Mom Lauren had been married for 8 years when their sweet Jasper joined their lives. Their journey to parenthood was very much similar to everything else they’ve done in life, with a plan. Both partners identify as anxious people who like predictability, and have lived their lives marking off each milestone that is foundational to the next. On a trip to the Pacific Northwest in 2021, they felt they had “arrived at the time they were ready for a baby”. Walking the beach one day, Lauren found a sand dollar that was perfectly intact. She told her husband, “If I find another one, we’re going to get pregnant on this trip!”. That began her incessant searching the beach for sand dollars. She left with a jar of them. Surprisingly, they did get pregnant, but Lauren soon miscarried. A year went by questioning why they couldn’t seem to get pregnant again, and after being referred for testing, they discovered she had a blocked tube. This began their journey with the Fertility Institute of Hawaii. They really struggled with how to proceed and felt they wanted to begin with the least invasive approach. As per their temperaments, they planned to do three rounds of IUI before revisiting how they would create a family. Lauren clearly remembers after the first round of medications, driving into the office with her heart set on being approved to have the insemination. However, she never considered there may be other factors that affect the procedure proceeding or not. Her heart sank when she learned her uterine walls were too thin and that she had ovulated on the side of the tube that was blocked. Being in total control was sometimes just merely an illusion and realizing that life often has bigger plans was the lesson learned. Along came their next round of IUI, where postprocedure instructions were to lie flat for 10 minutes. Yet, they did more than 20 minutes and hat is the start of how little Jasper came along… Jasper was born November 15, 2023. This sweet little boy will always have a special jar of sand dollars in his room to remind the family of their little wish that came true.
“I remember reaching my 8 week mark, when we were set to graduate from the Fertility Institute and asking Dr. Karmon if she could remain our primary provider throughout the journey. We felt so held throughout the vulnerability of this process by the team, and knew uncertainty lay on the other side. If this is a journey we will revisit, we will do so happily knowing the experience led us to the greatest gift of our lives, Jasper.””