This morning, D saw this article on our MSN homepage. He told me about it and I finally got around to reading it this evening. I thought it was a very well written article about struggling with infertility. It is hard to talk about when you are struggling with infertility because it is so personal. For me, I didn't want the constant questions like, "Any news yet?" or "how are 'things' going?" Now that I have been through years of infertility ending in one beautiful and healthy son, I am able to be much more open about my struggle with infertility.
Redbook and Resolve (the National Infertility Association) are joining together to launch a national campaign called The Truth About Trying to raise awareness about infertility. I think it's great that more awareness is being raised for such an important issue. Unless you have struggled with infertility, you probably don't realize how devastating it really can be.
I told D about the campaign and he told me I should make a video and submit it. I haven't ever done something like that before, but I don't see any reason I can't participate. I'll work on that and post the video I make.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Truth About Trying
I was watching some of the videos and I clicked on this video only to realize that he is the other doctor at my fertility clinic! He did one of our IUIs and is a great doctor but I love what he says at the end. Don't give up. If we had given up, we would not have the wonderful blessing of our little boy come into our lives. He was worth all the heartache, pain, and tears. In fact, I think that I love him even more because we worked so hard to get him here.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
My Search for Motherhood
I am a very religious person and believe in the leaders of my church. We believe in a prophet who can still receive revelation for the world today. I have been noticing lately that the issue of infertility has been coming up more and more. I don't know if I am just more aware when they speak of IF or if it is just becoming a more relevant issue. I wrote a post last October and December about our church leaders talking about IF.
I recently got our monthly church publication and found yet another article about IF titled My Search for Motherhood. It is a sweet story about a woman who struggled her entire life with never having children of her own but searched for opportunities to have what she calls "alternate opportunities for motherhood". I don't think that I ever got to that point in my personal journey, but I started to realize that the Lord has put children in my life so that I may try to develop motherly attributes.
For example, since being married I have spent a few years serving children in church. I was a teacher for the 3-4 year old children for a couple of years. During that time, I learned the innocence of children and their unconditional love for others. I also learned that they are so much smarter than I had originally given them credit for. I saw the children grow because of the influence of their parents. I loved teaching the young kids stories from the scriptures only to find out they already know those stories.
I have also had the opportunity to serve the youth of the church in many capacities. I was a leader over 12-13 year old girls as well as 14-15 year old girls. Their strength, faith, and testimonies are so strong even though the world can be so hard. They have such bright futures ahead of them and it was exciting to see them grow and accomplish their goals and dreams.
I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to be surrounded by children even though I haven't had any of my own. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me enough to put me in those positions to soften my heart and help me grow as a woman. Now that I am about to have one of my own (less than 3 weeks left!) I still feel completely unprepared to be a mother, but I know that with the help of the Lord I can do all things.
I recently got our monthly church publication and found yet another article about IF titled My Search for Motherhood. It is a sweet story about a woman who struggled her entire life with never having children of her own but searched for opportunities to have what she calls "alternate opportunities for motherhood". I don't think that I ever got to that point in my personal journey, but I started to realize that the Lord has put children in my life so that I may try to develop motherly attributes.
For example, since being married I have spent a few years serving children in church. I was a teacher for the 3-4 year old children for a couple of years. During that time, I learned the innocence of children and their unconditional love for others. I also learned that they are so much smarter than I had originally given them credit for. I saw the children grow because of the influence of their parents. I loved teaching the young kids stories from the scriptures only to find out they already know those stories.
I have also had the opportunity to serve the youth of the church in many capacities. I was a leader over 12-13 year old girls as well as 14-15 year old girls. Their strength, faith, and testimonies are so strong even though the world can be so hard. They have such bright futures ahead of them and it was exciting to see them grow and accomplish their goals and dreams.
I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to be surrounded by children even though I haven't had any of my own. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me enough to put me in those positions to soften my heart and help me grow as a woman. Now that I am about to have one of my own (less than 3 weeks left!) I still feel completely unprepared to be a mother, but I know that with the help of the Lord I can do all things.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Sufficient Grace
I just came across this blog post and thought it was beautifully written. She is a lot more eloquent than I am when it comes to writing but her story is all too familiar.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Truth About IVF
So SIF wrote this post about the truth of IVF. I read a couple responses from some other blogs (see here and here) and I thought I should share my own.
First of all, IVF is a very personal choice. I have heard mixed feelings on the subject. A lot of responses I have heard is that IVF is too invasive. Well, it is invasive! Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, it is invasive and uncomfortable. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The only thing harder was struggling with infertility and NOT doing anything about it. Luckily, I know that the Spirit can guide us in our decisions.
James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him as of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
This teaches me that if I have a question, I can ask God and he will guide me to the right answer. That was exactly what we did when making the decision to move forward with IVF. We prayed our little hearts out asking for guidance. We didn't get some huge answer, but we did a lot of research and we both felt good about doing IVF so we decided to move forward. The entire process took a few months but it was worth every second. I'm sure I would feel different if it didn't work out for us, but it did! While I understand that this is a personal decision for everybody, this is what worked for us. I don't mean it worked because we got pregnant. It worked because we felt like this is the path that our Heavenly Father would have us take to get closer to having our family. I feel like as long as you do everything that you can to have your little ones come to you (whether that is IVF, adoption, and everything in between), they are supposed to be the ones coming to you.
When deciding which path to take to have your own family, make God part of that decision. Ultimately, He is the only one who knows what you are going through and how it ends. He loves His children and wants them to be happy.
First of all, IVF is a very personal choice. I have heard mixed feelings on the subject. A lot of responses I have heard is that IVF is too invasive. Well, it is invasive! Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, it is invasive and uncomfortable. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The only thing harder was struggling with infertility and NOT doing anything about it. Luckily, I know that the Spirit can guide us in our decisions.
James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him as of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
This teaches me that if I have a question, I can ask God and he will guide me to the right answer. That was exactly what we did when making the decision to move forward with IVF. We prayed our little hearts out asking for guidance. We didn't get some huge answer, but we did a lot of research and we both felt good about doing IVF so we decided to move forward. The entire process took a few months but it was worth every second. I'm sure I would feel different if it didn't work out for us, but it did! While I understand that this is a personal decision for everybody, this is what worked for us. I don't mean it worked because we got pregnant. It worked because we felt like this is the path that our Heavenly Father would have us take to get closer to having our family. I feel like as long as you do everything that you can to have your little ones come to you (whether that is IVF, adoption, and everything in between), they are supposed to be the ones coming to you.
When deciding which path to take to have your own family, make God part of that decision. Ultimately, He is the only one who knows what you are going through and how it ends. He loves His children and wants them to be happy.
Monday, February 6, 2012
IF
This past week I realized that infertility can really bring some people together. My husband and I own a pest control company and sometimes he has to go out and actually service the routes. This last week, he was servicing a customer and noticed the new nursery in the house. He started talking to the guy who lived there and it turns out his wife is due around the same time I am. Peter made some comment about how it took us a while to get pregnant and they started talking. It turns out this couple had struggled with infertility and did 4 IUIs. They finally got pregnant with their last one. D talked to him for quite a while about how hard it is to go through infertility. They talked about how it was hard to see their wives go through infertility. They talked about the stupid things people say to you when you are trying to get pregnant but can't.
What I love about the situation is how open they were with each other. According to D, they had a really good conversation. I love that when we are open with our struggle, we can become a little closer to other people. It's like this little family out there and we just need to open our mouths to connect with them.
What I love about the situation is how open they were with each other. According to D, they had a really good conversation. I love that when we are open with our struggle, we can become a little closer to other people. It's like this little family out there and we just need to open our mouths to connect with them.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
So lucky
So this blog that I follow is written by a girl who has unexplained infertility. She has been trying to get pregnant for 5 years. She had to travel to do a trial type of IVF and got pregnant! Well, she went to her 9 week appointment (her last appoint with her RE) and found out she miscarried. To make it worse, the baby was still in there and she had to have a D&C. It was her first ever pregnancy.
Even though I am pregnant, I still keep up with some blogs about other women who have struggled with the same thing I have. I feel like they have given me strength and although we have never met, I feel like I know/understand some of the deepest parts of them. As I was reading her journey through this, I found myself so excited for her good news and almost in tears when she found out she is no longer pregnant. I realized that I am so lucky/blessed/whatever you want to call it to be having a healthy pregnancy. To be honest, being pregnant is much harder than I had anticipated. It is draining physically, emotionally, financially, and physically (yes, I said that twice) but I would still rather feel like this than be going through the loss of a child. I cannot begin to understand why the Lord has chosen me to carry this little guy, but I thank Him constantly for the opportunity.
Even though I am pregnant, I still keep up with some blogs about other women who have struggled with the same thing I have. I feel like they have given me strength and although we have never met, I feel like I know/understand some of the deepest parts of them. As I was reading her journey through this, I found myself so excited for her good news and almost in tears when she found out she is no longer pregnant. I realized that I am so lucky/blessed/whatever you want to call it to be having a healthy pregnancy. To be honest, being pregnant is much harder than I had anticipated. It is draining physically, emotionally, financially, and physically (yes, I said that twice) but I would still rather feel like this than be going through the loss of a child. I cannot begin to understand why the Lord has chosen me to carry this little guy, but I thank Him constantly for the opportunity.
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