Our Fertility Background

Hey! Welcome to Our Blog! Never blogged before so I am super new to this! Wanted to give everyone a brief (I will try real hard to keep it brief) background on our fertility journet thus far. Keith and I got married on April 14, 2007... what a journey it has been so far! I stopped taking birth control pills a few months after we got married (deep down I thought it was going to take a while) and nothing ever happened! Months after months of disappointment.... I finally convinced Keith that we needed to go see a fertility specialist and see what the problem was.... I was thinking due to my previous ovarian cancer when I was 16 and loss of left ovary that it was something to do with my ovary malfunctioning. We saw a RE (reproductive endocrinologist) at UAB. After the initial tests the sperm analysis showed only a handful of sperm....grrrr. So after stimulating Keiths pituitary gland to make more sperm with clomid the sperm counts went through the roof (not literally though haha) but the sperm had low motility so we needed to try IUI's (intrauterine insemenation). We were told by the doctor we would be pregnant by Christmas. We were so excited about the realistic possibility of being pregnant and having a baby! All 3 IUI's were a BFN (big fat negative) :(. I never in my life (even after dealing with cancer and the tragic death of my father) did I think I could cry so much. I was heartbroken, disappointed, and devastated. I was mad at God. How could He not bless us with a baby? We would be awesome parents! The doctor told us we needed to try IVF (in vitro fertilization) but it was so expensive and we didnt have the money for it. So, we went and got a second opinion with Dr. Honea at the ART program of Alabama. She really felt like IVF was our best bet but we explained we had no insurance coverage for any fertility treatments so we tried another IUI but with injectibles to induce ovulation and make more eggs (targets) for the little swimmers. It was also a BFN. Once again, grieved over something I wanted so bad but wasnt able to have. So, we met with Dr. Honea who wanted us to go the IVF route with ICSI (where they make the sperm and egg fertilize in a petri dish) cause she felt that was the treatment to the sperm issues we had. But we just couldnt fathom shelling out 18k or taking out a loan for it. After all, we had been paying out of pocket for everything fertility related thus far and had drained our savings. So she suggested that we try donor sperm IUI's for our first baby and IVF for our second. We didnt really care about the genetics, we just wanted a baby and I just wanted to experience pregnancy. So after the third IUI with DS (donor sperm) we finally got pregnant!!!!!! I had never been so happy in all my life when that phone rang and the nurse told me I was pregnant! Never did I ever think that miscarriage was an option. I would think to myself, "God would never bless us with a baby and then take it away, not after this long of trying so hard"..... But, God gives and takes away (Job 1:21). Our sweet baby never made it and I had to have a D&C. This was the hardest thing I have eve gone through emotionally. This is what shook our worlds! Heartbroken wasnt even the word I would use to describe how we felt. I never knew that infertility would change my spiritual walk so much. I have never trusted in Him so much, had so much faith that we would be pregnant, and then be so mad at Him in a short amount of time. It was and is a ROLLER COASTER. Keith doesnt like roller coasters to begin with so this fertility coaster is a ride we both wont off! After the miscarriage we wanted a baby even more than before! We tried again and again and again.... (3 more IUI's) and all were a BFN. Crushed again! We were gearing up to try one last time in January of this year and I went in and had a big cyst on my ovary so I couldnt start another cycle. They monitored the cyst via vaginal ultrasound (hate those) and it kept getting bigger so after seeing the RE and the Oncologist to make sure it wasnt another ovarian tumor (which it wasnt, Thank God!) they both came to the conclusion that my body was tired of all of the shots and it needed to rest and recover and that we needed to just bite the bullet and move to IVF. So here we are.....5 weeks out from beginning our first IVF cycle. yay!!!!! The Journey to IVF so far has been interesting! I have been working extra shifts at another hospital to help us get the money we need and we are having a huge yard sale this saturday which will hopefully push us over the top of our goal! We have had an abundance of blessings recently from family and friends wanting to donate stuff for us to sell and even some financial blessings! It has really felt like God is working and ordaining this! We cant wait to start this journey and share with you as we experience it and are asking for your prayers and believing with us that baby Wooten will be on the way very soon!
With Love,
Stacy and Keith