My wife and I had planned on being the typical American couple. We’d get married, work for a couple of years (to earn some stability and get to know one another) and then start our family. We had seen our friends follow this same agenda and it seemed simple enough.  We learned it was not always so simple…  Finally, after a decade of trying and reaching the ripe-old age of thirty-eight, we realized that having a baby just wasn’t going to happen the “old-fashioned way.”  So, we sought help.  Only to find that “help” to be very expensive.  The process of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) and subsequent pregnancy and birth would cost tens of thousands of dollars, which we didn’t have. But, we did have our house.  Years of scrimping, saving, used cars and brown-bag lunches had allowed us to pay off our school debts and save just enough for a down payment on a small three-bedroom, two-bath house on the outskirts of town.  Vickie and I both worked full time, living in tiny apartments in bad neighborhoods to…