Lauren & Nic

Lauren & Nic's Story:

Our story began when we met in November 2020. Nic and I both went through a previous divorce and met online. Nic already had three girls, and I had twin boys and a daughter from our previous marriages. We knew we eventually wanted to get married and have a child of our own. My tubes were already tied after having my daughter in March 2020, so we talked about either getting my tubes untied or seeking IVF treatment.

In early 2021, Nic started having what we thought were unknown "spells" where he would stare off for a few minutes, feel a rush, like when you are sleeping, and feel like you are falling and would be completely out of it. Nic was seen by several doctors, including his Primary Care, Cardiologist, and a Sleep Study Doctor, who narrowed it down to Sleep Apnea.

Fast Forward to June 2022. Nic was an EMT working on shift when he had one of those "spells." Thankfully, his partner acted fast, and they transported him to our local hospital, completed an MRI, and found a mass on his brain. These "spells" were seizures. We were not sure at the time how bad his diagnosis would be, so we decided to get married on July 30th, 2022. Nic had brain Surgery in early August 2022, where they removed 90 percent of his tumor. He then went through weeks of radiation and over a year of Chemotherapy. His diagnosis was a Grade 2 Oligodendroglioma. Before Nic received Radiation, we decided to freeze a sample of his sperm so we could later complete our treatment to have a baby.

Before finding CNY, we looked at a facility in Columbus, Ohio, to see how much they would charge for treatment. We knew we were unable to afford treatment at that facility and started to pray to God to guide us to the right place.

A few months later, I was following a girl on TikTok who had completed her treatment at CNY Fertility, and she shared her testimony of how she loved the people and how cost-friendly it was. After doing some research, we were excited to truly see how cost-friendly it really was!

We decided to start our treatment at CNY Buffalo in December 2023. I completed my egg retrieval and then completed our first transfer on December 30th.

I was VERY impatient and started testing as soon as I was able to, and I got my first positive in early January 2024. As time went on, I just knew something was wrong. My positives started to turn negative, and unfortunately, our first transfer ended in a biochemical pregnancy in early January at just 5 weeks pregnant.

We were devastated as I had never lost a baby before. We were eager that this was not over, and God had something beautiful in store for us. We completed our next transfer on February 7th, 2024, and it was a SUCCESS!!!

We are eager to announce the arrival of our Rainbow Baby "Beau Matthew Mallon, on October 1st, 2024, 10:26 AM, 8 pounds 12 ounces, born via C-Section at 36 weeks due to complications with my gestational diabetes and started to develop pre-eclampsia.

He only needed to be in the NICU for one night for low blood sugar, and we were in the hospital for 4 days. He is so perfect, and we are so grateful for CNY to help make our dreams come true!

Favorite Team Member at CNY:

Every staff member was amazing during our process at CNY. They were so loving, nurturing, patient and uplifting. They answered all of our questions and explained everything we needed to know. We are so grateful for them!

Helpful resources Lauren & Nic found:

I purchased an IVF journal from Amazon called "My IVF Journey" that really helped me to journal every detail so I would not forget anything. I also would pray, read scripture and listen to Christian music to help me stay as positive as I could.

The Moment:

The moment we found out we were expecting we were filled with such JOY! We were so excited and blessed to be given this opportunity by God to carry a baby!

The moment we found out it was a BOY! My husband was over the moon as he thought he would never have his boy.

The moment we told our children was amazing! All 6 of them were excited and filled with JOY!

The moment we held our precious Beau in our arms was such an incredible experience. We were filled with every emotion possible! Such a relief knowing he is here with us and is as healthy as can be!

Hope, Inspiration and Advice:

Just know you're NOT ALONE! You will one day be granted the blessing to have your baby. I wish I knew more about biochemical pregnancies as yes, they are terrible, however they occur more often than what we know and if they occur it is NOT your fault. There is nothing we did as women to make this happen. I blamed myself for it but doing the research just know, it's not your fault. Honestly, having a counselor throughout this journey is helpful to help keep your mind and body at ease as it can be a stressful process. Having the mindset of "We will get pregnant, we just don't know when" was very helpful.