way she approached future pregnancies. After learning that
IVF, Ectopic Pregnancy, and a Genetic Diagnosis: Madison’s Story Read More »
My name is Mary-Susan, and this is why I wear the rainbow skirt. When people look at me, they don’t immediately see the years of pain, surgeries, grief, and loss that brought me here. They don’t see the little girl who started bleeding at 11 years old and never really got a break from it.
Mary Susan’s Story Read More »
My journey to motherhood started like many others, full of excitement and the assumption that it would just work out. Within three months of trying, we were pregnant. We were overjoyed. But that joy didn’t last long. Around five weeks, I miscarried. We were heartbroken, but we tried to stay hopeful. Then, the very next month, I was pregnant again. It felt like a miracle, like maybe the first loss had just been a terrible fluke. But at six weeks, we lost that pregnancy too. That was the moment I realized this wasn’t random. I went to the doctor looking for answers, but I kept hearing the same thing. Everything looks normal. Sometimes this just happens. Just keep trying. I never accepted that, because deep down it never felt right. Loss changes you. There is no way around it. When you lose a pregnancy, you don’t just lose a moment in time. You lose the dreams you had already started building. You imagine birthdays that will never happen, tiny hands you never got to hold, and a future that suddenly disappears. The grief is hard to explain unless you have lived through it. It is the grief that keeps on giving. Eventually I started digging deeper into my family’s medical history and pushing for more testing. At a fertility clinic, I had to advocate for myself more than I ever expected. I kept asking to be tested for a rare blood clotting disorder called PAI- 1 4G/5G. Doctors didn’t initially think it was necessary, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was being missed. After a lot of pushing, we finally got an answer. I did have the blood clotting disorder, which can cause recurrent early miscarriage. For the first time since this journey started, we felt like we had a real explanation. The plan seemed simple. The next time I got pregnant, I would start Lovenox and aspirin right away to prevent clotting issues. We thought we had finally solved the mystery. But then another challenge appeared. Almost a full year passed without a single positive pregnancy test. Despite trying everything we could, nothing was working. We eventually went to another fertility clinic and started a full round of testing. I had an HSG, hysteroscopy, and what felt like endless appointments. Nothing major showed up, so we decided to try IUI. Our first cycle failed. Our second cycle never even had a chance because polyps and cysts came back just six weeks after my hysteroscopy surgery. That’s when doctors started to suspect endometriosis. At that point we decided to move forward with IVF. I had laparoscopic surgery and two additional hysteroscopies. During those procedures, doctors confirmed endometriosis and removed polyps, fibroids, cysts, and endometriosis growths. Even with a low AMH, we moved forward with IVF and hoped for the best. Somehow, by what truly feels like a miracle, our first egg retrieval gave us two euploid embryos. After everything we had been through, that alone felt like an incredible gift. Before transfer, I completed two months of Lupron suppression for endometriosis. My protocol included Lovenox, aspirin, antihistamines, steroids, and everything we had learned about my body along the way. Endless patches,
My husband and I have dual-factor infertility, each with multiple diagnoses. Our journey through infertility was long, painful, and at times felt never-ending. After 4 medicated cycles, 4 IUIs, 4 egg retrievals, and 4 embryos transferred, we were blessed that our final embryo gave us our beautiful son, our miracle baby. After everything we had