Hi! Welcome to Bun Without an Oven.
I’m Kate, a 32 year old living in Germany with the love of my life, my husband Jan. We have been together for over 12 years and are actively trying to start this next chapter of our lives: parenthood.
Our fertility situation:
I was born with Mullein Genesis, also known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hausen Syndrome. A Google search will explain simply:
“Müllerian agenesis, also known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, is a congenital condition that results in underdevelopment or absence of the uterus, cervix and upper two-thirds of the vagina.”
And there you have it. So, there are multiple variations of this syndrome. For me specifically, I was born totally normal, just missing the odd uterus, cervix and half a Fallopian tube. I was nonetheless, born with perfectly working everything else. (Thank God). Working ovaries, one and a half Fallopian tubes, and a normal vagina. Only thing missing in between is the uterus that anchors it all together.
Having functional ovaries means I can biologically have children, I just cannot carry them myself – a bun without the oven.
Where we are now:
My husband and I have had embryos made – 3 beautiful embryos frozen and waiting in our clinic in Omaha, Nebraska. We are currently signed on with an agency Creative Family Connections (CFC) to help match us with the most amazing person who will one day carry our pregnancy for us. This agency also doubles as a law firm representing us on our journey. We signed up with CFC in January 2023 and were on a waiting list for that first year. Since January 2024, we have been on the active search for a gestational carrier (GC) and are still waiting on our perfect person.
Purpose of this blog:
This journey to parenthood via gestational carrier is extremely complex. So many factors come into play, and navigating this journey definitely takes its toll emotionally, physically, financially, legally. It was hard to know where to start, but we’ve been taking it step-by-step, learning as we go. This approach has me thinking… there has to be a better way. And if I can help the next person better navigate a similar journey by sharing our experiences, then that will have been worth it.
I’m certainly not the first with this idea and I hopefully won’t be the last. Here are some accounts that have been open, shared their fertility stories and have helped us learn. They’ve been an incredible source of comfort and a great resource:
Bun Without an Oven 