"Let's start from the very beginning..a very good place to start"-
Sound of Music Sooo I figured I needed to get a movie quote and/or singing out of the way in the first sentence because that happens more often then I'd like to admit.
Reason for the blog: I wanted to share my journey with other people. The 'i' word... yes, infertility is still kind of a taboo topic today which really bothers me. I hated that I felt ashamed or embarrassed about a medical condition that we couldn't help. We even talked about keeping it a secret and not telling anyone. It seems silly now looking back. Who's the "we" I speak of? Brett - the hubs. Oh and by the way, I am one of those people who abbreviates abbreves words so I apologize in advance.
Anyway, Our Story: Brett and I met in college, started dating right when we both started teaching in 2009 (me-Elementary, him-High School), got engaged in 6 months, and married 7 months after that in November of 2010. We moved fast and we were both okay with that. We knew we wanted a baby right after our honeymoon ship docked from the Bahamas, but obviously God had another plan for us and surprise, surprise, we were not in control! :)
We tried for almost 2 years then finally we decided it was time to take the next step. We started seeing our fertility specialist (Dr. Kutteh, of Fertility Associates of the Memphis) in 2012. We spent most of that year getting poked and prodded and tested. In this process we found out we both had several things working against us- a thyroid problem and ovarian cyst for me and low motility for Brett. In October 2013, I had surgery to remove the cyst and they found out it was actually in my fallopian tube. So pretty much the whole year we were going up and down, it was an emotional roller coaster. One test would give us hope, and the next would be extremely disappointing. It was draining and sad and needless to say, I was kind of glad to see 2013 go. We went to see Dr. Kutteh at the end of last year for our "game plan" meeting and brought my parents and Brett's mom with us. We talked with him for 2 hours (#sorryI'mnotsorry), and got our timeline together for "Baby BooHeini". That's our celebri-baby in case you were wondering. It's a combo of Bousson (maiden name_ and Heinrich (married name). Cute Huh?
We knew we needed time to save up the money to go through with the procedure. It was a lot of money for any young married couple, well any couple for that matter. That's where the other stress factor comes in. It seemed impossible to raise the money in a few months, but God showed us nothing is impossible with Him. We've gotten to see that time and time again throughout this whole journey.
Our troops stepped up immediately. They helped us raise the money by throwing us a crawfish boil, a spaghetti dinner, and helped us with a yard sale. We had so many people praying for us and supporting us financially, it was hard to believe. It's hard to even find the words to say "Thank You" to people who are helping you get something you want so much! We've raised the money and are SO excited to get this IVF process started. Thankfully, Brett and I have been able to lean on each other, our incredible family, and our amazing friends...who may be the only people reading this haha. I've gone back and forth about sharing this experience because it is so personal, but I feel like it has become an important part of who we are, and I am proud of that. Stay tuned for the next post: "Meds are heya!" :)
Some of my girls and me at the spaghetti dinner @ Pete and Sam's.
(Here's all the pics from the Spaghetti dinner on my sister's blog: http://lukeamandacantrell.blogspot.com/)