Infertility and Adoption Journey

Ok. So you all know that I love reading Kelly's Korner and have done several links back to her blog for various subjects. Recently she did a post called "Show us Your Life - Show us Your Ministry" where she asked people to link up their stories that may be helpful to other people. It's an awesome way to hear other women's stories and gain encouragement from them.

I've never linked up to a blog before, but on this particular subject, I thought it would be fun to do since I love telling my adoption stories.

The journey for our family began back in December of 2001 where my husband and I casually decided to go off the pill and "have a baby". We planned as far as I was supposed to be in a wedding the following summer and I told them we would have to make sure the dress was big enough for my soon to be growing tummy.

A year passed, then two. We stayed pretty calm about it and kept thinking it would eventually happen. When year 3 started approaching, I felt nothing short of "panic and fear". We started going to doctors and having all the initial tests done and at first they just noticed that my progesterone levels were a little wacky and that there may be some issues with ovulation. They put me on good ol' Chlomid, but nothing happened. My hubby was also tested and found out he had some issues as well. He had surgery and we were optimistic that things could be heading in the right direction. I had several other things "done" that I was told would "up" my chances for getting pregnant

Another year passed.

I was completely avoiding baby showers, baby dedications, Mother's Day and all things baby at this point in my life. Crying was the norm and feeling alone and desperate were a part of my everyday existence.

We discovered with yet another doctor that he thought I may have endometriosis and we scheduled to have laproscopy surgery to find out. I did. They removed it. They also told me I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which is lots of cysts on my ovaries. We tried IUI a couple of times, but we were never motivated to go hard core in the fertility treatments. I had already been on numerous fertility drugs and knew what feeling "crazy" was, and I didn't want to make a job out of that feeling and that emotional roller coaster. We mainly prayed, and we prayed a lot.

While we were doing our IUI treatments, we also decided to open another door to see if that was where God was leading. We prayed and decided to submit our application to a local adoption agency that we were familiar with.

Apparently God was ready to give us this blessing, because we were told the wait could be 2 -3 years. We were braced for that, but felt hope for the first time that a baby might actually come out of all this drama and pain.

We got a call 4 months later. A little Girl had been born and the birth mother had selected our family. We had NOTHING for a baby and were told we would be parents in 2 weeks!! We made the drive to go meet her and the birth mom that following week. We went to court the week after that and brought home Little Girl. Our whole lives changed and raising her and loving her has been our greatest joy.

We were so blessed the first time around, that when Little Girl was 9 months old, we applied to adopt again. This time it took 2 years to get that wonderful phone call that we had been selected by a birth mom and we got to go to the hospital the day our son was born and bring him home. He is such a joy and his personality fits into our family like a glove. That goes for Little Girl too. If she was any more like me in the social department - I don't know what we'd do with ourselves. :-) God knew what He was doing when He formed our little family.

I am thankful every day for my journey and for my children and for my gift of being a mother.

If you're reading this and have struggled with infertility or are struggling now, I would love to pray for you and offer any support or advice that I might be able to give. I have found God spoke to me the most through friends along the way who supported me and loved me through it all. Keeping quiet and closed off seems the most natural and safe during this season, but it's SO much better to walk through it with someone.

Here is one of my favorite pics of my little miracles as we are heading out the door to go to Disney World. :-)