Back in November of 2017, B1039 set out on its first mission to help one couple make their dream come true of starting a family of their own.
Giving away a Vitro fertilization, along with the required meds we asked all of our listeners to submit videos telling their stories of why they would be the best and mom ever.
See the National Coverage on CBS THIS MORNING:
In search of the sound of little footsteps, Anthony and Krista Rivera entered and won B1039’s Win A Baby contest back in 2017.
Anthony and Krita’s Win A Baby Video Submission:
“Without the contest, we definitely would not have been able to have our dream of having a baby,” Krista told Fox 4.
Their baby boy, Garrett Rivera pictured above is now 3 months old.
“I never ever would have thought that three years later, I would be holding my baby boy,” said Anthony.
Recommended Content: PODCAST: Krista and Anthony Rivera gives us an update
This year’s ‘Win a Baby’ winners, Vy and Chris Nguyen said they are going through the infertility process right now and hope to start their own family soon.
See Anthony & Krista’s process below:
Top 10
ShareIn case you didn't hear it on B103.9, we are thrilled to announce that we made the top 10! We are praying they choose us to be the winners! Thank you all for your incredible support. We are forever thankful!!!! ????????????
Facebook Post Update: Jan 27, 2018
ShareA lot of people have requested that we keep them updated on our IVF journey so I thought this would be the perfect place to do it. That way we can keep in touch with all of you incredible people that wanted updates and hopefully raise awareness as Sara and Big Mama at B103.9 have been doing! It has been quite an eventful time in the Rivera household! There has been so much going on in the last week or so. Apologies for the novel sized update! Anthony is officially done with chemo and home recovering like a champ! ???? March 8th he will have scans done to be sure no surgeries are necessary. We are praying nonstop that nothing else is needed but in the meantime we will enjoy the fact he’s finally free from that unbearable chemo regimen. ???????? We have been seeing Dr. Alford, discussing the process and our IVF options over the last couple weeks. Due to my good health I am at high risk for OHSS which is ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome. Basically the medications and procedures they would have to put me through to perform IVF could potentially overload my already normally functioning ovaries. Due to this, we have to complete a frozen embryo transfer at least two months after eggs retrieval to give my ovaries a break from the craziness. OHSS does not sound pleasant so I am thankful to Dr. Alford for being on top of things and making sure we do everything we can to avoid it. We are disappointed about having to wait to transfer, but it is what is best for my health and the health of our baby. I started some medications and I start stimulation shots on February 3rd! I learned how to give myself the shots and while practicing changing the needle on the pen I stabbed my thumb. ???????? My amazingly sweet nurse said plenty of people do it, but I’m certain she was just being nice. These shots are going to be quite the adventure! In the middle of working out all of the IVF details I found out that I am a Golden Apple finalist. ???? ???? It is sort of like teacher of the year in our district. My inspiring CF warrior of a friend, Alex Catherine is a finalist too and I am so excited for her!!!! It is a pretty intense selection process of surprise observations for a period of 6 weeks and IVFMD has been so incredibly supportive. They are making sure to get me in to all of my blood work and ultrasound appointments bright and early so I don’t miss any observation times and they have been so genuinely excited for me. They make my heart melt! I have never met a more caring and competent medical staff. My egg retrieval is set for the week of February 12th so we will know how many embryos we have to freeze fairly soon! We are so excited about all of the blessings we have ahead of us. Thank you again to everyone for all of your love and support! ???? ????
Facebook Update: Feb 8, 2018
ShareI can’t believe we are already on day three of my stimulation shots! The first night I thought I was tough and was set to give myself my shot. Then I broke down into tears because I JUST. COULDN’T. DO. IT. ???? Anthony saved the day and despite his hatred of needles he gave me my first shot. It didn’t hurt even a tiny bit so last night I got the guts to do it myself and that will be my goal from here on out. I don’t think the shots are causing any side effects but I have the worst sinus infection and cough so I have been feeling pretty crummy. Hopefully I will be feeling better by the time we do egg retrieval! Anthony is doing a little better each day. His white blood cell counts are getting back to normal and he returned to work today. He still has a way to go before he is feeling himself but we are thankful that he is starting to recover from the chemo. I have more blood tests and an ultrasound tomorrow to track my progress. I will have these appointments pretty much every other day until retrieval. Thank you for your support during this great adventure! Love you all! B103.9 IVFMD
Triggers Day
ShareAfter only 7 days of stims (15 shots total) I got the call to do my trigger shot! This means we will be doing egg retrieval on Monday morning and will know by the end of the week how many embryos made it to freeze. Excited and unbelievably thankful for this opportunity!????
Working on a miracle with faith, love, and science.????????????
ShareWell it has been a crazy long week! Monday morning I went in for egg retrieval and they retrieved 57 eggs. That is a super high amount compared to most procedures so we were excited and I was feeling some pain. By the time I got home I was uncomfortable but fine so I went to work the next morning. It was a difficult day at work but I made it through and assumed I would just get better each day. However I woke up at 1 am very sick and in severe pain and after all the warnings my doctor gave me that I needed to head to the ER right away. Once I got there they ran some tests and confirmed I had OHSS and admitted me right away. I was there for two nights and they did their best to keep me comfortable and monitored me to make sure the OHSS wasn’t getting to a dangerous level. It was a pretty scary experience but I am home and feeling much better, Dr. Alford is closely monitoring my health and put me on blood thinner shots for 6 weeks. The IVFMD team has been incredible from the very start! Anthony’s sister, Sasha got married yesterday and we are so happy to be able to take part in her beautiful celebration! It was a great way to end an emotional week. We also got some news yesterday about our eggs. Of the 57, 29 were mature and 15 of those fertilized. After 6 days growing in the lab as of yesterday only 2 had made it to the blastocyst cycle and were able to be frozen. We are hoping for a few more to make it to freeze today but we are so thankful we at least have 2 embryos. As always, thank you for your support! ???? Krista IVFMD B103.9 Big Mama UPDATE: We just got the call that we have two more embryos that made it to freeze! Although those numbers are still low, we are soooo thrilled to have 4 total. It makes us feel much better!
CANCER FREE
ShareWe hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We went to Anthony’s parents’ house and enjoyed our time with Anthony’s sisters and cousins. ???? If you missed us on B103.9 this morning, we have a few updates for you! Anthony’s most recent test results showed he is cancer free! He has more tests in July for a follow up but we are praying we get more of the same wonderful news as last time. We also officially have our fertility calendar and our transfer date is May 24th! We are over the moon, so excited to be closer to finally adding to our family. In related news, we were able to donate our leftover meds to one of the other finalist couples, Amanda and Jason Allis! Amanda reached out to me a few months ago to see how we were doing. She has been so sweet and supportive. When we found out we could donate our fertility meds we knew we wanted to help them! You can follow their journey on their page, It Takes A Village. This contest has touched so many lives and we are forever thankful to B103.9, Big Mama and the wild bunch, and IVFMD. If anyone is interested in donating to Amanda and Jason or the other finalists, donations can be given through the IVFMD office. Love you all!
One week until our embryo transfer
ShareToday was a really good day. Anthony’s most recent blood work came back looking perfect. Still no elevated tumor markers—>no signs of cancer! Today also marked one week until our embryo transfer! We are so excited to finally be so close to our dream of starting a family. After going to the doctor I came across this book at the store. I’m going to take it as a good sign because this was my favorite book that I’d beg my parents to read to me all the time. I can’t wait to be able to read this story to our little miracle! May 24th can’t come soon enough! ???????????? IVFMD B103.9 Big Mama ~Krista
PIO shots
ShareThe first of countless PIO shots is complete! I have been dreading it because the needle is much larger and they are a lot harder to administer since they go in the hip. I even did the first one lefty just to be sure I could do it. Easy peasy! Thankful I have such amazing nurses at IVFMD to teach me! Only 5 more days until the big day!
BIG DAY
ShareWe just had the embryo transfer at IVFMD! We cannot begin to explain how thankful we are for this opportunity. Looking back on the last year and a half and all the obstacles we faced, I can’t believe we are finally getting this chance. We are overwhelmed by all the support our friends, family, and even complete strangers have shown us. We love you all so much and could never thank you all enough. We couldn’t have this opportunity without you all, IVFMD, and of course our B103.9 family. We are asking for your prayers now that this transfer works so our dreams finally become a reality. Our first embryo didn’t survive the thawing but everything went really well with the second embryo. Now I am home resting and in 10 days I will be back for a blood test to confirm whether or not I am officially pregnant!
Facebook Update: Heartbroken doesn’t begin to cover it
ShareThe transfer went perfectly. All my levels were “excellent” and the doctor was very hopeful. Eight days after the transfer I had multiple positive home pregnancy tests. We were SO excited. We were on cloud nine and enjoying every blissful moment. A few days later I went to my first blood test and the results came back dangerously low. I was pregnant, but our doctor was very worried because the pregnancy hormone level was so low. She kept me on my medications and brought me in for another blood test two days later but my number went down. This means we are losing the pregnancy. Our first round of IVF wasn’t successful. After months of giving myself shots, going to countless appointments an hour each way before the sun was even up, being admitted to the hospital with OHSS because I had so many eggs produced, still here we are. I continued to have positive home tests after the blood test but unfortunately they detect such a small amount of the pregnancy hormone that they can give false hope. We don’t understand why this happened but we will try to keep our faith and move forward. Please keep us in your prayers and pray for anyone experiencing infertility or loss. We were so in love with our baby already. I cannot fathom the pain parents feel when they lose their child further into a pregnancy or after they are born. Thank you for all your support. We love you all. We will have a meeting with Dr. Alford in the near future to discuss what to do next. The doctors and nurses at IVFMD have been incredible, and we are blessed to be able to call Big Mama and Sara our new friends. They have been invaluable through this process. We know we will be parents. This is just another obstacle to overcome, but we will start our family one day.
Here we go again!
ShareToday I started my PIO injections to prepare for our next embryo transfer. I have been doing injections and taking medications for a the last month or so and the amazing team at IVFMD (Naples, FL) says my labs and ultrasounds are looking perfect! We will be transferring one embryo on this Friday the 27th. While we know that there are no guarantees we are staying positive. ???? In other news, Anthony had his 6 month check up this week and he is 6 months in remission! We are so relieved and thankful for the miracle of his good health. It has been a long and trying road but reaching this milestone helps put our minds at ease. I love that strong husband of mine! School starts up again in a few weeks and I’m excited to teach a new group of 6th graders! I can’t wait to meet “my kids” because I know it will be the best year yet! My students won’t be the only ones with school work this year because I am officially beginning work on my speech pathology degree. I am grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to helping our students in a new way. Thank you to all of our incredible friends and family that have been cheering us on, checking on us, and picking us up when we are down. Big Mama and Sara Jones have been so unbelievably kind and supportive. We love you guys and seeing sweet baby Finn pictures gives us so much hope! We love you all and are so blessed to have you in our lives! Please keep us and our friends Amanda and Jason It It Takes A Village in your prayers during the rest of our journey!
Unique Pain
Share“There is a unique pain that comes from preparing a place in your heart for a child that never comes.” Endless rounds of shots, medications, blood draws, and ultrasounds, a hospital admittance, two transfer attempts and still no baby. We are thankful that we at least had a chance thanks to IVFMD and B103.9. They have been an enormous blessing throughout the whole process. We now have to take some time to reflect on our options. We were told we had a 70% chance of it working the first time so we just never believed it would end like this. One day we will know the joy of parenthood. We don’t know how or when but we will not lose our faith. Please keep us in your prayers and keep praying for our friends It Takes A Village as they begin their IVF cycle. Love you all. ????
BABY DUE!
ShareIt is incredible the difference a year can make. We honestly weren’t sure this day would ever come, but we are happy to announce that we will be welcoming a sweet little miracle this summer! Baby Rivera is due August 21st! Thank you to everyone that has supported us through our journey!
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Being parents would ever become a reality. Now we are 29 weeks along and we will be meeting our little miracle in only around 74 days! We were recently given this blanket as a gift and I know we will always cherish it because Garrett is truly the answer to our prayers. We are also praying for all of the couples hoping to win B103.9’s #winababy contest this year. It is the most incredible gift and we are so excited to see the contest happening again!
8/22/19
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