Putting a price on a family.

I have this memory of my mom getting ready for a yard sale and those little stickers with prices laying around the house.  My sisters and I thought it was hilarious to find those little stickers and try to sneakily stick it to another sister's back.  The joke would go on and on…each sister being tagged with a lower price.  After a period of us carrying on, my mother would inevitably get the last laugh by writing "FREE" on a blank sticker and sticking it to the child closest to her (or who was annoying her the most). 

I bet if I asked you how much your child was worth to you I would be met with a dumbfounded look. 

Although there may be some days where you'd like to give them away, you know the bottom line is that they're priceless to you.

You can't put a price on a child.

Or can you?

Every person walking through the world of infertility is forced to decide how much a child is worth to them…without the guarantee that they'll even end up with a child.

Obviously the financial cost is a huge part, but what about the other costs people going through infertility face?

Is the potential to lose your marriage, your identity, your friends, your figure (from pumping yourself full of fertility meds), your mental sanity….worth it?

Yes….because you can't put a price on a child.

Humor me and really think about your kids.

If someone told you that you would need to front upwards of twenty grand to bring them into this world, could you have done it?

I bet the obvious answer falls directly in line with how you feel about them in regards to every situation…You'd move heaven and earth for your kids, wouldn't you?

People going through infertility have to have this blind faith, this unending hope, this fierce love for a child they don't even know….that they may never get.

At what point, though, do the costs start outweighing the benefits?  

This ultimate question of knowing when to call it quits is probably the hardest decision people going through infertility face.

Do you stop for physical reasons or emotional/mental reasons or for financial reasons?  

I'm willing to bet it ends up being a combination of all three.

It's not a decision we're planning on facing anytime soon,

though it does always linger in the back of our minds.

In the meantime, we'll keep our heads and our hearts trained on the fact that

 you can't put a price on a child.