Ellie: Our June Baby of the Month

Often referred to as the little miracle baby, Ellie completes the picture for this beautiful ohana. Clara and her husband Thomas met at work in 2016, Clara born in Panama and Thomas here in Hawaii. Thomas has 3 children from his previous marriage Kirra, Harrison and Meila. Clara was 42 years old so needless to say that she had almost given up hope of ever becoming a mother. However, early in their relationship, Thomas brought up the idea of having children. Clara was very excited about the possibility of more children, but also nervous that it would never happen. “I was always the cool aunt and then I became a step-mom, but my dream was always to be a mom.”

The couple struggled to get pregnant naturally the first three years of their relationship, so they started researching IVF. During their research, they found out that the VA covered the process if you qualified, and thankfully Clara did based on her medical history while she was former active duty. They were very blessed that financially they qualified for assistance. They started the process in early 2020 with Dr. Frattarelli. Given an initial diagnosis of unexplained infertility, Clara was eager to get the process started, one step closer to motherhood. Her body was responding favorably to all of the medications and they could see the follicles growing at their appointments. However, their first cycle resulted in zero eggs retrieved which was extremely disappointing and heartbreaking, but they wanted to move on. Their next cycle resulted in two eggs retrieved, but unfortunately they did not fully develop. Fast forward to a few more IVF cycles where acupuncture and changes in protocol were added to help with the low quality and quantity of eggs, and the couple finally had two healthy embryos.

Their transfer was in October 2021 and the couple prayed hard for a positive result. They had a vacation planned to the Disney Aulani Resort the following weekend and Clara was so exhausted the entire trip that everywhere she sat, she fell asleep – and for a good reason. After two long weeks of waiting, they found out that their healthy embryo had stuck, and Clara was pregnant for the first time in her life! Clara was fortunate to have an amazing pregnancy, with little trouble. Baby Ellie was born on June 20, 2022, into a family that welcomed her with open arms. In fact, little Meila waited patiently for weeks and prepared a backpack full of her own old diapers so that she was ready to go when her new little sister arrived.