Meet Madison & Zach

Location: Toronto, ON

Watch our video:

Madison and Zach met at summer camp 12 years ago and got married in December 2018. Eager to start our family, we immediately began trying to conceive. A year in, with no success and an extensive medical work up with no clear answers, we continued our fertility journey at Create Fertility Centre. We were even more eager to start a family and were open and willing to try anything that would help to get us there. In Summer 2021 we went through 2 rounds of failed IUI attempts. At this point, after conversations with our doctor, we decided that IVF was the next step to take to achieve our goal of parenthood. My egg retrieval occurred in Fall of 2021. We were so excited and my first transfer was successful in November 2021. Early on in my pregnancy, however, I developed a sub-chorionic hematoma (blood clot) which forced me to leave my work as a teacher and be on bed rest. Unfortunately, I started to bleed heavily just after I was 13 weeks along. After about a week of heavy bleeding I went in for a checkup and started to spontaneously hemorrhage at the clinic – I had to have an emergency D&C as they diagnosed a miscarriage and the bleeding was out of control. I had to be given iron transfusions afterwards as I was anemic and remained extremely weak for an extended period of time from the immense blood loss. It was such a traumatic experience but the fetus and placenta were both tested and perfectly healthy so we were told that the miscarriage was possibly just a result of the large blood clot causing too much stress on the baby.

After a few months of recovery we were ready to try again, being told that the chances of having a second unexplained miscarriage were extremely unlikely. We had a successful embryo transfer in early Spring 2022 and unfortunately I again developed the same blood clot very early on. After what had happened the first time we tried to be proactive and I was at home on bed rest from about 5 weeks onward in an attempt to stop the growth of the blood clot. We ‘graduated’ from Create at 14 weeks and met with our new OB – he was not too concerned with the blood clot as he said at this far along in the pregnancy it should no longer be an issue. We were more at ease but I continued to stay on bed rest. At about 15 weeks, we noticed some of the same bleeding patterns as the first time and I developed a high fever which led us to the emergency room one night. In the ER, no clear answers were given and although they still found a fetal heartbeat, deep down I remained anxious and concerned. A few days later, in the middle of the night, I unexpectedly passed the baby naturally at home. I will never forget Zach having to assist in the passing of the fetus. Although the doctors were hoping I could avoid this, I did have to have another D&C as there was still a lot to remove, which caused additional trauma to my uterus. Testing confirmed that there were no known issues which was very hard for us to process because there are still no answers as to why this happened again.

Right now, we are at a point where we are once again trying to decide what the best next step forward is. We are so committed and determined to start our family, and in any way possible. Having two unexplained second trimester miscarriages this year along with two D&C’s has had an immense physical toll on my body and it has also left me with severe trauma and anxiety. After lots of follow up testing without definite answers, and through discussion and our doctor’s recommendation, we have decided that surrogacy is the best step forward for us to achieve our goal of growing our family.

Our path to parenthood has certainly been more circuitous than expected, and we’ve met challenges we would have never dreamed we could overcome. But the journey has only helped to strengthen our desire to be parents and reinforced the fact that there is nothing we won’t do to get there. We have always known that we are meant to be parents, and it is clear that the physical and mental load of a natural pregnancy is too much to bear, but we aren’t willing to let that stop us from achieving our dream. Thank you in advance for your consideration in joining us on our journey.

Interested in Matching with Madison & Zach?

Submit your information here and we’ll be in touch shortly.