Our Precious Gifts (Part 2)

(The following was written by an embryo adoptive parent and was published in a Nightlight Christian Adoptions newsletter.)

by Chad & Tanya

In part one of Chad and Tayna's story, we learned of the couples choice to begin the process of Embryo Adoption. Read the conclusion of their amazing story below.

We were matched with a third genetic family and adopted 18 embryos, and through some circumstances and several people, including the genetic father, we felt we should switch doctors. This was a hard decision to make. In May 2005, we had a transfer with our new doctor, but again our pregnancy test was negative. Just prior to our sixth transfer in July 2005, I felt at peace, knowing that we were doing what we were called to do. And two weeks later, we were thrilled to learn that we were pregnant! But the greatest joy of our lives turned into the deepest heartache as we lost the baby at 8 weeks.

We had our next transfer in February 2006 with our remaining embryos, and we had decided that this would be our last transfer if it was not successful. Instead, though, we were thrilled to learn that we were pregnant, and this time we were expecting twins! But once again, joy was accompanied by heartache when we had an ultrasound at 16 weeks and learned that one of the twins had died at the end of our first trimester. Thankfully, we were blessed us with Ethan Richard, who was born on October 19, 2006!

When Ethan turned a year old, we began thinking about how to expand our family. After our first experience, we had no idea what the path would look like. We were matched with a genetic family and adopted eight embryos. We had our transfer last October, and just prior to Ethan’s second birthday, we found out that we were pregnant! We suspected that we were once again expecting twins, but after a complication and an emergency visit to the doctor, we learned that we had been expecting twins but again had lost one of the babies. Thankfully, though, we were blessed with Tyler Matthew on June 21, 2009.

I find significance in the fact that he was our gift on Father’s Day, as we had previously had so many difficult Mother’s and Father’s Days, as is true for so many infertile couples.

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