We were married in 2009 and almost immediately thought about expanding our family. Just a few months later we began trying to get pregnant. After awhile of trying with no success we decided to see a doctor. Due to some lifelong "female struggles" our doctor decided that it would be a good idea to see a specialist.
Our first doctor discovered that Sarah suffered from a condition known as endometriosis. Endometriosis is a fairly common condition that many women deal with.
"Endometriosis is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus - the endometrium - grows outside your uterus....because this displaced tissue has no way to exit your body, it becomes trapped. Surrounding tissue can become irritated, eventually developing scar tissue and adhesions.....this process can cause pain - sometimes severe - especially during your period. Fertility problems also may develop." Source mayoclinic
Our first step to combat endometriosis was a surgical procedure immediately followed up with a strong hormonal treatment that lasted 7 months.
Unfortunately, we found that endometriosis was not the only factor preventing us from getting pregnant. The combination of endometriosis with some other problems caused infertility. We met with an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) specialist, and after 2 years of marriage and 2 years of trying to get pregnant, we were told that our chance of getting pregnant on our own was close to zero.
It took some time for us to come to terms with the fact that we couldn't start a family the old fashioned way. However, we were blessed to have an insurance company that offered some benefit for infertility treatment. We decided to take advantage of this blessing and started our first round of IVF.
If you personally know anyone that has done IVF then you understand how invasive and hard IVF is. There were lots of needles, lots of doctor visits, and a lot of tears shed. The process is long and emotional. I developed two blood clots during the IVF round which made me a high risk patient.
When we did the blood test to find out if we were pregnant we found out that I had an ectopic pregnancy
"with an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg implants somewhere outside the uterus. An ectopic pregnancy typically occurs in one of the tubes that carry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus...An ectopic pregnancy can't proceed normally" Source Mayoclinic
We had to do one of the hardest things and terminate the pregnancy. Four months later we got the OK from the doctor to try another round of IVF. This time around we found out that we were pregnant. We were thrilled and couldn't stop planning our future as a family of three!
A few weeks later we miscarried.
Although we've spent our fair share of time grieving our two losses, we've also spent many hours pondering the meaning of what was happening. Through deep emotional conversations with each other and our Heavnely Father we made the decision that adoption was something we wanted to pursue.
During the weeks after our miscarriage we felt a lot of hurt and pain. But we also felt a lot of reassurance and hope. We believe that we felt this reassurance and hope because deep down we know that there is a sweet baby waiting to join our family through another path, through the miracle of adoption.
