“Our story is not so interesting of a birth story but more of a conception story. My wife, Renee, and I had planned on having children our entire lives. However, in order to conceive, we would need help from a donor. Some of our most fond memories of having our children are the ones where we were able to basically hand select their characteristics! We sorted through numerous sperm donors online until we both said at the same time “He’s the one!!” I was the one to go through the IUI first. It took a few tries, but on the 3rd one, it took! We were finally going to have our 1st baby! I ended up having a C-section due to her being 10.2 (doctor recommendation ), but everything went very smooth and as planned…we had our perfectly healthy baby girl.”   -Stacie

“Like my wife (Stacie) said, we conceived with the help of a wonderful fertility center. All of the doctors & nurses there knew us very well. It felt like a family reunion each time we went. It was important to us to use the same donor when I tried to conceive our 2nd child, that I would carry. We wanted a common blood line for medical reasons, if ever needed. I had 3 chances to conceive. The 1st try, I felt prego, but I wasn’t. The 2nd try I didn’t feel pregnant, but I was! The bad news was that it was ectopic. We had to terminate the pregnancy the day before our daughter’s 1st birthday. That was so hard for us. My3rd & final chance took. I was pregnant! While we tried not to find out the sex of our 1st child, a family member ruined that surprise for us. We made sure that we wouldn’t find out the sex of this baby. Being that our daughter was a very large baby & that we were using the same donor, the doctor recommended that I have a scheduled C-section as well. I got to the hospital & they began all of the fun paperwork. At 8 a.m., in walked our favorite nurse who was there when our daughter was born. I couldn’t have been any happier. My eyes watered SO much when they took the baby out & everyone yelled “IT’S A BOY”, I could hardly focus on him. I was so excited. The surgery went well, but when they went to hand him to me for the first time, I got sick. They took him away & gave me medication to stop the nausea. I had an allergic reaction to the medication & my heart rate doubled. After a few scary moments, things settled down & I got to settle into my room. Because of the complications, they didn’t get me out of bed until the next day. When I did stand up for the 1st time, I passed out & woke up to a room full of nurses. It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but I would do it again in a heartbeat!”     -Renee