WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human services says infertility is extremely common. Out of 100 couples across the U.S., 13 will have difficulty getting pregnant. And that was the reality for one Virginia couple.
Christy and Robert Spencer would dream of having biological children, but after more than a decade of trying, the couple looked into adoption. They had a traditional domestic adoption with their oldest son Noah. Their youngest son, Hezekiah came from a donated embryo.
Seven-year-old Noah was adopted. He was biologically born to a younger mother.
"She was 16 when she had him, and she felt the best decision for him, was to allow us to adopt him," Christy Spencer said.
They have an open adoption his with mother and have created a healthy relationship with her.
Yet Christy still wanted to experience pregnancy.
"When we got to IVF, they ended up taking out 16 of my eggs. They inseminated 12 of them. They put two in. They took the other 10, and went to freeze them and none of them made it through the freeze," Christy added.
She was 28 at the time. Her husband's sperm count was normal. Doctors saw no major issues with Christy, but they were unable to conceive.
The couple then looked into embryo adoption. They partnered with The National Embryo Donation Center.
"We got pregnant with twins. And then, everything was going great until week 10; and week 10 we lost one," Christy said.
Hezekiah, better known as Kai, survived. After 27 hours of labor and a C-section, Christy gave birth to a very healthy baby boy.
This experience they said was a test of their faith.
"We were determined not to let all the unknown variables drag us down. Instead, we're just going to say, 'You know what? If it's your will God that we have kids, we will have kids,'" Robert Spencer added.
The Spencers encourage parents struggling with infertility to consider embryo adoption and traditional adoption.