2 Years of Trying-The Cliffnotes Version

Writing this post after the fact will have a much more positive spin on the infertility battle Phil and I had to trudge through for the past 2 years!! If I had written this in the midst of the battle, I would have been one hot mess. Now I can re-cap the past 2 1/2 years without all the day by day details in order to start the next few posts about the new baby growing in me.

We started trying to start a family in January 2008. I knew I was going to have infertility issues as I have always had inconsistent female problems since I was a teenager. From January-June 2007 my OB/GYN put me on various medicines to help force a period and ovulation. The medicines didn't work, so we thought.

In June 2008, I started seeing a Reproductive Endocrinologist. He immediately took me off the medicine (metformin) and started his own plan. The same systematic plan he uses for all his patients. I was pregnant in July (thanks to my OB, not my RE), but had an early miscarriage due to low progesterone-a hormone that maintains the viability of a pregnancy until the placenta takes over. I wasn't even aware I was pregnant because Phil and I were out of town for 3 weeks and only after returning home, did we find out I was pregnant, but it was too late.

From July 2008-July 2009 I continued to see the Infertility doctor. About 10-12 times a month I had to drive out to Panama City to see the doctor. I remember the 3 1/2 hour round trips like it was yesterday. I cried and I cried while driving down the highway. I would call my SIL and she would listen to me and my struggles and let me know she was praying for me. She probably had no idea what to say, but she was always a huge comfort. I would call my mom crying. And sometimes, I would have glimpses of hope that I would eventually be pregnant. As tears rolled down my face, I dreamed of what having a family would look like on those long painful journeys down the highway.

I had 4 failed IUI's with my Infertility doctor. Each time I had glimmer of hope. That this might "be the one." Unfortunately, it wasn't. By the time summer rolled around, I was just so exhausted. I remember telling Phil that I just wanted to enjoy my summer. I didn't want to be driving to Panama City every other day. I didn't want the emotional drainage I knew it would bring. I didn't want to cry everyday of summer vacation. I didn't want to miss out on the fun of all of our summer company. I just wanted to live life again. I just wanted to feel the joy that I once knew. I just wanted to be with Phil. I just wanted to forget about my struggles.

Summer of 2009 proved to be so wonderful. It proved to be a turning point. It was so needed. So needed that we decided NOT to go back to my Infertility doctor. Instead, I went back to my OB/GYN and asked her to put me back on "that medicine that made me get pregnant last time." AKA, metformin. The medicine of choice the Lord used to get me pregnant...TWICE.

From July of 2009 to January 2010 I took my metformin (a diabetic medicine often given to infertile women to help produce a stronger ovulation) with little faith it would work. I was just taking it until we determined what our next step would be. But I enjoyed not going to my Infertility doctor so much that we never came up with a next step. God certainly had a different plan. A much better plan. And it was in His timming. An issue I am constantly battling and learning more about everyday.

In January 2010, God created his Heppding miracle. When I had no hope, when I had no faith, when I had no joy-God gave it all back to me. We conceived our child in the last way I ever thought possible-by ourselves. You may be laughing, but those of you reading this who have struggled with getting pregnant know exactly what I mean. God did what I thought was the impossible.