The Tough Start

The Tough Start

We began our journey into parenthood in 2011. In October of that year, we were overly thrilled to find out that we were pregnant. During week 7 of the pregnancy, Kim knew something wasn't quite right, and after a doctor's visit, our worst fears were confirmed. We had a M/C with an ectopic pregnancy. Kim had an emergency laparoscopy surgery on December 21. Luckily, the ectopic was caught before it could rupture, but Kim lost her left fallopian tube, reducing our chances of getting pregnant naturally. What a way to spend a Christmas.

After several months of healing, both physically and emotionally, we started again on building our family. Time went by with no such luck. Kim had an HSG procedure done in July of 2012 only to reveal there was a problem with her remaining fallopian tube. Blocked!! We were then faced with two options. We could pursue fertility treatments that are very costly, or we could just keep trying naturally with a small chance of ever conceiving.

In October of 2012, we decided to begin the journey of fertility treatments. Our doctor performed another laparoscopy to check Kim's system. After verifying that everything was okay and not blocked, we began. Our first fresh IVF cycle yielded 2 embryos that we transferred in November. After the 2 week wait from the transfer date, we found out that we were not pregnant. Oh, what another lovely Christmas.

Fast forward to February of 2013. After several months off from the IVF treatments, we got pregnant naturally. A few blood tests confirmed that Kim's hCG levels were good and rising. An initial ultrasound at 6 weeks confirmed the baby was in the uterus and growing. A slight heartbeat gave us hope that our troublesome road had finally smoothed out. We went back for our 8 week U/S only to find out that we had another M/C. Life is tough sometimes, and we don't always have the answers that we search for. Kim and I once again leaned on the Lord for understanding and comfort during our time of loss. Everything happens according to God's will. It doesn't make the journey any easier, but it is comfort to know that God is there when we feel all hope is gone.

Several months went by and Kim and I decided that we would go through one more IVF cycle. This was our final shot at becoming parents. After reviewing our history closely, our doctor recommended that we do a fresh IVF cycle but not transfer any embryos. Any embryos from our cycle would be frozen with a longer protocol to give Kim's body a chance to be in the most "natural" state. In August we began fertility drugs, and later in the month, 4 embryos were created from the cycle to be frozen. On September 17th we transferred 4 embryos. It sounds like a lot and it is. Normally 2 embryos is the max that doctors recommend. Dr. S thought transferring 4 would give us the best shot at taking home a baby, so that's what we did. Our "hail mary" approach for you football fans.