I am realizing that my blog will not be very interesting to men ... menh ...
I was never 'regular' as a teen, and I always had a nagging suspicion that having children may not come easily to me. When Graham and I decided to start a family, I was very proactive and got referred to a specialist right away because I knew we needed some extra help. Thus began our journey of charting, timing, medication, injections, blah blah blah. Long story short ... it was well over a year and 4 cycles of fertility meds later that Julie was created. One fateful Father's Day in 2008 changed our lives forever!! We had a procedure done that day called IUI (you can look it up yourself ... I don't need to get into it here :) and it WORKED!!
Prior to becoming pregnant, it was very difficult to see everyone around me fall pregnant so easily. It seemed that most women I knew became pregnant just by sniffing their partners. Not fair! There are people who have endured MUCH more difficult times than us ... and I am SO thrilled to hear when they get happy endings!
When Julie was just over 1, Graham and I had 'the talk'. What were we going to do? We knew we wanted another child. Do we get referred to a specialist right away again, just in case it takes many months before things happen again? Yep, let's do that. So, while waiting for my specialist appointment (it takes weeks!) I decided to pay really close attention to my body, to see if it would give me any clues as to what was happening. A great book - Taking Charge of your Fertility - is a super read for any woman to better understand her body and all the little clues it gives you throughout each part of a normal cycle. You should check it out! Well, I picked up on a few indications that something was 'happening' and didn't want any possible missed opportunities ...
Slap me sideways, it was a SUCCESS!! I was flabbergasted, astonished, amazed ... that I was now one of those women that became pregnant on the FIRST try!! I was so proud of my body for working properly :) I was filled with disbelief until our first ultrasound at 6 weeks confirmed that there was indeed a little person in there. You often hear that people who have trouble with their first baby sometimes have an easier time the second time around, like your body works out it's kinks or something.
Then reality set in. Ummm, Graham, do you realize we will have 2 children under the age of 2? Lord help us!! Then along came little Wesley, and yes, our lives became crazy, but a good crazy, and we wouldn't change a thing! (Well, I might tame Julie's temperament a bit, but that's another story ...) Graham is very content with 2 kids. I (think) I am too ...
Apparently people think that having one girl and one boy defines the 'perfect' family. A rather weird concept if you ask me. I don't know how to respond to that. I'm pretty sure our family would've been just as perfect had we been given another girl. And I know other perfect families that have all boys. Whatever you're given, you make perfect. It's as simple as that. And be grateful!! Even though sometimes you think you're insane for whatever you've gotten yourself into :)
That's our story ... tell me yours!
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Okay I will type this again for you. I loved your story. We were one of those couples who got pregnant by sniffing each other! and we did everything backwards! We bought a house, then got pregnant (not on purpose, sorry) with our first baby angel, Logan. He passed away at 2 days old (complications of T18) call it mother intuition but I always had a feeling that something was wrong. One year later (again not on purpose, sorry again) we got pregnant with Kieran, he was a healthy boy 8lbs. 2 oz, 10 days early. Then we finally got married 4 months later. Then when Kieran was 3 we thought that we should have another baby, that first month we tried I got pregnant. But lost that pregnancy to a miscarriage at 8 weeks. We waited 3 months and got pregnant with Nea, she was born in 2007. We always knew we would have 3 but was surprised that when Nea was 13 months old I found out I was pregnant with Kadyn. Even though we did it backwards, not on purpose we wouldn't change it for the world. Everyday we miss Logan but we believe that thing happen for a reason, and that reason is that Kadyn wouldn't be here and my kids have a brother in heaven, that they can hope is looking out for them.
ReplyDeleteAnnette
Loved it - next I want to hear the story of how you and Graham met. I love that story;).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story with us!! I was aware you were having problems having a child, but I didn't realize to that extent! But I guess you can never tell who has problems and who doesn't. I'm so happy that you now have your beautiful family!! Definitely a new level of craziness with two! :)
ReplyDeleteTake care!
My not so little and very beautiful cousin Amie, my story is a bit long winded so bear with me. My story starts with me nagging my husband to have babies shortly after we were married in 2003. I knew he was a hard nut to crack so I started early! Well he finally agreed and after some time of trying and no luck I saw my doctor that went on to refer us to a fertility specialist too. After a year of trying we finally got pregnant with our first little miracle and call it a coincidence we actually had our baby on the day the fertility specialist called us to make our first appointment (wow a long wait indeed!). Our first was a very colicky baby, but God making us rather forgetful had us have one more....this time I took herbal medication to help with ovulation and voila after a mere 6 months we were set to have our second! My husband informed me that if this baby was colicky than it was my problem...hmmm. So we had our "perfect" little family too and decided that was it and 'THE' surgery was booked! Well personal tragedy struck and my father-in-law became very seriously ill and my husband had to cancel not one, but two procedures! Well my father-in-law unfortunately continued to do poorly and my husband was away a great deal and well there was this ONE day that he was home and the other kids were napping....Well myself being a very anxious person went to the pharmacy and took the Plan B pill within two hours of having our fun...the pharmacist said "no way" could we get pregnant, but to take a test in three weeks to be sure...well on Mother's Day I took the test and wowzers I had no idea that one could get pregnant their FIRST try ever! Thought is had been a myth myself, but not so. Well long story short we said good bye very quickly to my father-in-law (this exact day two years ago ironically) and said hello to our third little miracle 9 months later. Life works in very mysterious ways indeed. Was nice to hear your story and I hope that you liked mine!
ReplyDeleteTiming and charting! Fun times. We tried for 2 years with Savannah. We were starting to lose hope, then it happened. YAY.. We too thought we should get started on #2. So we tried once... it worked. Hello Max. We were reading your blog and it was funny because it hit very close to home. It was SO frustrating everytime it Didn't work. Liz also hated everybody who was pregnant when we were trying. Look at us now. We both have "perfect" families. Long roads like this only make us more grateful for everything we have.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your family =)