I’m assuming that the majority of you that are here came
from Facebook where we recently made a post about starting IVF. I had mentioned that you could head over to
our blog to learn more about our story so here it goes…
I remember the first time I met Joe. It was 10 years ago. We were freshmen at
Jamestown College. Myself and some of my
volleyball team were out causing mischief with the football players on campus,
and by mischief I mean we were throwing pinecones at their dorm windows and then
scampering away. Joe’s window happened to be our particular target and after a
few rounds of ammo he came running into the courtyard to find who was to
blame. As my teammates and I were
nonchalantly walking away there came busting through the doors this tall, curly
headed guy that almost ran us over. “Oh
sorry! Hi! My name is Joe, I’m from Blaine, MN.” And that was it. That was the beginning of the rest of my life
with that cute curly headed boy from Blaine.
Fast forward 7 years to a quaint farmstead in Barnesville
named The Vintage Garden. We said our I
do’s beneath the oak trees, dined under the tent, danced like crazy in the
hayloft, and partied the night away with some of our closest friends and
family.
We lived the next year within the blissful newlywed
glow. We enjoyed being in our first
house together, getting used to being called a Mr. or Mrs., and didn’t put much
thought to trying to have kids. If it
happened, awesome.
Our first anniversary came and went and we started to give
serious thought to starting our family.
To make sure everything was ‘ok’, I searched out fertility specialists
in the area and made an appointment with one of the best. Our doctor found it odd that we hadn’t
conceived on our own yet and under their guidance we started down the rabbit
hole of tests, appointments, medications, and procedures. This would continue over the next two years,
each month and each procedure bringing with it what would become an all too
familiar sadness and heartache. We
watched friends and family make pregnancy announcements, post pictures of their
children’s first steps, first birthday parties, first teeth, and their children’s
first time becoming a big brother or sister.
After the last failed procedure, we sat down with our doctor
to discuss our options going forward. He
told us that we could continue with the type of procedure we had been doing but
he didn’t see any reason that it shouldn’t be working. If we chose to abandon that plan, our next
and final medical step would be IVF. We
were given the details, the enormous price tag, and were sent home to take some
time and discuss it. Joe and I agreed
that we didn’t want to continue to throw money away on a procedure that should
be working. We decided that we would
move forward with IVF in the hopes that this would help us start the family we
so desperately want.
We scrounged up the few thousand dollars that were needed
for the initial consult and met with our doctor. A single round of IVF at our clinic can cost
a couple upwards of $20,000 and beyond.
We are fortunate that our insurance covers a fair amount of infertility
services, but after two years of trying we had depleted that amount significantly. At this time I haven’t actually started the
injections. We still need to come up
with a good chunk of money to pay for them.
We have read some blogs and I have communicated with quite a
few women who have gone through this process before us. The financial burden that this places on a
couple is staggering so I asked them how they came up with the money. A common theme was holding a t-shirt
fundraiser. Seemed odd but we looked
into it. We liked the idea of not just
asking people for money but that if people are generous enough to help us, they
get something in return. We decided we
would give it a shot which has ultimately lead you here today.
The link listed below leads you directly to our fundraising
site. There are a variety of shirt
styles to choose from all with our one-of-a-kind #BringHomeBirdie design. All profits will go towards our fertility
treatments with the hope of making our dream to start our family a
reality. We would be so humbled and
incredibly grateful if you choose to participate in our fundraising
efforts. We have a steep mountain to
climb but with your help we know we can get there. Please feel free to share this link with
others.
Where to get your shirts: https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bring-home-birdie
We are hopeful that one day we will be able to share with
our Little the story of all the people that loved them enough to help bring
them home to us.
Hopefully positive,
Joe and Amanda Gerding
