Because of Isaac

A blogging friend of mine (whom I have briefly met in person) has had a difficult road of infertility. Through that battle they have adopted, then found out they were pregnant. They now have two boys about 6 months apart, and are expecting a third!

Wendi has a heart for those still on the road of infertility and posted recently about that. If you are silently dealing with this issue, or have friends that are dealing with it, here is the post with a few resources.

Their heart is also for those that want to adopt children. Even though they are deployed to Turkey, they have started a non-profit support website for adoption. They are highlighting a family to help raise money for their adoption. They are prayerfully considered, and have to be adopting through Bethany. I have more details listed below.

Before I leave you with the explanation from Wendi about "Because of Isaac", I would like you to prayerfully consider donating to their cause. Here is a link to "Because of Isaac" and the link to Wendi's Blog.

From Wendi:

BECAUSE OF ISAAC

Only the announcement of the adoption/birth of our children have I been this excited to put up a post on my blog. I am so very excited tofinally get to share this with the world.

The goal of Because of Isaac is very simple: We want to help raise funds to help childless couples adopt. We are starting with a couple very near and dear to our heart: JB's older sister Elizabeth and her husband Grant. But it is our hope that if this first adoption goes as planned, we will be able to spread our wings and continue onward ... helping more and more childless couples hold their child for the very first time just as we did with our little Isaac.

But we need to your help!

In order for this organization to get off the ground, I am seeking the support and prayers of people close to us. Blog readers. Facebook friends. Family. Friends. Acquaintances. While we will be moving forward with advertisement of various means, the way that this will most be spread is by word-of-mouth. Or by word-of-web!

Please take some time to visit our website. And then I am asking you to do the following:

1. Pray for this organization and for Grant & Elizabeth.

2. Post a link to: Because of Isaac on your blog. Post it on Facebook. And send an email to those in your contact list.

3. Pledge to donate $100 BUT ...

4. ... if you cannot financially donate $100 would you pledge (to yourself) to FIND 10 people to donate $10 each? If we can find 250 people to donate $100 (or a combination there-of) we will reach our goal of $25,000 -- the estimated amount for Grant & Elizabeth to become parents. I have nearly that many people who read my blog each day.

I am so very excited to share this with all of you! How amazing will it be for each of us to know that we contributed to a family's creation! Please spread the word today!

This time 5 years ago....

Forgive me for going down memory lane...

Every year when it's getting close to my birthday, I remember so vividly five years ago at this time. It's heavy, it's on my heart, it's happy, it's emotional.

Only close friends, family (and friends that have now asked) know that we struggled for about 6 years with infertility. Fast forward to today and we now have three beautiful 4 1/2 year old boys. I am VERY blessed.

August 2005. 2nd round of IVF. I have never been pregnant. We drive 3 hours back to our first home in Springfield, MO. We don't know what to think.

Labor Day, 2005. We find out we are pregnant for the FIRST TIME EVER. We are so excited. I had never had a positive pregnancy test in my life. The next day I went my local OB for blood tests, and to wait another day to see if my beta count starts to go up.

It did! Excitement. Nervousness.

September 22, 2005. My birthday. I am now 26 years old, the same age my mother was when she had her first child. Dan purchased me my first maternity outfit and a body pillow. He did not buy it on sale, because he knew I would not buy it for myself. I loved it.

We head to Springfield Brewing Company for my birthday dinner. We sat and ate. I love their fried pickles :) We talked about the future, what it will be like on Monday, in 4 days, when we are supposed to go back to our KC doctor for the first ultrasound. Will we see a heartbeat? It's still early. Since we are heading to a movie, I stop at the restroom before we leave.

My heart stops. I'm spotting. My stomach sinks. Of COURSE this would happen - I mean it was too good to be true. Right? I rush out and make Dan take me to the hospital. He doesn't understand why, since there isn't anything they can do. I still want to go.

As we are driving back up National towards St. Johns Hospital, I remember seeing a park full of people dressed in medieval garb and sword fighting. I later wondered if I really did see it. A few months after that, I found out that I did not dream it up. In fact, there is a medieval group in Springfield.

In the ER, I waited. And waited. They called me in and checked me out. No more blood and my cervix is closed. Either I had already miscarried or I was spotting old blood. I was released on orders to see my OB in the morning for an ultrasound.

I got home and there was a present out front for me from my good friend, Julie. It was a baby blanket and rattle, with a card saying it is for "he, she, or them". I cried and called her. I told her she needs to take it back, and she prayed with me and said that I need to keep it.

The next morning was solemn. We went in for the ultrasound. The tech must not have known why we were there because she just blurts out "there is Baby A's heartbeat, Baby B's heartbeat, and Baby C's heartbeat. Looks good. Go back out in the waiting room and wait to see the Dr."

Umm. WHAT? Lord, we prayed for A heartbeat. WHAT DID SHE SAY?

Excitement. Relief. Overwhelmed. Happy. Disbelief. Overjoyed. Tired. Confused. Crying. Smiling.

6 months after that....

Baby B - Dalton at 2 days old

Baby A - Easton at 16 days old

Baby C - Quinton at 16 days old

I share this with a heavy and happy heart. I think it's because of the infertility struggle. Any happy milestones come with reminders of the sadness and heartache you had before you got to the happy times. I think others that have walked through this road would agree. I hesitated to post this, because someone might think I am being pessimistic or ungrateful.

Untrue.

If you know me, you know I love my kids and am very happy with them! I just lived the infertility for so long, that it is apart of who I am. My heart hurts for others that are going through the same thing. I actually never talked about it while going through it. I never talked about it afterwards. I never wanted to be public about it. However, my situation of having triplets has MADE me talk about it. Now I realize that God has allowed me to become more comfortable talking about it. If I can share how painful it was, maybe it might help someone else realize they are not alone?

I'm sorry if this story is choppy, or not well written. It's a hard subject for me to discuss and I'm just writing it out as it's in my heart.

Infertility has a face - my review of "The View"

The other day I happened to see a commercial for "The View" scheduled to air yesterday morning. It was said to be an entire episode about dealing with infertility. Needless to say, I set it to record on my DVR. While folding laundry last night, I watched the episode.

Now I know everyone has their own opinions on the panel and outspoken nature of one or more of the ladies on there, I won't get into that on here (even though I do have my own opinions of who I like to listen to and who I like to avoid!).

It certainly brought back some memories and terminology that I have not used in a few years! I applaud them for bringing the discussion out, and devoting an entire episode to it. That alone should show you how much of America deals with some form of this issue. We tend to hide out in the dark feeling so lonely dealing with the super sensitive issue.

Then they brought out a celebrity couple Bill and Giuliana Rancic to discuss their public infertility struggles. I think the most profound statement Giuliana made was about celebrity couples that conceive in their late 30's, 40's have twins, etc make it seem so easy. That they can focus on their career for their 20's and 30's, then have kids and have it all. However, what is not discussed is the fact that by the age of 30, 97% of your eggs are gone. And most of these celebrities have also gone through fertility treatments, had egg donors and surrogates. The public does not know this, but will model their careers and successes after some of these celebrities.

After that they brought out other "regular" people and interviewed them about their struggles. Honestly, I was bored when I got to one lady, so I stopped watching at that point. While I don't feel all was said about the struggles and heart ache of infertility, I am glad they showed what they did and put a face to the issue. I just don't think that all could be discussed and understood by the general public in an hour episode. I don't think the pain and struggles could be shown in an hour episode. However, I do feel this showed the tip of the iceberg and will encourage folks to start discussing it with their doctor.

I would count this as a successful episode if only one person would feel comforted, not alone, and willing to discuss their issues with their doctor! I even applaud them more by putting more in depth resources on their website. This episode has a thumbs up from me, good job "The View"!

Click here for a link to the episode if you want to watch it on Hulu.

Click here for a link to someone that has blogged about their personal struggles of dealing with infertility for years.