Having a baby!!
I'd love to say that this truly was our greatest "DIY Project" to date, but we needed a little help. After a year of trying on our own, I knew something wasn't right. My OB/GYN recommended we see fertility specialists at the UCONN Health Center where the next part of our journey began. Long story short, I fall into that weird category of "unexplained infertility". Not very comforting, and not what I wanted to hear, but our amazing doctor was optimistic and encouraged us to not lose hope. Both of us are healthy, young and perfect candidates for infertility treatment. The months went by, procedures added up and still nothing. Finally, we came to the realization that we would have to do IVF or in vitro fertilization. My younger sister had two healthy boys without any issues, so I couldn't understand why I was having so many problems. Until this day, I don't know, maybe I was stressing out about it too much, or overthinking things. (I tend to do that a lot if you know me well.) Who knows!
Well, Mike and I talked about it and decided to go for it. Two days later a huge box of drugs, needles, gauze and a mini sharps container arrived at my door step. I laid it all out on the kitchen counter and said "I look like a drug addict". It was crazy, but let me tell you those drugs work! Immediately, I could feel my body change and prepare itself for this IVF treatment. I can honestly say that my husband remained amazing and so supportive through the whole process. He doesn't have a medical background and every night for over a month he had to give me my shots. We cried and we laughed through the whole thing. If it wasn't for him, I don't know how I would have made it through.
A few weeks before Christmas the doctor said I was ready for my egg retrieval where they put you under and surgically remove the over-abundance of eggs from your ovaries to fertilize in the lab. I guess I'm an over-achiever because they were able to get a lot of eggs! (thank God) Those eggs were immediately brought to the lab and fertilized, where they began to develp into embryos. Five days later I went back in for the big "transfer". It was so exciting, I got to see my little embryo on the screen and just laid there hoping this would work. Two weeks later, the doctor office called just shy of Christmas to tell us we were pregnant! I swear all my prayers had been answered. It truly was the best news I ever heard.
So here I am, about to start my second trimester and sporting a little baby bump. I'm lucky to have not experienced any morning sickness, just pure exhaustion, but it's a great feeling because you know your body is working overtime to create this amazing life inside of you. Some women would keep this type of personal information to themselves, and maybe I would have if it was a different matter, but for some reason I felt compelled to share my story because so many women go through this everyday. Everyone has a different journey when they choose to have a baby. After everything we went through to get here, I really do appreciate it all and I wouldn't change it for anything.
Now the exciting part begins, prepping for baby! I've started a design concept board for the baby and I'll be sure to share all the projects for the nursery in the coming months.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
(If you're wondering about the amazing announcement photo I posted, it's courtesy of my very talented sister, Melissa. If you live in Connecticut and are looking for a photographer, please check out her website, www.mphanson.com She's fantastic! I'll leave you with a few more shots she took for us.)
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