Happy Together, an egg donation story

​​Egg donation has helped thousands of people a year achieve their dream of having a child. Often, these parents find it difficult to know how, when and even if they should share with their child the story of their conception. Julie Marie had a hard time finding the right resources to help her start this conversation with her own child, so, she created her own story. Please read below to learn more about the journey to the creation of this wonderful book that will surely inspire and help so many others.

Like many newlyweds, my husband and I dreamed of having children. We looked forward to creating fun family traditions in a home full of love and laughter.

Shortly after we started trying to conceive, I was diagnosed with the disease of infertility and we learned we were among the 1 in 8 couples who have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. I was shocked to learn I had diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) and an undetectable anti-mullerian hormone level (AMH) at the age of 35. To make devastating news worse, we soon learned our insurance did not cover infertility and we would have to pay for our treatment out of pocket. 

We were unsuccessful with intrauterine insemination (IUI) and quickly moved to in vitro fertilization (IVF). Given my ovarian insufficiency, our plan was to have two consecutive egg retrievals in hopes of retrieving as many eggs as possible. Time marched forward as we lived in an isolating bubble of infertility treatments. Tens of thousands of dollars and several complications later, we completed our two egg retrievals which resulted in only 2 total embryos. The first embryo transfer was unsuccessful and the second transfer resulted in a heartbreaking miscarriage.

Following the miscarriage, we reflected on the long and incredibly painful journey which had brought us to that point. We were not confident we would ever be able to achieve a viable pregnancy with my eggs. It was important to me that I carry the pregnancy if possible and we valued the option of my husband having a genetic link to our child.  After considering our options, we decided to move forward with egg donation. Once the decision was made, a small glimmer of hope was restored. Our experience with egg donation was very smooth and, in the end, was the answer for us. I became pregnant and we are incredibly grateful to now be called Mommy and Daddy!

Years of struggles inspired me to become an infertility volunteer and advocate, by both helping other women currently going through infertility and through infertility advocacy to lawmakers.  

My experience as a mother through the gift of egg donation inspired me to write the children’s book Happy Together, an egg donation story. Happy Together is a heartwarming book to help parents introduce the concept of egg donation to a young child. It is a story told through clear language and cheerful illustrations, I hope the book will comfort children with the assurance of being very much wanted and loved!


For more information, please visit www.happytogetherchildrensbook.com or Amazon. 

---