Our path to parenthood, like many other folks we know, was a capital “J” JOURNEY.

We'd been trying to add to our family for ~8 years, and after a miscarriage and a medically necessary abortion, we weren't getting anywhere via the traditional methods. We started looking in earnest at adoption, both private and foster-to-adopt, but for a number of reasons, this way wasn't working for us.

Then, a close friend told us about embryo adoption — which we had never heard of before! And since there was never an issue with us having the ABILITY to carry a baby — just with the things coming together to make the baby happen — this seemed like the ideal solution. And, for us, it was. As some organizations that facilitate embryo adoption [have values don’t reflect ours], we are so grateful to have found one whose ethos is, "Family is family, and if you want to …. have a child, we're here to help you do that." Embryo Connections helped us do just that!

They matched us with a number of potential families for donation, really quickly — like within a few days of submitting our application, we had donor profiles to review. It takes time to get paperwork through lawyers, get all the proper signatures and arrange for physical transport…. The transfer was just like IVF, but without having to go through the egg harvesting part, which meant it was way less invasive, and honestly more affordable... We were incredibly lucky and our first transfer attempt was a success, and after the pregnancy was well established (10 weeks) we "graduated" from visits to our fertility clinic to seeing an OB, just like any other pregnancy.

We talk about our journey with our son and others all the time — we think it's important for our child to know where he came from, and that he is 100% ours. It is so incredible, after all of the heartbreak and longing, to have our son here with us all through the generosity of our donor family.