In October of 2005, Tommy and I decided to start our family. We had been married for 3 years and were super excited! We lived in a military town and babies were always plentiful. We couldn't wait for a positive test and in about a year, our little bundle of joy joining our family. We could never have imagined what a roller coaster the next 4 years would be for us.
We were enjoying our time together until February 2006 when I got a call from my dad in the early hours of the morning. You can never be prepared for the news we got. My brother had passed away. I was devastated. But we kept on trying. The years after that, Tommy would deploy to Iraq twice and I would lose many more family members to include an aunt and 3 grandparents.
In that time many great things happened as well. We bought our first home and renovated it thoroughly. Tommy also was promoted twice and we bought a new vehicle in hopes that it would safely carry around the baby we so greatly desired.
Months continued to pass and still no baby for us. We leaned on many friends and family members who gave us scriptures to read and words of encouragement. Tommy and I both went to doctors and were told we were normal. Infertility procedures can be rather invasive and embarrassing, but our family was worth every minute. We both watched as so many of our friends and co-workers welcomed their sweet little ones into their families.
In October 0f 2009, we got our military orders to report to a new duty station. We had requested 29 Palms, California so that we would be able to start more fertility treatments uninterrupted by deployments. Instead, we were given orders to Denver, Colorado. A reserve unit only 15 hours from our home in Texas. That was as close as we could get and we had many friends already here from the last time we were stationed in Colorado Springs. We were both elated to get those orders, but knew that moving and selling our house would be very stressful.
So Tommy took about a month of leave and I moved home to live with mom and dad while we waited for the house in North Carolina to sell. Little did we know, Texas and a teacup was all it would take! As I was unpacking my stuff in the room where I would stay for the next 6 months, I found my great grandmother's red berry bowls that were supposed to come to me and an ugly little green cup and saucer. I asked mom what it was and she jokingly told me it was the "fertility cup." It had been passed down to family members who wanted to get pregnant.
Well, I noticed I was falling asleep at 10:30 at night (absolutely crazy for me!) and I was a few days late... I was guarded but Tommy insisted I take a test. I told him I wanted to wait a few more days so we weren't wasting our money. I was probably just stressed from the move. So the morning I told him I would test, he held me to it and we could hardly believe our eyes. I made Tommy take me out to buy more tests!! Different kinds so we would know for sure! I think in total I took about 8 tests before my 6 week appointment, just to be sure!!
The rest is Randy Wayne!!
Our dealings with infertility were relatively short compared to so many that we know and love.
Here are a few links to some sites that were huge in giving us hope, encouragement and understanding.
http://www.resolve.org/ - National Infertility Association
http://www.tearsandhope.com/ - The Infertility Awareness Project. This has an amazing video to go with it.
I hope these few links give you as much help and understanding as they did me.
