Sarah & Ryan’s Story

Welcome to “And Baby Makes Five”!As some of you may already know, Ryan and I have faced a long and unusual path to starting a family. I was born without a uterus due to a very rare birth defect, which means that in order to  have (genetically-related) children, Ryan and I require the use of in vitro fertilization as well as surrogacy. Using these methods, we are able to have children using our own eggs and sperm. Surrogacy and infertility treatment are very emotional and expensive, but well worth it, we think!

In the fall of 2007, we applied for an in vitro scholarship through INCIID (The InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination, pronounced “inside”), a non-profit organization that provides information and support for couples dealing with infertility. INCIID’s scholarship provides a free cycle of in vitro fertilization to selected couples.

In December 2007, we found out that we were selected as scholarship finalists! Part of our responsibility in receiving this scholarship was to become spokespeople for INCIID. We were asked to help support the organization by fundraising $3,000. Thanks to the amazing generosity of our friends and family, we were able to reach our fundraising goal very quickly. Around the same time, a friend of ours, named Marika, agreed to be our surrogate mother (for no compensation, I might add). She knew about our situation and wanted to help.

In March/April 2008, we received our donated cycle of IVF from Dr. Jeffrey Fisch in Las Vegas, NV, at the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine. Our cycle was successful, Marika became pregnant with twins and gave birth to our little miracles, Evan and Connor, on December 2, 2008. So, it seems the journey is just beginning!

This blog tells the story of the beginnings of our family, and will be told by Sarah and Marika (our truly wonderful, amazing, generous, and selfless surrogate mother).

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