National Infertility Awareness Week

This week is National Infertility Awareness week.

I know there are many others out there that have struggled for much longer and endured many more treatments in regards to infertility, and many others that are still waiting for their journey to be over, but I wanted to share our story.

I always knew I wanted children. Jon and I talked about before we were married. It just seemed like the next step for us after marriage(and after we got this little guy).

We never really laid out a specific timeline for when we would start trying. One weekend, after we had been married for a little over a year, one of Jon’s good friends was visiting with his wife and their 9 month old son. We had such a great time with them and the baby. After they left I remember Jon and I talking about when we wanted to start trying. We didn’t think it would happen right away so we thought why not start now.

After about 6 months of not using birth control and waiting for something to happen, we started trying a little harder. I went to my doctor for my yearly appointment and mentioned that we had been trying for over 6 months. She said to come back in another 6 months if nothing happened. Ugh. I remember feeling so frustrated! I felt like we had been trying for so long. It seemed like so many of our friends were getting pregnant and while I was happy for each of them, it left me feeling discouraged.

I think that was about the time that I really started to read more blogs. I remember staying up late at night reading about other couples going through the same thing. It was such a comfort to read their stories and know that it wasn’t just us.

Finally after another 6 months had gone by I went back to my doctor. After being off the pill for a little over a year, my cycle was still irregular and very long. I felt like this could be the problem (which I had expressed at my previous appointment 6 months before) but my doctor didn’t think it was a problem. She did some tests on both of us and then referred us to a fertility specialist.

The specialist wanted to run her own test so of course it was another few months before we got those results. She found a cyst in my uterus that needed to be taken out. It was nothing serious and the surgery went well. The next cycle we decided to try Clomid since the specialist felt like my long cycles could indeed be the problem.

We tried the lowest level of Clomid. Towards the end of the 14 day wait we took a trip to South Padre. It was a relaxing trip and really helped keep my mind off testing. The day we were driving back was supposed to be the day I would start. When it didn’t happen that day, I decided I would take a test the next morning if I still had not started.

The next morning Jon had to get up early for a job. While he was making breakfast, I took a test. It was immediately positive. I’m pretty sure I sat there stunned for a few minutes. After 18 months of trying I was finally seeing my first positive test! I immediately went out to the kitchen to tell Jon. We were both pretty excited!

Now we have a healthy 6 week old boy and while he keeps us up at night and can be fussy at times, we love him so much and are so thankful for him. 

I know that God’s plan and timing is always perfect (despite the times we think it’s not). Looking back now I realize how much better timed his birth was than had we gotten pregnant right away. I was able to finish up grad school and my maternity level provided the perfect transition period for me to go from a therapist to a supervisor. Even though it was a long 18 months, I know our marriage was strengthen by the journey.

-Lauren-