Resolution

In my last post, Fertility Success Stories, I shared several fertility success stories experienced by people in my life. All of these people were blessed to hold their biological children in their arms after struggling to conceive them. However, those are not the only successful stories shared by people in my life. I would be remiss if I left out one of my favorite success stories, which is different from the others.

I want to send out a special thank you to this friend for allowing me to share her story. After I wrote an initial draft of this post, she chose to add several personal details that drive home how inspiring her story is. I appreciate her honesty in… [more]

While I view my own fertility story as a successful one because it ultimately led me to my child through adoption, some of you who are reading this blog might not agree. For some of you, the goal is to become pregnant, and hearing the "A" word is not comforting to you. So, I would like to share some fertility success stories experienced by people in my life. These are not stories that I have heard about or read about: These are people in my life who have battled infertility and won by conceiving and giving birth to healthy children.

Clomid

One of my friends battled infertility for a while before finally becoming pregnant with the help of the drug Clomid. Soon… [more]

Adopting a second child was taking a long time, so my husband and I decided to pursue fertility treatments again. The endometriosis had grown back, so I needed another laparoscopy to remove it. This time, the endometriosis was so bad that my left ovary was "stuck" to the back of my cervix.

My body had a harder time recovering from the surgery this time. I spent several hours vomiting from the anesthesia, which felt even worse because of the pressure on my incision in the belly button. The hormones and intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) were awful, and things were even worse because this time around, I had to work out childcare for a toddler each time I went… [more]

In a previous post, Adoption Does NOT Cure Infertility, I talked about some of the infertility losses that I have had to grieve despite being a mother through adoption. This post continues the discussion.

My son used to belong to a playgroup of children who were all close in age. When my son was around three years old, we went to a playgroup at a friend's house. There were seven of us there with our children. All of us had children around the age of three, and everyone other than me held a baby in her arms.

One of my friends said, "Isn't it funny how last year we were all sitting around talking about our pregnancies and now we all… [more]

When I adopted my son, I assumed that my infertility woes were over. I was a mother now, so there was no need to think about my fertility again, right? I was so wrong about this. Adoption cures childlessness, not infertility.

The pain of my infertility started to bubble up as my friends started conceiving their second children. I had already placed our names on a waiting list at an adoption agency to adopt our second child, but the agency told me that it would probably take a couple of years before we would be invited to apply to adopt through them. In the meantime, there was nothing to do except love and cherish my son.

I did not appreciate how much… [more]

We continued intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) throughout the winter and spring of 1999, but I was losing steam. I had given up hope of ever conceiving.

People told me that I needed to keep a positive attitude or I would never conceive. I countered by pointing out that a positive attitude had not gotten me very far up until now. I was in the process of accepting that I would never meet a baby who had my eyes and my husband's nose. As I considered adopting a baby, I realized that passing along my genetics was not as important as having a baby to love.

I looked at the brochure from Dr. M's office again and read about the option of… [more]

When we first decided to grow our family, we both assumed that this would happen just like most other families. We would conceive a baby who looked like us.

Neither of us ever imagined that infertility would happen to us. We had no family history of infertility from either side, and we were both young and healthy. Even our doctors told us that there was no medical reason why we could not achieve a pregnancy. Yet, despite all of these factors, we remained childless.

One day at Dr. M's office, I picked up a brochure about resolving infertility. The brochure pointed out that you cannot continue with fertility treatments forever. At some point, you will stop, and the infertility will be resolved… [more]

I know that this is much later than I had planned on posting this, but I was having troubles fininshing it. I would get too nostalgic and start to cry. Today must be the day! At the airport I remember feeling kind of sick with apprehension. My chest was tight and I had this pasted on brave smile. What if he wasnt' on the plane? What if he was screaming hysterically? What if he hated me? I was a bunch of nerves. His plane was the second plane to arrive that night. We didn't know that the first plane was going to be there, so, when he didn't get off of the flight, I was frozen in stone. I didn't want to throw… [more]

Announcing..... Hey Everybody, I am so excited to share with you guys that I've adopted a little boy ..he was born 2 weeks ago. His name is Wyatt (after my dad) Steven (after my little brother and Scooter) and we are enjoying some very private family time. Just wanted you to be the first to know. Lots of love, Sheryl. The above post came from sherylcrow.com. And what a neat post it is! How exciting is that? Happy news. I can't wait until she is able to let us know a little more about her adoption circumstances and her decisions around the adoption process. Posted on May 12, what a way to bring in Mother's Day! But I seriously doubt her fans were the first to know… [more]

Prayer for a safe Pregnancy by Vienna Cobb Anderson from Prayers of Our Hearts. Along with this poem at the above link there are other prayers regarding pregnancy. Prayer for a Safe Pregnancy This life you have given us is so tiny, fragile, and vulnerable, safe in the womb of flesh and hope, yet subject to danger and death. O God of love, creator of life, hear our prayer. We want this baby so much. Please grant this child of ours a full term of nurture, the joy and mystery of life, and the blessing of your love. Grant us the fulfillment of our dreams, a baby to cherish and protect, a child to teach and guide, a blessing to our family. Amen. I have been in a prayerful mood today. And what should pop up on my screen, but this poem as my… [more]