I woke up this morning praying for a day of celebration and joy. Despite the nerves and anxiety I’ve been going through the past two weeks, deep down I hoped and thought today would go so much differently.

Fifty/fifty, black and white, yes or no–that was what today would come down to. Joy or utter sadness. I’ll let you guess which answer I just received.

As most of you know, my husband and I have battled the evil wench called infertility since December 2013. Here’s a brief timeline:

• December 2013 — officially started trying
• March 2014 — had a gut feeling something was wrong and went for tests
• April 28, 2014 — diagnosed with a 63 gram fibroid attached to my uterus
• July 9, 2014 — Laparoscopic Myomectomy. Fibroid and Stage 4 Endometriosis removed
• September 2014 — cleared to try again
• April 26, 2015 — early miscarriage
• May 2015 — tried everything from fertility diets, exercise, fertility massages
• Early 2016 — Finally decided to meet with Reproductive Endocrinologist
• May 2016 — HSG testing. Diagnosed with polyps
• June 2016 — Polypectomy
• July 2016 — cleared to try again
• July and August 2016 — Medicated timed cycles (failed)
• February 2017 — Ovarian cyst burst. Rushed to ER.
• April 2017 — Polypectomy #2
• May 2017 — cleared to try again
• May and June 2017 — IUI (Failed)
• July – October 2017 — Accupuncture
• December 2017 — Husband and I began serious discussions about IVF
• January 2018 — Met with doctor to discuss procedures
• Feb – May 2018 — Prepared mentally, emotionally, financially and medically
• June 2018 — Failed IVF

Wow! I didn’t even realize how much I’ve been through until writing it all down. All the ups, downs, tears and and hope just all sort of blend together. Now, I know (unfortunately) there are many others who have similar or worse stories and I am heartily sorry for all of them. I wish none of us had to go through this.

Sorry if this blog is a ramble, but honestly I just needed a space to air out my feelings. Where do I begin…

Funny thing is, I never even wanted to try IVF. I knew it was an option, but personally it just seemed so scary and invasive to me. It was never on my radar to do despite all my husband and I had been through.

So what changed?

Back in December 2017 I felt at a crossroads. My husband and I spent the last few years trying everything we could to get pregnant and with all of it failing we just didn’t know what to do anymore. For the first time since the journey began I was at a loss.

So I prayed.

I prayed for guidance and wisdom, no matter what it may be. Again, IVF was never in our plan. But then something amazing happened. Friends and coworkers began speaking to us about their IVF experiences. We never asked them about it, but they just felt compelled to share with us. Notably, all of them are happy parents. Some with surprise natural births as well.

But the thing is, I was still iffy about IVF. It wasn’t only the procedure that was scary, but I wasn’t sure if we could afford it (unfortunately our insurance doesn’t cover the procedure). So, I gave it up to God and He provided for us financially in ways that I’m still in awe at. With all these signs pointing us in its direction, we finally scheduled our first information visit.

I’m not going to go through all the steps (i.e. meds and procedures) of IVF, but if you want to know about it just shoot me a message. I’ll just say it’s a lot of pills, shots, patches and doctor visits. Anyway, two weeks ago we finally had the procedure of them all – the embryo transfer. Needless to say my husband and I were excited. We were going to have a baby put inside me! It was an amazing day at best and I wouldn’t give up the giddiness and happiness he and I felt. We were full of laughter and smiles as we waited for my turn in the OR.

Our smiles got bigger when the embryologist gave us a photo of the embryo. I fell in love right there and then. I just knew in my heart that this embryo was a part of us and I loved her immensely. Now, I can’t scientifically say it was a girl, but the moment the embryo was transferred inside of me I just had a gut feeling.

It was two weeks of nerves, excitement and claiming that we’d finally be parents. Throughout the painful shots that brought tears to my eyes I knew it would all be worth it. I said time and time again, “I’ll walk through fire just to hold my child”and now, I find myself in a fire of a different kind.

The call came around 1pm today. I was nervous and hopeful. The doctor started by telling me my Beta (hcg hormone) level, which really meant nothing to me. I guess she knew it would be a hard call to make and decided to go all medical before she hit me with, “At this level we don’t consider it a viable pregnancy.”

My world crashed. All these months of mentally and physically preparing, not to mention years of trying and exhausting every emotion in our bodies, failed yet again. Now, I know many women go through IVF multiple times before getting a positive, but I’m sure I speak for most of us when I say you always pray that that specific round is the successful one. I really hoped this one would be it.

My husband and I kept the whole procedure a secret as to have some privacy and to settle our nerves a bit. The less we talked about it to other people, the calmer we felt. But I’m so happy the moment I opened up to friends and family, crying once I found out it failed, they scooped me up with open arms with words of encouragement and prayers. I love you all.

Now, I’m sure there will be some of you out there saying, “Why didn’t you just adopt?”  The thing is, my husband and I never took adoption off the table. In fact, we always said regardless of whether or not we have a biological child we will adopt. The thing is, adoption isn’t guaranteed either. Also, most agencies require you to be completely done with all fertility treatments and be okay about it. And like I said earlier, we felt driven to this path of IVF.

So where does this all leave us now? Truthfully, I don’t know. I’m at a crossroads again. But I know this for sure–

Even if the embryo didn’t stay, I loved that baby with all my heart ❤