Real Stories of Embryo Donation
Krew and his big sister (2025)
Casey & Omar (2025)
Beautiful Stori, donated embryo born Feb 2020
Sam & Merissa, my reasons to be
Krew
Our son Krew came to us through the incredible gift of embryo donation after years of infertility and loss. Our journey to parenthood was long and winding — marked by six failed rounds of IVF, eight failed IUIs, three miscarriages, countless unsuccessful transfers, and one miracle biological child conceived naturally.
We had always dreamed of having two children and were introduced to embryo donation by a close friend who had found success through this beautiful path to family building. When we began working with Embryo Connections, they sent us several donor profiles, and we took our time carefully reviewing each one — wanting to be sure the donors aligned with our values.
When our donors’ profile arrived, we both felt an instant sense of this is it. Their family photos radiated joy, closeness, and love. It just felt right. They were the perfect match, and we gratefully accepted their two embryos, praying that one would complete the family we had always dreamed of.
The first transfer worked — and because of their selfless generosity, I was able to carry our son, experience all the highs and lows of pregnancy, and deliver our healthy baby boy, Krew, in September 2025.
We chose the name “Krew” (like “crew”) because it represents our circle of family and friends, and the deep connection we share with his donor family, his extended crew. We chose to spell it with a “K” as a nod to the Polish word krew, meaning “blood” — symbolizing close bonds with loved ones. It felt especially meaningful, given both our Polish heritage and the extraordinary way he came into our lives.
Working with Embryo Connections was an amazing experience. It’s clear that their team puts so much care into creating thoughtful matches between donors and recipients. They patiently guide you every step of the way — not just helping you find your perfect match, but supporting you through the entire journey.
From the moment Krew arrived, we knew he was the missing piece of our family. Because of the generosity of strangers, the compassion and guidance of Embryo Connections, and our unrelenting hope to grow our family, Krew is now part of our crew — and we couldn’t be more grateful for our perfect little miracle.
Casey & Omar - new parents
We had been trying to conceive for nearly five years. After four failed fertility treatments and a heartbreaking failed transfer of our only low mosaic embryo, we were physically and emotionally drained. We had run out of options to have a child who was biologically ours.
While we weren’t yet ready to pursue traditional adoption, we still dreamed of experiencing pregnancy and childbirth. I wanted to be able to carry our future child—to give them the best possible prenatal care and to bond with them from the very beginning.
That’s when we learned about donor embryos through our fertility clinic. The concept was new to us, but it offered something unique: the chance for me to carry and give birth to a child, even if not genetically related to us.
Adoption wasn’t a foreign concept in our family. Both my mother and aunt had been adopted by my grandparents, so we knew firsthand that love isn’t defined by genetics. We were fully capable of loving a child with all our hearts, whether they were of our own flesh and blood or not.
After doing extensive research and exploring various agencies, we chose to work with Embryo Connections. The process was straightforward, compassionate, and unlike traditional adoption, there were no hoops to jump through to prove ourselves “worthy” of becoming parents. We completed our profile, and within a month, we were matched with four potential donor families.
Ultimately, we were matched with a batch of five embryos. The first transfer ended in a miscarriage, which was another emotional blow. But we tried again—and the second transfer led to a successful pregnancy.
Nine months later, our son was born—healthy, beautiful, and perfect in every way.
Creating Our Own Story—Literally
During the process of adopting embryos, one of the conversations we kept coming back to was: How will we explain this to our children? We knew we wanted to be open and honest from the very beginning, and we believed that starting the conversation early—at an age-appropriate level—was the best approach.
But when we started looking for books to help us tell that story, we found that most weren’t quite the right fit. They didn’t reflect our journey in a personal or meaningful way. We wanted something simple, loving, and specific to the unique path that brought our child to us.
So—we created our own.
In June, we proudly published our book. It's a heartfelt, child-friendly introduction to embryo donation that reflects the love, hope, and intention that went into growing our family. Our hope is that it not only helps our own children understand their story, but also supports other families navigating the beautiful and complex path of embryo adoption.
A Beautiful Stori
In 2016, my husband and I finally decided, after only 18 years together and 10 years married, that it was time to add a baby to our lives. In April of that same year, we received the exciting news that I was pregnant after only one attempt. All natural, nice and easy. At the first ultrasound, the doctor said, “There’s the baby” as I saw the precious little dot on the screen. Then she said, “Oh, there’s another” then I felt the room getting smaller. Whoa, twins!? But then she stopped what she was doing, froze for what felt like an hour, and said “There’s three!” That was the most life changing moment I’d experienced yet. Spontaneous triplets!
But four months later, I was in the hospital for 40 days due to pregnancy related problems. My water broke at 25 weeks - two of the triplets lived only two days, one lived a week. We were both completely devastated. Through faith and support from family and friends, we survived this tragedy.
After a year of physical and mental healing, we decided it was time to try for another baby. We spent the following two years with multiple failed attempts at getting pregnant, filled with heartache and frustration. We met regularly with our fertility doctor to review our options. It was at one of these meetings when we first heard of embryo donation. We soon decided this would be our next step. We were given Embryo Connections information and quickly began the matching process. Within a few months we were matched up with a family. After exams, treatments, and testing, our embryo transfer date was set for June 26, 2019. After many tears, heartache and almost giving up, we are so excited that our precious miracle baby was born February 13, 2020. Finding a wonderful fertility doctor and Embryo Connections has been a blessing beyond words. We wouldn’t have our beautiful daughter without either and now have quite the story to share with our sweet Stori.
Sam & Merissa
My story is my passion for this organization: At 40, I finally decided that I couldn’t wait any longer - I needed to be a parent without a partner. I thought it would be easy. I am fit, healthy, and have a lot of eggs. It wasn’t. I suffered through the crazy, devastating, opaque infertility process with no visible solution for 4 years. Hands down the worst years of my life: doctors telling me to try again without a diagnosis, and even telling me that maybe kids aren’t worth it. I found more high walls with traditional adoption, because I was over 40 and single. I didn’t give up hope. After depleting my savings on IVF and adoption efforts, and a lot of soul searching, I discovered private embryo donation. I asked my social media network to give me a miracle, to find me an embryo. Sam is my miracle: a donated embryo from a woman in Chicago. I got calls from people I didn’t know with embryos as far as Bangkok, to share their remaining batches. Even then, I was a pioneer at my fertility clinic, working with them to accept their first donated embryos, and working through legal and logistics to make them mine. Fast forward, Sam is 2 and his full little sister Merissa is 6 months, and I can’t think of anything more important to do – to allow other people suffering through infertility to be able to have children to love. Letter from Deb (Mom) 2020
Hear my story on 9News with Kyle Clark
Find more real stories at embracedonation.org
A platform dedicated to learning about embryo donation