Monday, November 5, 2007

NIAW

It's that time of year again...Today marks the beginning of National Infertility Awareness Week.
I remember this week exactly one year ago. My feelings were mixed: One moment complete dispair, the next, hope. We had been trying for a baby for years and were beginning to take the next step. I was optimistic for our chances of conceiving with IVF, but dreaded the devestation if it didn't work. We'd already experienced so many failures on our own and with other treatments.

November was a month filled with blood tests, injections and pills. I was tired, bruised and an emotional wreck. We smiled through the roughest time in our life to hide the rollercoaster we were on. Only a few of our closest friends knew what we were going through.
On December 6th, we got up at the crack of dawn and drove to the doctors office we'd been to dozens of times. An anesthesiolgist put me under, and doctors used a needle guided by ultrasound to retrieve 16 eggs from my ovaries. The eggs were fertilized by ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection), and we waited. Five days later, we had five thriving embryos. Two were transferred into me, and we began our 30th and most grueling "Two Week Wait."


During that time, the shots and pills continued, the worst of which was a 1 1/2 inch needle Michael would stick into the muscle on the back of my hip each night for over 70 days.
On December 18th, I took a home pregnancy test and couldn't belive my eyes. It was the most beautiful pink line I'd ever seen! I called Michael and told him to hurry home. We were both over the moon with excitement. A blood test confirmed the pregnancy, but the next few days were tough as more blood tests detected that my hormone levels were rising, but not as quickly as they should. Doctors discussed the possiblity of an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage. I wasn't sure I could possibly handle either one. My rope was beyond frayed, and one more devestation would snap it. On December 26th, an ultrasound revealed a healthy pregnancy, and my hormone levels bounced back...It was our very own Christmas miracle. January 5th we saw the first flicker of a heartbeat, and on August 24th, 2007, we held our baby girl.
She was worth the wait.


Visit http://www.reslove.org/ to learn what you can do to raise awareness and ease the pain of the one in eight couples who suffer from infertility.

1 comment:

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

You are an amazing family- ans it is hard to believe that you were ever a two-some!