{"id":7452,"date":"2018-04-26T16:28:16","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T22:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mops.org\/?p=7452"},"modified":"2018-04-26T16:28:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T22:28:16","slug":"7452-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/7452-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracles"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Infertility Awareness Week is\u00a0April 22 – 28<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I actually have TWO miracle babies. And if it wasn\u2019t for Miracle Baby #1, there\u2019d be no Miracle Baby #2.<\/p>\n

This is my story. My struggle with infertility. <\/strong>(And sleep deprivation.)<\/p>\n

I share it because I\u2019m sure many can relate.<\/p>\n

Infertility used to be this thing of shame. Just read the Old Testament where all the women weep because they\u2019re barren<\/em>. A vessel unfilled. It is their identity.<\/p>\n

Today, we can label ourselves other things: career professional, aunt, leader, lover of dogs, sister, writer, musician, artist, biker babe. WE ARE NOT BARREN.<\/p>\n

Still, even today, women whisper the word: infertility<\/em>. As if saying the word gently will turn it into a prayer. Or make the heartache go away.<\/p>\n

Say the word out loud now. Do you notice it\u2019s full of assonance? Softness? In\u2026fer\u2026tility. <\/em>The harsh \u201ct\u201d sounds don\u2019t come until the end. Like you can hold the pain at bay.<\/p>\n

Say the word out loud again. Linger over the word. Dwell on it. NORMALIZE IT. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s support one another. Let\u2019s give hugs and hold hands. Let\u2019s cry over it together. Giant tears that actually acknowledge the heartbreak. Of unrequited<\/em> wanting.<\/p>\n

In my story, we tried for six years. The doctors called it \u201cunexplained infertility.\u201d They told us I might be allergic to my husband\u2019s sperm. They told us we might be incompatible.<\/p>\n

Other people called us \u201cthose people who just want to have dogs\u201d or \u201cthose people who don\u2019t really like kids.\u201d We didn\u2019t want to talk about the wanting, so we let them label us.<\/p>\n

We tried lots of things.<\/p>\n

Charting.<\/strong> HSG Dye Test.<\/strong> Clomid.<\/strong> Intrauterine Insemination.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally, In Vitro Fertilization.<\/strong> Our saving grace. Truly, a joy unbounding.<\/p>\n

We put the truck up for collateral and took out a loan at the bank to pay for our dreams. And, all praise Jesus, IVF worked. I can\u2019t even describe what it was like when we saw that heartbeat on the ultrasound at six weeks. It was miraculous.<\/p>\n

We got lucky. We only went through one round of IVF.<\/p>\n

And by lucky, I mean: The doctors harvested 19 eggs. Then only 11 fertilized. Then only five embryos made it to the day of truth, Day 5. Then only two seemed suitable for transfer. Then of the three still under watch, none made it past Day 6 to freeze \u201cfor next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the two suitable embryos, the doctor pointed at a picture of one of them, saying, \u201cIf you get pregnant with a \u2018singleton,\u2019 this is the embryo to thank.\u201d We were looking at the very beginning of our son. He was perfection.<\/p>\n

We got lucky. The transfer and implantation were successful (perhaps thanks to progesterone suppositories). And at eight weeks, the reproductive medical team released me back to my regular OB. This was thrilling and surreal.<\/p>\n

We got lucky. Pregnancy was a breeze. Yet also terrifying: I faced complete placenta previa. Which meant I could bleed to death if I went into labor prematurely. This also guaranteed a C-section, which my incredibly careful OB waited until 38-1\/2 weeks to perform.<\/p>\n

Our minister likes to say that the church congregation breathed a collective sigh of relief when our sweet boy was born. The prayers of the people were with us that day. I lost a full liter of blood. But sweet boy was perfect.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward 20 months when Miracle Baby #2 arrived.<\/p>\n

No, wait, let\u2019s back up a bit.<\/p>\n

My OB told us if we wanted another baby \u2013 I was old \u2013 to wean sweet boy at three months and to skip the birth control. But to not get our hopes up. That IVF would probably be the only option. IVF \u2013 which we\u2019d have to start from scratch again. Because there were no frozen embryos.<\/p>\n

I set aside dreams of a household of four. If motherhood was this hard, how could I handle two children? If infertility still lurked around the corner, if baby #2 wasn\u2019t guaranteed anyway (what if IVF didn\u2019t work this time?), no way was I going to wean baby #1 and drop that bond at three months. I would savor every ounce possible of my sweet new son, despite myself and the sleep deprived rage.<\/p>\n

But we skipped the birth control.<\/p>\n

Sweet boy grew and slept more and smiled and laughed more. Sleep deprivation began to loosen its grip. And when baby turned one, motherhood seemed to make a lot more sense.<\/p>\n

And then my clothes wouldn\u2019t fit. And I started craving every sugary thing I could find. It was basically a joke at work: \u201cHere, you probably want a donut, right? Would you like three?\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed beyond ridiculous to think I was pregnant. Me, this body that can\u2019t get pregnant. Me, this body that endured pokes and prods for six years.<\/p>\n

I told myself I was going through hormonal changes because I was beginning to wean the baby.<\/p>\n

Then I wanted to vomit when I washed the garlic press. And I noticed pregnant women everywhere. And I noticed my silhouette in a store window \u2013 I looked just like them.<\/p>\n

My husband thought I was crazy. And even crazier to get my hopes up. We\u2019d agreed we were content with a family of three. And now here I was with this insane dream again of a family of four.<\/p>\n

Three positive pregnancy tests later, he still didn\u2019t believe me.<\/p>\n

I was ecstatic and scared to death. Would I survive the rage of sleep deprivation a second time? (Would our marriage survive it?<\/em>) How could we possibly handle two small children so close in age?<\/p>\n

At least they\u2019d be two years apart. More like 20 months.<\/p>\n

When I finally got to the OB, the ultrasound tech informed us that I was already 16 weeks pregnant. (Yes, I have an MBA. No, I have no idea how babies are born. See IVF above.) And, \u201cOh, would we like to come back next week to learn the baby\u2019s sex?\u201d<\/p>\n

So, yes, it\u2019s possible to go through IVF and conceive naturally the second time around. And actually, my body needed IVF to teach it how to create life. Without IVF, there\u2019d be no Miracle Baby #1. Without Miracle Baby #1, there\u2019d be no Miracle Baby #2.<\/p>\n

And what a thing of love we\u2019d miss. These two miracle boys \u2013 and best friends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Ginny Olson is the author of the blog MothersRest.com<\/a>, a love letter to moms, both new and seasoned, journeying from sleep deprived to joy-arrived. When not riding-herd over two small male children, Ginny works full time at a global nonprofit that specializes in leadership development and teaches Marketing for Nonprofits at the local university. Her writing has been featured on several blogs.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Infertility Awareness Week is\u00a0April 22 – 28   I actually have TWO miracle babies. And if it wasn\u2019t for Miracle Baby #1, there\u2019d be no Miracle Baby #2. This is my story. My struggle with infertility. (And sleep deprivation.) I share it because I\u2019m sure many can relate. Infertility used to be this thing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":7460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,117],"tags":[1481,1482,1483,1484,1485,1486,126,1487,1488,54,366,56,1384,1489],"class_list":["post-7452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-wellness","tag-barren","tag-brith-control","tag-c-section","tag-charting","tag-clomid","tag-hsg","tag-infertility","tag-intrauterine-insemination","tag-ivf","tag-mama","tag-miracle","tag-motherhood","tag-pregnant","tag-sleep-deprivation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}