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Niko & Scott

Hi!

I’m a sonographer of thirteen years now, and my husband, Scott, is primarily a stay at home dad, though he does freelance work in SEO marketing and graphic design. He likes to try new recipes while I prefer to bake, and he likes camping and fishing while most of my personal time goes to writing ongoing stories online, as well as reading. We’re gamers and movie buffs too, in our quieter moments – but admittedly, most of our movie experience of the last few years has been related to Disney and Pixar.

Scott and I have been together for 22 years now, since high school, and have one child – but always wanted to have at least three. Unfortunately, it seems we waited too long, and our little boy was even more of a miracle than we knew, between my low AMH and Scott’s low count. I had a miscarriage in 2022 that was upsetting, but it was a fairly classic blighted ovum, where my body was very determined to hold onto something that just… never developed – no evidence of any carrying difficulties. We’ve been trying for four years now.

My sister is adopted from China and we always thought we would go in that direction if we struggled, but international infant adoption has nearly disappeared in the last twenty years and domestic infant adoption has become shockingly expensive.

We are big believers in family, and siblings in particular – both for support structure after older generations pass (your siblings are who you have for the rest of your life) & how it shapes you as a person growing up. Having at least one brother or sister drastically changes how you see the world and learn to treat other people, and that’s core to our values. Every life is its own journey, with trials and triumphs, and we believe that life is about how you handle them, how you interact with others and leave the world a better place than you came to it – not just about where you start. Family is a choice; genetics is an opportunity for family, and I’m all for exploring that as a further expansion through semi-open adoption (even MORE siblings and extended family, yes!) – but believe that the choice to love and always go the extra mile for those you love is what builds family. I’m one of those people who treats my friends as family, very ‘all-in,’ and if we go with an open adoption, I would see any relationship with a donor family as simply being extended family.

Snapshot of my life and family:
I'm the lead sonographer at the local hospital while Scott is a stay at home dad. We own our home, and in the warmer months, we spend a lot of time in the yard, gardening and playing in the sandbox or grass. Otherwise, we're very into music of all kinds, and I like to bake while Scott handles most of our cooking - I have quite a few food allergies, so we make most of our food from scratch to avoid problems. We both read a great deal, and I write stories to share online - maybe one of these days I'll wrap up something original to get published, but real life comes first. Scott is very into art of all kinds, and we're all trying to learn piano together as we teach Max.
Fertility story:
While we met in high school and never looked back, we decided to wait to have children. Initially, we didn't suspect anything might be amiss, as we concieved our little boy within 6 months - but in hindsight, we've gathered that we may have simply been lucky. I have very low AMH (likely from the medications I was on as a teenager for what turned out to be a misdiagnosed rheumatoid arthritis - which basically means constant low-end chemo for 4 years), which means that despite having regular menses, I won't respond well to IVF medications for an egg retrieval, and Scott's sperm count and motility are very low. We had a chemical pregnancy in the first year that we began to try again, but nothing since, and it has been 4 years now. Originally, we leaned toward traditional adoption, but were stunned to realized that IVF is honestly significantly cheaper than infant adoption these days. This led us to the idea of embryo donation, since other than the low AMH, my 'equipment' still seems to work just fine.
Do you have any children? (If so please explain) Yes
Marital status: Married
My Information:
I Am: Female
My Age: 36 - 40
My Race: Caucasian
My Eye Color: Green
My Hair Color: Strawberry Blonde
My Education/employment info: Bachelor's, Sonographer
Partner Information: (Or N/A)
My Partner Is: Male
Partner Age or N/A: 36 - 40
Patner Race or N/A: Caucasian
Partner Eye Color or N/A: Hazel
Partner Hair Color: Medium Brown
Partner education/employment info or N/A: Some college
INFORMATION ABOUT THE EMBRYO(S) - If you are a RECIPIENT choose N/A.:
Was an egg donor used or N/A? N/A
Was sperm donor used or N/A? N/A
How many embryos do you have available to donate? N/A - I am a Recipient
Final Thoughts (This are is for both embryo donors and embryo recipients. Please clarify any answers from above or include any info you would like to share):
We're open to any degree of contact - we've experienced closed through my sister and a number of childhood friends and know how to navigate it, but I know my sister has always been curious about her genetic family. More information is better, and bonus family sounds great too! The more the merrier.