By that point, of course, we had little rational basis to think that wish would come true. Married in the spring of 2013, we'd always hoped for a large family, but God seemed to have other plans in mind.

After years of unexplained infertility, Lauren was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2017. We were told of the widely cited statistic that couples with that condition still have a 50 to 70 percent chance of having a child. Our Catholic doctors, who attempt to address the underlying causes of infertility through restorative medicine called Natural Procreative Technology, said the chances would be higher with treatment. By the fall of 2022, Lauren had undergone three laparoscopic surgeries for endometriosis, and she also endured years of taking hormonal supplements to increase the odds of pregnancy. By Christmas 2023, we thought we had run out of time. We had never had a positive pregnancy test, and the longer infertility persists, the less likely a couple is to ever have biological children. It was hard to avoid the conclusion that we were simply among the 30 to 50 percent who would never have a biological child.