Not so fast!
November 18, 2014
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November 18, 2014
Jennifer and Matthew Gaubert desperately want to know what it is like to look a newborn son or daughter in the eyes for the very first time.
However, the Thibodaux couple has not had good luck trying to conceive.
Fertility specialist Dr. John Storment, who practices in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, created the Gift of Hope in 2006 to give couples like the Gauberts exactly what the title says, hope.
The Gauberts have been trying to conceive for seven to eight years. They have had two miscarriages. The first came during the fifth week of pregnancy, and the second came around the seven and a half week mark.
“We were excited the second time, and we had to turn around and tell everyone that it wasn’t going to happen,” Jennifer said. “You feel like someone is playing a sick joke.”
While the couple is surrounded with seven godchildren who they can share their love with, the Gauberts desperately want a child to call their own.
“It is really starting to affect me. It is more impactful now because it has been so long. I see people with kids at my niece’s basketball games and stuff. I always wonder, ‘Will that be us, and when is it going to be our time?’” 32-year-old Jennifer said. “We have faith it is going to happen, but it is hard. Kids love us. When our friends’ kids come over, they don’t want to leave.”
The Gift of Hope offers a free cycle of in vitro fertilization treatments.
According to americanpregnancy.org, IVF manually combines the egg and sperm in a laboratory dish and then the embryo is transferred to the uterus.
The cost can range anywhere from $12,000 to $17,000 for a single cycle.
Gift of Hope couples can not earn over $80,000 per year nor have insurance that covers IVFs.
“We started the program right after Hurricane Katrina. Everyone was sort of in that giving mode,” Storment’s wife Amelie said in an interview with The Times. “There are plenty of people who could use it here. Every spring since 2006, we put out the application, and couples apply.”
The Gauberts were the 11th couple to receive the treatment. Jennifer sent her letter with why they should be the selected couple, which is part of the process.
“Their story was great. The story she wrote was great. It meant so much to them to be able to have a child. They have been trying for a long time,” Amelie said. “It truly is a gift for someone who needs the procedure.”
Matthew and Jennifer needed that gift.
The couple scheduled their original IVF treatment in December of 2013, which was not through the Gift of Hope. They were going to pay for it out of their pockets.
Then in January 2014, the couple lost one of their biggest supporters, Matt’s mother, Sandra Gaubert. She passed away from a pulmonary embolism.
“Through the whole thing, she was my biggest fan,” Jennifer said. “I knew she was sick because she would always come to appointments with me. When she found out in December, she kept asking me about my IVF appointment. It was like she was trying to wait until I had the appointment.”
The couple tried artificial insemination, which did not work so they had been saving for the IVF when Sandra passed.
“I just kind of dealt with it day-by-day,” Matthew said. “I have been through a lot the last couple of years.”
That bad luck changed after applying for the Gift of Hope in the spring of 2014. Jennifer, who works with Mike’s Pest Control, was on her break when she saw she had a missed call. She called the number back and it was Dr. Storment’s office.
“I was thinking he might need something for the application. It got real quiet on the line and he says, ‘Jen?’ I answered, ‘Yes?’ He says, ‘It is Dr. Storment. You won the Gift of Hope,’” she said. “I am thinking, ‘What?’ I immediately started crying and screaming, and I could hear the people in the background. They were cracking at the same time.”
Jennifer immediately had to call someone, so obviously it was Matt. However, she did not want to break the news to him at work.
“I called him and asked how he was, and told him I was happy. He asked, ‘Why?’ I asked if he knew something I don’t know, and he asked me the same. We did that back and forth. He says, ‘The Gift of Hope called and we won, didn’t we?’ I told him, ‘No,’” Jennifer said. “When he came home, I told him we won, and he just looked me and said, ‘I never win anything.’ We both hugged each other and cried. We both thought, ‘Wow!’”
Jennifer finished her IVF treatments recently. Unfortunately, the couple was not able to conceive.
“I am thankful for the chance. It didn’t go in my favor, but I am happy we got the chance because I don’t know how we would have paid for that,” Jennifer said.
The Gaubert’s have already spent $20,000 on medical expenses in their effort to have children.
The couple still has their emotional moments.
“I caught myself in Old Navy yesterday looking at a little girl’s outfit and I looked at him and he tells me, ‘Just walk away,’” Jennifer said as she fought off the tears.
The couple hopes that day will come when they get to hold their son or daughter for the first time so they too can have their moment.
“It would true blessing from God, the greatest love ever,” Jennifer said to which Matthew agreed. “I love a kid that is not even here yet. It is hard to explain.”
Matthew and Jennifer Gaubert want a family, but complications have made it a long process as they wait for their time. The couple recently received the Gift of the Hope. Fertility specialist Dr. John Storment, who practices in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, created the program in 2006. It offers couples a free cycle of in vitro fertilization treatments, which normally can cost between $12,000 and $17,000 for a single cycle.
