Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Santanna and Cole's Story


My husband, Cole, and I were typical newlyweds; young, healthy and in love. We knew we wanted kids right away, but we weren’t exactly trying, just not preventing. As the months went by and my periods kept coming, I began to obsess about how we weren’t getting pregnant. After researching the internet, I self-diagnosed us and felt we had fertility issues. I called my doctor to see if we could get in for some tests. They all said that we had to wait until we had been trying for at least one year. I grew more and more bitter as the rest of our “year” went on. I felt like everyone was getting pregnant but me. I heard story after story of high school girls getting pregnant, and I was so angry that Cole and I, two fully capable and ready adults, couldn’t get pregnant. I was miserable to be around and our sex life became a chore, which was really discouraging.

Once our year was finally up, Cole went to see a urologist where he took in a semen sample. We then learned that Cole’s sperm count and mobility were not where they should be. His doctor put him on Clomid for a month to see how much his numbers would increase. Before that month was up, we had our appointment with our fertility specialist. During our consultation, Dr. S informed us that Cole’s numbers would most likely improve from being on Clomid, but not enough to get us pregnant. They ran tests on me, and all of them came back normal. We felt super blessed that both of us didn’t have health issues.

At that time, we were told that our best option was to do In-vitro fertilization (IVF). We could start with intrauterine insemination (IUI), but our chances of getting pregnant were comparable to winning the lottery. We decided on IVF and our life quickly turned into weekly appointments, shots, blood draws, and medication after medication while juggling the rest of our everyday lives. All in all, our IVF cycle went very smoothly. They were able to retrieve twenty seven eggs from me, but this caused me to get ovarian hyper stimulation. This was honestly the worst part for me. I retained a lot of fluid and had to have a procedure done that was very similar to egg retrieval, but without being under anesthesia.  

Over the next few days we learned that twenty out of twenty seven eggs were mature enough to fertilize. Eleven of them fertilized, but then four didn’t make it. This left us with only seven and sitting much lower than our doctor had predicted. After we transferred two embryos to my uterus, we found that that the rest of our embryos died. This left us with nothing to freeze. I was absolutely devastated at losing the chance of a potential sibling for our baby. We tried to remain hopeful that our two embryos would take, but if they didn’t we would have to start IVF all over again. I couldn’t even think about it. The whole process was too fresh in my mind. I honestly wasn’t sure I was ready to endure all of it again, let alone pay another $15,000 in hopes for a baby.

Fourteen days later, Cole and I received the best phone call. We were pregnant! In an instant, the last year and a half was all worth it. I was finally carrying a child, something we had prayed for and cried over for so long. Our son, Conrad, was born March 30th, 2014.

A year and a half later as we were preparing for our next round of IVF, we found out that we were pregnant. We were shocked!! Considering the fact that Dr. S gave us a less than a one percent chance of ever conceiving on our own, and we feel extremely blessed that this is God’s plan for us.

Our infertility chapter seems so long ago, as our Conrad is now 18 months old. I’m amazed at how having him in our life has healed my heart. I truly hope that I always remember this journey. I hope I remember the longing and the pain, so I remember to never take being a mom for granted. I want to remember this journey so that I can help others through theirs. We realize that our infertility story is easier and shorter than most and that some endure much more and some are still waiting for their baby. We pray for you and we hope that you never feel alone in this journey.
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3 comments:

  1. Beautifully written!! What a sweet angel you are!!

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  2. With the help of a man called Dr.Addo I was able to get pregnant though his root and herbs. I'm 47years of age, it was really difficult for me to pregnant though my husband loves me but it was really hurting me not having my own child but after many years I came across Dr.Addo whose email address is ( addosolution@gmail.com ) he gave me Root and herbs and I was pregnant a week after i his help. I'm 7months pregnant now and also I will like to advice everyone looking for help to get pregnant to contact this very man via his email address: ( addosolution@gmail.com )

    Vivian from CANADA

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