When a couple tries hard to become parents only to discover that fertility issues won’t make that so easy, it often puts them at an unfortunate crossroads.
That’s because they then have to make the difficult choice of either giving up on their dreams of parenthood or starting down the long and difficult road of getting pregnant through in vitro fertilization .
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And the reasons why going through these treatments can be such a struggle not only concern the uncertainty that a round of IVF will actually work as intended, but also how expensive that process is even when everything goes off without a hitch.
But as one heartwarming story shows us, there’s no limit to the sacrifices that some are willing to make when they still believe in that dream.
For Lauren Wynn, the journey to have a baby has been as hard as it gets.
As she told Good Morning America, the past five years have seen her go through eight miscarriages and two failed insemination attempts that involved injecting her husband EJ’s sperm directly into her uterus.
In her words, “There have been times where I was like, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do another injection. I can’t put us through another loss. … Then you blame yourself and ask, ‘What’s wrong with my body?’ This isn’t supposed to be happening.”
But while these circumstances have led the couple to try in vitro fertilization, it’s been difficult for Wynn to be optimistic about those treatments either.
As she put it, “Financially, to know this may or may not work, this doesn’t guarantee you to bring home a baby — many people think, ‘Hey, let’s do IVF, we’re gonna bring home a baby’ — it doesn’t matter. I know women who go in it and have no embryo.”
Nonetheless, it was a chance she was willing to believe in and as she revealed in a TikTok uploaded on August 7, it was one that EJ was willing to sacrifice his shoe collection for a year prior.
Sadly, this would result in another miscarriage but around the time she made this Tiktok, Wynn revealed that this didn’t mean EJ was ready to give up any more than she was.
And he made his loving act as much of a surprise as he did the first time around.
We can see that when he went to sell his sneaker collection yet again, Wynn thought that he was doing so after watching the collector’s markets until he told her the true purpose for his sell-off.
And while his first round of sales earned him $4,800, the video touched the hearts of sneakerheads, who ended up contributing over $12,000 to the couple’s GoFundMe campaign.
And since even one cycle of IVF costs between $12,000 and $17,000, this generosity was greatly appreciated.
It has also led to new circumstances that inspired hope for the couple, as Wynn’s implantation would prove successful and bring about her first pregnancy in six months.
But after five years, 600 injections, 11 surgeries, 100 pills and multiple five-hour drives, Wynn’s optimism has become very cautious.
In her words, “I’m just going to keep trying to remain positive. EJ and I both are. When you’ve gone through this as many times as we have, in the back of your head, you’re still hesitant to let yourself actually fully let down your guard.”
h/t: Good Morning America