Thousands of people come to check out my blog at different intervals in their journey as either a Donor Parent or Recipient Parent. The number one request I receive is "Where can I learn about other people's stories?" Some of you have been comfortable enough to share your stories on one of my old post's in the comments section, but many of you feel emotionally unable to write out it. I understand why.
Here's the deal, your story has power and the ability to help out another person; especially Embryo Donor Parents. Like you, they are looking for support, answers, a voice that knows what they're going through. That can only happen if you are willing to share your story.
So, here's what I'm asking of you:
Please share your story with me, even if you do so anonymously and feel the need to change the names of the parties involved, timelines or events. You can either leave your story as a comment under this post or you can e-mail it to me at placingparents@gmail.com.
Your story has the power to heal and reach out to another person who is walking in your very shoes. Also, Recipient Parents, please share your stories as well. A lot of Donor Parents who are in the midst of making an adoption plan for their embryos want to hear about your journey as well.
It doesn't matter if your story has a good or sad outcome or if you're feeling up or down about your arrangement...it's all valuable and good information. It could also be cathartic for you to finally write it out.
I promise to keep your information private, especially if you want to remain anonymous and will correspond with you before posting your story, to make sure it reads as you wish. I WILL NOT give out any of your information, even if I only have an e-mail address for you. However, if you are very open about your story and want to share your blog or website, I'm happy to post all that information as well. You're in the driver's seat.
What I plan on doing with these stories is creating a page on this blog where people can easily access all of the information, without having to search all over my blog.
My perspective about our journey is just that - limited. It really only applies to our family and I know there are some amazing and very sad truths about what each of you have gone through. There is power is sharing that information, because it better gives people the information they so desperately deserve when placing their embryos for adoption. Really, my hope is that it will serve all parties involved.
It's not about bashing anyone; it's about speaking your truth about your journey and you deserve to be heard and validated. I hope you will allow this venue to be that for you.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Sheila
3 Responses to “Embryo Donor/Recipient Parents – I need your stories!!!” Leave a reply ›
Hi,
I have a yahoo group for donor who's embryos created a baby anyone who qualifies may join-at
Embiedonorsupport-subscribe@yahoogroups.com but there is not alot of activity-
sorry to say-
and I can also pass along your info/link to our families-from Embryos Alive- we are the 2nd oldest embryo adoption agency in the world- with over 50 live births or on the ways-
Your blog and article is a great idea- I guess you know that only 2% of the families with embryos actually donate them?
warmly,
Bonnie
http://www.embryosalive.com
embryosalive@yahoo.com
My husband and I are recipient parents of donated embryos. We went through the NEDC. We love sharing our story with others, especially those that are walking through the process of EA. We have actually been blessed to have had two successful fet's. We have two beautiful daughters. Our oldest is 3 1/2, and our baby girl is almost 7 months old. Our first EA, was open. We have never met our donating family, but we do communicate regularly through email. It has been a joy to have them in our lives, and of course, we feel such gratitude for the amazing gift they have given us in our daughter. Our donating family had no remaining embryos, so we had to find another family for our second adoption. It was our plan to do an open adoption again, but we believe God had other plans. While on route to TN for our transfer, we received a phone call informing us that none of the embryos we had adopted survived the thawing process. Our options were to start over and wait for the next transfer cycle, or choose from the anonymous donor profiles. We chose the latter. 9 months later, our secon miracle baby, a baby we would have never known otherwise, was born.
There is so much that I could say about our experience. I know that I felt very alone the first time through. I knew other people had been through an embryo adoption, but I didn't know any of them! I felt that there was no one to talk to who really understood what I was going through physically, emotionally, or mentally. Thankfully, I discovered several EA blogs the second time around. I actually connected with women who were working with the NEDC, and who were in the same transfer cycle as us. We got to meet a couple of my blogging sisters while in Knoxville. Then, we 'walked' through our pregnancies, births, and now life with babies together. The address for my blog is http://www.oncemore-lord.blogspot.com The story of our first embryo adoption and the first twelve months of our second embryo adoption is there under PAGES.
Krisa - thank you so much for sharing your story! Even though it may seem like any old comment on a blog, your words can actually help both a donor or recipient family better understand embryo adoption/donation and what others have gone through. Sheila