New Life

Last night my brother and his wife welcomed their first baby - a girl! Piper Della, 8 pounds 11 ounces, 20.5 inches. Isn't that a cute name?

There is nothing like the moment of welcoming your first-born into the world. The moment you first become parents. The moment your dreams finally come true. The moment you realize you thought you knew what love-that-hurts was, but you were clearly so wrong.

It was particularly sweet for my brother and his wife, as their dream to be parents had led them down a long road of fertility treatments. I happened to be on the phone with my Dad, who was in the hospital waiting room, when the announcement came, "it's a girl!". There were squeals, then overwhelming emotion as everyone realized this moment, the moment we have all waited and prayed for, was finally here.

I am reminded of my own struggles with infertility. A few months into our marriage we started "trying". After a year, nothing happened, so we got prayed for. Another year went by, we moved out of state, and still nothing. We flew back, got prayed for again, and two weeks later I was pregnant!

At the time we weren't diagnosed with any real fertility issues. We just figured it hadn't been God's timing. So once I gave birth to Emma I had figured I was "cured".

When we were ready to have a second child we thought it would be easy to get pregnant. We were a bit surprised that nothing happened at first. We got pregnant after seven months, which seemed like it took forever, but in reality wasn't too bad. At our 9-week check up we were devastated to find out that our baby wasn't going to make it. At 10-weeks I miscarried.

Fast-forward through Isaiah's adoption, and we were again ready to try and get pregnant (keep in mind we hadn't been "preventing" it at all). This time we started with meetings with my Doctor about fertility. We decided to start with ultrasounds to see if I was ovulating correctly. It turns out we discovered a large cyst on one of my ovaries. The cyst was removed, and during surgery the Doctor discovered I had endometriosis, which he was able to temporarily "clean up".

After surgery my body was ready to work properly, and within three months we were pregnant with Noah.

Children are such a blessing, and I am reminded not to take any of it for granted. My personal struggles have added to the finger print of my life, and have given me such a compassion for others suffering with infertility or miscarriages. Last weekend was the annual prayer service at our old church, and once again I had friends there crying out to God for their dreams to come true.

If you are struggling with infertility, I would be honored to pray for you. God WILL provide!