About

05.22.2012 - First date

01.01.2014 - She said YES

10.12.2014 - We do

Inconceivable began after my 2nd Embryo transfer in 2018. We were headed to an out-of-town family wedding, and I wasn’t sure how to go about taking all my meds through TSA and keeping things organized during the festivities. I found and made myself a bag (see it here) with 2 zipper compartments, one for new, and one for used supplies.

I had started a chat group with some ladies with the same transfer date. My new buddies told me they wish they’d had medication bags like the one I made for myself, to keep things organized at work and in their day to day lives.
I already had an Etsy shop (TheBoozyBride) but IVF didn’t seem to fit in with weddings, so I set up a new one. My first listing was the “Strong Mama in the making” bag, followed by a digital download set of milestone cards (see them here) which I hoped to use myself, someday. 

Orders trickled in, and I added more items. With these orders came stories—they shared with me, and I shared with them. We started building a community. I started expanding my shop to include pregnancy, surrogacy, egg donors, and any other “alternative” methods of starting a family. In early 2019, someone called it a “ministry,” and it took me a while to get onboard with that.

My personal journey is still ongoing. Our first two transfers failed to implant. We eventually changed clinics, completed the ERA, and found out we’d been missing my implantation window. Then a pandemic started, and everything was delayed. Our next transfer (#3) stuck, but at the end of December we found out the heartbeat stopped between 8 and 9 weeks. Additional testing revealed I have an autoimmune disorder (Antiphospholipid Syndrome, or APS) which led to a slight change in our protocol. Our 4th transfer also implanted, resulted in a chemical pregnancy. We are in the process of preparing for transfer #5.

This journey can be hard, but we are stronger, braver & tougher than we think.
I’m choosing to believe I will get my rainbow baby, but until then, I will continue turning my storm into someone else’s rainbow.
-Michaéla (1 in 8, 1 in 4)

TIMELINE
October 2014 - Married
August 2017 - Referred to IVF clinic (Oregon Reproductive Medicine)
October 2017 - Egg Retrieval (12 eggs resulting in 3 PGT normal embryos)
January 2018 - First Transfer
February 2018 - On my 29th birthday, negative beta, failed to implant
May 2018 - On Chad's 40th birthday, Transfer #2 (due date = my birthday)
                Negative Beta, failed to implant
May 2019 - ERA shows post-receptive by 24 hours
February 2020 - Change clinics to OHSU Fertility
July 2020 - 2nd Retrieval (14 Eggs resulting in 2 PGT normal embryos) September 2020 - 2nd ERA to confirm implantation window
November 2020 - Transfer #3, my first ever positive pregnancy test, bHCG 571
December 2020 - Graduated from the clinic!
                         Found out we lost the pregnancy between 8 and 9 weeks
May 2021 - Diagnosed with Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS)
July 2021 - Transfer #4
                Positive HPT
                bHCG = 6, then 1, confirming chemical pregnancy
We are currently gearing up for our 5th transfer.