Today’s guest embodies the purpose of National Infertility Awareness Week. Each year the infertility community, led by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, takes this week to amplify and educate the public about reproductive health and issues that make building a family difficult for many.
Danielle Faith has dedicated herself to advocacy and awareness through her St. Louis based organization, Making a Miracle. The isolation Danielle felt along her path to parenthood with endometriosis, lack of coverage, and pregnancy loss, inspired her to build a community that supports others along their family building journeys.
Tune in for how Danielle made her miracle.
Guest: Danielle Faith, founder of Making a Miracle
Host: Emma Gallagher, Progyny
For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and Progyny’s Education page for more resources. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com.
This episode is also a video! Watch it here:
An endometriosis diagnosis
03:13 – 03:39
Treatment options without coverage
06:06 – 09:30
Danielle Faith: We did not have infertility insurance at the time. So, this was not something that we were aware of. And we couldn’t afford anything. So, we started with timed intercourse, and we could afford the little $300 trigger shot, you know, it was it was a step. But I still knew in my head like this was not going to work. We did three rounds of timed intercourse. And then after that, we decided to jump into IUI insemination because nothing was working. You know, I have hope but I don’t feel it.
We ended up getting insurance through my husband’s job, he had gotten a new job. And it felt really awesome to have something. They did not cover PGT testing, though. So that was another thing that, you know, maybe my journey would have been a little bit shorter if they did.
IVF and loss
10:08 – 17:50
Danielle Faith: We did the retrieval, we ended up with four embryos. We took a test together. And it was positive. I was pregnant, it was a dream come true. Christmas was the week after. So, we decided to surprise my grandma and his mother with this pregnancy announcement, and I will never forget their faces. It was the day after we got home from the holidays that I felt weird. Like I felt different. It was just kind of like we’re losing this baby. And that was hard. One of the hardest things was just telling people that we weren’t pregnant anymore.
I had two other embryos, which each resulted in failed transfers. Now, because we didn’t do the PGT testing, we don’t know. But once we got through those, we decided to go ahead and do another round of IVF. I did end up getting three embryos out of that round. I developed OHS, which is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, I ended up with a hospital stay. And we ended up getting pregnant again, with our first transfer November of 2020 and lost it a chemical pregnancy. But this time, of course, we didn’t tell anybody.
This was my last chance this year before my deductible started over. So, you know, in my head, I’m like, one, I just had OHS I’m honestly over it. Like, I don’t even know if I can continue this. I don’t know if I even have it in me to do another round of IVF and my deductible is going to start over. So like, this has to happen now. We went through with that transfer on December 19th of 2020. And that transfer resulted in my now two-year-old daughter. So, it was a very, very hard pregnancy after loss. But it’s kind of amazing that when I felt like giving up, it just happened, you know.
Support, advocacy, and awareness
18:49 – 22:58
Danielle Faith: A lot of benefits offer PGT testing because of reoccurring loss, they don’t want you to have to continue to pay for something that you know is just going to fail. So that’s one of the downfalls to that benefit that we had. I’m actually, you know, very blessed with Progyny — I’ve never heard of a benefit to have surrogacy. And that’s not something that I ever had to think about in my journey until now.
And so, the only option that we really have to look at aside from, you know, adoption or, you know, fostering is surrogacy, if we decide to continue and move forward. Now, right now, I don’t know where we are on our journey. It’s complicated. But Progyny offers that. And that’s huge, you know. Even the events that I have with my nonprofit, like Progyny is just there, you know, I feel like they would be such a big support, even aside from just the benefit financially. Telling my story is really therapeutic for me. Because I feel like the more that we tell our stories, the more awareness is around, and people don’t feel like there’s a stigma to infertility. And they feel less alone.
Making a Miracle is a nonprofit organization in the St. Louis area that caters to the infertility community. And their mental health through support, advocacy, awareness, and so much more. It’s an organization that gives resources, emotional support, and we’re working on financial support now. But it’s just an organization that is like no other in the area that brings this community together. And makes you feel like there’s somebody there, you know. So, I founded that last year. We’ve actually hit a year now, which is pretty awesome.