Congratulations to our 2018 Gift of Hope IVF grant winners, Sara and Scott Mouton!
The Rayne, Louisiana, couple is the 17th chosen since 2006 to receive the Gift of Hope IVF Grant and the chance to build their family through a free in vitro fertilization cycle.
Both now in their mid-thirties, Sara and Scott’s love story began in high school during a driver’s ed class when they realized they had an incredible connection. What began as a friendship blossomed into a beautiful marriage that is now going on fifteen years.
“The first years of our marriage were dedicated to investing in our future,” the couple explained. Sara earned a degree in elementary education while Scott attended a fire academy to pursue a career as a professional fireman. They bought land and built a home with aspirations to grow a family. Along the way, Sara proved her gift as a talented and inspiring 4th grade teacher by winning Teacher of the Year twice at each of the schools she has taught at, along with Educator of the Year within the school district. Today she is an Instructional Leader at Alice Boucher Elementary in Lafayette and Scott is with the Crowley Fire Department.
After investing years into their careers, Sara and Scott naturally began to plan for children in their lives. “There is not a year that has gone by that I haven’t told Scott I would love to take my students home with me,” said Sara. “I believe in children despite their obstacles and truly love them.”
Their desire to start a family was quickly met with two pregnancies, both of which ended in early miscarriages. “I don’t think anyone can really understand the emotions you go through unless they have been through it themselves,” said Scott. “I think the worst part for me was watching the pain and emotional strain my wife felt and not being able to do anything. You never really prepare for things like this to happen; you never think it could happen to you.” Their miscarriages were followed by years of not conceiving again.
Sara and Scott realized they needed professional help to determine why they were having trouble conceiving and also carrying a pregnancy to term. So in 2012, they sought the help of Dr. John Storment at Fertility Answers who diagnosed Sara with recurrent pregnancy loss and unexplained infertility. Within a year they had attempted three intrauterine inseminations with no luck. Lab test results on both Sara and Scott could not point to any real reason why the couple could not get pregnant. “How do you fix something if nothing is wrong?” wrote Scott.
In some couples, no obvious cause for their infertility is found. An unexplained infertility diagnosis occurs in about 15-20% percent of all couples seeking treatment.
Financially and emotionally exhausted, Sara and Scott decided to step away from fertility treatments for a few years to enjoy the life God had richly blessed them with. They continued to hope and believe it was only a matter of time before their story changed. “We dream of the moments when we will hear laughter coming from our empty bedrooms and the pitter-patter of little feet down our hall,” said the couple. “We believe that our story is ‘To Be Continued’ and we have never given up hope that one day we will be blessed to become parents.”
Sara and Scott’s hope was given a huge boost when they learned they were the 2018 Gift of Hope IVF grant winners. “We are so humbled, appreciative, and blessed. Words truly cannot express our gratitude for this gift of hope. We are so truly thankful and overjoyed!”
The Moutons will begin their IVF cycle treatment this summer starting with medications to stimulate Sara’s ovaries to produce many egg follicles. After maturation, these eggs will be retrieved and fertilized. The couple may opt to use a embryo screening technique called preimplantation genetic testing to determine which embryos are chromosomally sound. Embryos with the correct number of chromosomes have a better chance of resulting in a successful pregnancy after transfer back to the uterus.
