The minute I met JD, I knew I wanted to spend my life with him. My dream came true when he asked me to marry him five years into our relationship.
We knew as soon as we were married, we would try for the first of three babies, and nothing would stand in the way of our plan.
Reality bites.
After almost a year of tracking ovulation and staring at our calendars, we sought out help. JD was diagnosed with a low sperm count. The number four (as in four. individual. sperm.) rang in my head night and day. Any natural means of creating life was out of the question. Many tear-filled conversations ensued. As anyone can imagine, the idea of donor insemination was a bit hard for JD to accept. For every other family we knew, even infertile ones, this harsh reality didn't exist. JD blamed himself, and I prayed night after night for God to give me this burden to bear.
It was more than six months before we made a plan. JD realized that if we could love our dog, Hank, just like a child, then what was stopping us from loving a baby that we knew from conception. Donor insemination would give us both what we wanted. I would have the chance to feel life growing inside of me, and JD could stand in the delivery room a proud daddy, showing off his little one.
Our wonderful doctor at WVU Medicine guided us to California Cryobank. We decided that I would choose the donor, and he would come to as many appointments as his work would allow. The process of choosing donor #12847 was difficult because of the thousands of amazing profiles from which to choose. There was certainly no shortage of potential donors, but the cryobank's easy-to-use website and their qualified staff helped me every step of the way.
I became pregnant on the fourth try in October 2013, three and a half years after starting our journey. Our little wild Maura is everything we imagined and more, and there isn't a day that goes by that we don't thank God for this gift.