Monday, February 13, 2012

Miracles do happen!

Disclaimer:  This is a long post!  This is just too amazing of a story not to include every detail.  If you don't care about the details....then you can just skip to the bottom.


Eric and I have been so blessed.  We have 3 beautiful boys. It took a lot of heartache and prayers to get them here, each one is a miracle.
Gavin took the longest to conceive.  We went through about 2 full years of treatments and surgery--probably 12 rounds of treatments total.  His birth was easy and like a party.  It was also my only "natural birth" (natural meaning no c-section not no drugs....I'm not crazy!).
Nolen was the easiest as far as actually getting pregnant, considering it only took 2 rounds of treatments.  However, the way he came in to this world was by far the scariest time of my life.  Fortunately, everything turned out great but I thought I would never want to be pregnant again.
Cohen took another surgery and several more rounds of treatments as well but the pregnancy and delivery were great and it really put all my c-section fears to rest.
I had always said I wanted 3 kids and Eric had always said he wanted 2.  After we had Nolen, we knew that we weren't done.  Then I said 3--maybe 4 and Eric said 3 and for sure done.  When Cohen was born, I knew in my heart that I wasn't finished having babies.  My Mom has always told me that when she was pregnant with my sister (the baby of our family) she enjoyed every second of it but knew that she was finished being pregnant and was ready to move out of the baby phase of life.  I didn't feel that way.  At first, Eric said that we were done but as the months went by he began to feel that we were meant to add to our family again.
Shortly after Cohen turned one we started discussing what we were going to do.  We had been told by our fertility Doctor that I would probably not even ovulate anymore and since I was no longer responding to the fertility shots like I had with Gavin and Nolen she did not feel that another pregnancy was a possibility, even with fertility treatments.
I have been told over and over in the past 10 years that I have endometriosis, no progesterone, ovaries that are not conducive to ovulation, that I ovulate early.....that I cannot become pregnant on my own.  I did have a very early miscarriage in July of 2008 (when Nolen was 1) but my progesterone was a 3 and my HCG levels never increased like they were supposed to.
We have had an extremely busy winter, Eric has been gone more than ever and was gone about 3 weeks out of the month.  This is way too much information but with all of his traveling we only got to "make whoopee" (ha!) one time.  I did do an ovulation kit but never got a positive and so I just gave up since Eric was going to be out of town anyway.  I did not take progesterone.  I have taken progesterone for the first trimester with all the of our boys.
I had not been feeling well and even mentioned to Eric that "if I didn't know better, I would think I was pregnant".  I continued to have symptoms and finally decided to go get a pregnancy test.  I didn't tell anyone.  I came home and peed on the stick and waited....then I decided to move the test from the bathroom and when I did I messed it up.  Ugh....it said I needed to retest.  I had to rush out and so when I came home I went upstairs and took another test.  I went and gathered some laundry and walked back by the test and glanced at it, knowing it would be negative.  IT SAID PREGNANT!  I could not believe it.  I text a picture of it to Eric, to which he responded "what is that?".  Ha!  We have never had the experience of not expecting to be pregnant and getting a positive test.
I immediately took progesterone and called my fertility Doctor.  They were closed for the weekend and I left a message telling her what had happened.  She just happened to check her messages and called me back.  She was quite surprised herself and sent me an order for bloodwork.  She told me that she wanted my HCG level to be above 50 and my progesterone above 15.  She ordered it stat and said that she would call me later that evening.  She never called that night and I hardly slept a wink.  She called me at 7:00 Saturday morning.  My HCG was around 850 and my progesterone was 25!  She wanted me to come back to retest on Monday morning to make sure the levels were increasing like they were supposed to but said that everything looked really good.
We spent most of Saturday and Sunday in complete shock.  Saturday morning as I was making breakfast Gavin came in the kitchen singing, "My Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" over and over.  Eric and I were surprised because we had not told him.  I asked him why he said that and his response was, "Because you do!  Because I prayed!"  I love that childlike faith!
I went back last Monday and had my HCG and progesterone checked again.  She called me with the results and said that my HCG was around 2800 and my progesterone was great!  She said congratulations and that it looks like a great pregnancy to her!
I called my OB to set up my appointment and they told me that they don't do your first appointment until 8-9 weeks.  I was really bummed because with all my other pregnancies I have had an ultrasound (by my fertility Doctor) at 6 weeks.  I scheduled my appointment for the end of February and realized that I would just have to wait like normal people.  The next morning, I got a call from my OB's nurse.  My fertility Doctor had sent over my bloodwork paperwork.  She wanted to know what was going on, I told her and she said "well, you shouldn't have to wait that long for an ultrasound!" and scheduled it for Monday (today).
Today Eric and I went for our first OB appointment.  We had an ultrasound and got to see the heartbeat.  Everything looks perfect and even my Doctors were shocked.  My due date is October 6, 2012.


I cannot tell you how humbled and loved I feel by God.  I have always known that God loved me.  He cares about even the smallest details of our lives.  He knew that even though we have 3 amazing boys that were conceived through fertility.....that ours hearts desire was to conceive a baby without fertility.  He loves me so much that he gave that to me....even though I don't deserve it.  God's grace is so good.
There is no explanation for why I got pregnant at the age of 32, when I should be "less fertile" than I was at the age of 24 when I was trying to get pregnant for the first time.  There is no explanation for why my progesterone was good this time when it hasn't been in the past.  The only explanation is that it is a miracle.....and we are so so humbled and honored that we get to experience this.

5 comments:

Jen K. said...

So amazing!!!

Funny enough, I had been thinking about you guys last week, knowing that if you could have more you would, and I prayed for you guys. Clearly you were already pregnant! Wonderful!

Now is it going to be boy #4 or will a little girl finally make an appearance!

The Holt's said...

I am so happy for you! I should not have read this at work because it is a little difficult to explain the tears.

carleywright said...

Your prayer, my prayer, a lot of people's prayers. Were answered. God is so good. I am blessed beyond words to be able to be apart of your family's life. I have already began to make more room in my heart for baby number 4, and baby girl number 1. I love you guys!

Anonymous said...

Wow...what an amazing story this is...CONGRATS!! Sending prayers for a healthy, smooth pregnancy for you and baby #4!! Fingers crossed its a girl :)

Jaclyn & Joel Hoskins
*shared by Krista on FB*

Amber Blair said...

Wow! God cares about everything we care about. What a sweet sweeet miracle.! Blessings to you guys! <3