I'm swapping blogs today with Ashley from Flats to Flip Flops!
Ashley and her husband founded The Hudson Foundation, Inc. to help couples who are dealing with infertility to be able to afford In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedures. This is dear to my heart and I'm talking about my story on her blog today.
My name is Ashley and I blog over at flats to flip flops about fashion and life as a mom to two little one's! But I also co-founded a non profit organization called The Hudson Foundation, Inc earlier this year.
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See, our story starts, probably, much like your own. Girl meets boy. They fall in love, get married, and plan an amazing future with 2.5 kids, 1 dog and a house with a white picket fence.
But we learned that life doesn't always turn out how we plan.
We thought, like all of our friends and family, that starting our family would be a cinch. I mean, you decide to go for it and it happens, right? You just have to make the decision of when.
Well, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months and then 1 year later, there was no baby and my gut was telling me something was wrong.
We met with doctor's, got on meds, got off meds, got diagnosed, got re-diagnosed, and met with more doctor's.
2 years later we needed a break AND a vacation.
And then it happened,
WE WERE PREGNANT!
Miracles!
And high fives all around.
We started to talk names and nurseries and all things baby.
And then I started spotting, and the spotting turned into bleeding and the doctor said
"You need to come in now."
And after 8 weeks of pregnancy, it was over and we were left empty.
Slowly the darkness lifted and we saw things differently.
At least we knew that we could get pregnant, and maybe we could get pregnant again.
That's when we hit treatments full force. Shots, medications, ultrasounds, and 3 1/2 hour road trips to see our doctor became our life.
And in April of 2007 we decided to go big or go home.
We started In Vitro Fertilization.
The process was long and hard, but we knew this was it, our last hope.
In January 2008, we were blessed with our miracle son.
Thanks to IVF.
After our experience, we always knew we wanted to be able to help couples in the same situation. You see, 5 million couples struggle with infertility. And of those 5, 2 million will never even get the opportunity to achieve pregnancy without IVF.
And the cost of IVF is not cheap, my friends!
It can cost anywhere between-$10,000-$15,000.
So for a lot of couples this is not a reality.
Not even close.
That's where The Hudson Foundation comes in.
We want to give HOPE to couples struggling with infertility.
We have set up The Mission Hope Grant that helps couples financially with their infertility treatments.
We can't imagine what our life would be like if the cost of IVF had prevented us from going for it.
We.can't.even.imagine.
And a HUGE THANK YOU to Salena for letting us share our story on her blog today!
Don't forget to visit me here over at Ashley's today after you enter the giveaway! =)
Ashley is giving away this hand stamped Hope Necklace to one lucky follower! If you just have to have one and don't want to wait to see if you win, head on over to the shop and purchase your own here.
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RULES:
- You MUST be a follower of this blog to enter giveaways.
- Complete both mandatory entries to be entered. Extra optional entries will be unlocked.
- Don't forget to come back daily to complete the daily entries. More entries means more chances to win!
GOOD LUCK!!
