I always knew I would be a mother, but I never thought I would give birth to my children. I spent my 20’s and 30’s traveling and working, serving in the Peace Corps and working overseas in international development. My focus was on my work and traveling. Although I loved it, I got to the point where I decided that if I wanted to have a family, I needed to come back to the US. I came back to the US early in 2016 and soon after was licensed to be a foster parent. After several short and long placements, my daughter Zoe was placed with me in late 2017 and adopted when she was 9 in 2019.
Thanksgiving, 2019 Zoe and I were visited by a best friend in Chicago who was very pregnant. Something about seeing her and feeling the baby kick and the realization that her daughter was growing inside of her opened my heart to wanting the same thing.I joined a Single Mothers By Choice(SMBC) facebook page and started researching sperm banks. When I hit 40, I realized I couldn’t be waiting around any more and started planning for an IUI. After 6 unsuccessful IUIs my Dr asked if I had thought of embryo adoption. I hadn’t but started researching it as well. I was a little overwhelmed by all the different clinics and costs and options. I live 4-5 hours away from a fertility clinic so I knew I would have to travel but I didn’t want to wait for years for an embryo to become available. As a SMBC I also knew it would be difficult to find someone that would want to donate an embryo to me and some programs require married couples for embryo donation.
When I found ASB I was very interested in it because I felt like it gave me the most options and after 6 unsuccessful IUIs, it gave me hope that I didn’t have to completely start over financially if the first transfer wasn’t successful. I was also hopeful with the success rate and found an embryo that I am really excited about. As I get closer to my transfer, I am equally terrified and excited as I believe this will actually work and I don’t think I can sufficiently imagine how much this will change my life. Thus far, I am happy with the services I have been provided through ASB and ARMS and am excited about holding that baby in my arms one day!
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