One year ago today we shared our story of our infertility journey. One year ago we started our third and final round of IUI's. One year ago we were in completely different place in our minds and in our lives. If you are not familiar with our story i will post a link for you to check out.
Starting our third round we were hopeful but not overly hopeful due to the fact that we had been let down twice already. After starting everything over again.. the medicines.. the schedules.. the shots. Everything. Two weeks came and went and again the pregnancy test was negative. We were CRUSHED. What do we do now? Are we ever going to be parents? I didn't know how much more we could handle. We had to stay on track.. we called the doctor set up or next appointment, eager to see what to do next. We showed up to our appointment but this time was different. Instead of doing blood work and all of our normal routines to start the next cycle, we had to have a sit down meeting with Dr Storment. After looking over all of the results from the past three months and three failed IUI's , Dr Storment was not looking hopeful at all. Finally he looked up and started telling us that they are not sure why it is not successful however with three failed rounds the odds are not good.. and that's when he told us a phrase we never wanted to hear.. " you only have a 7% chance of conceiving naturally and i believe IVF will be your only option to ever have baby." My heart dropped. I felt numb. Patrick had stayed so strong for us the entire time but that broke him. We both were in a rough place and decided that we would go home and talk about our options. After getting the price of how much IVF would cost us ($23,000 to be exact).. we decided we would take a break and enjoy an upcoming vacation we were going on in two months. We asked our families for all the prayers we could get. We stayed pretty quiet about the results we had just received. All we knew was that the idea of us ever becoming parents had come to a halt.
We went about our days trying to stay positive and enjoy life. We had our bad days where we just fell apart but that was to be expected. For the first time in a long time we had no plan. We were just there. Everything just kept happening around us and we had to stay strong. Every day we would brain storm ideas on how we could afford to try IVF but everything came back to the same answer... we couldn't. It was not an option for now.
Then something changed.. i was a week late for my cycle and was feeling a little different. Having just stopped all medications I had been on and this being my first period that wasn't forced.. i thought it was just because my body was trying to readjust. Patrick kept insisting i should take a pregnancy test but i couldn't bring myself to take it because i did not want to get my hopes up. Finally, i decided to take a test just so i could prove to Patrick that it was just my body readjusting. I went to the bathroom and didn't tell him i was testing because I just needed to see the negative first. After waiting the 3 minutes the result appeared.... PREGNANT. I could not believe what i was seeing. I ran out of the bathroom screaming patricks name ,because i wasn't sure where he was in the house, and once i finally found him i just screamed "IT WORKED, WE DID IT." We couldn't help but laugh, scream, cry, and just hold each other!! September 25, 2018.. our world changed.
We couldn't wait to tell everyone that had been praying for us the news.. but we decided to start with our parents. Originally, we always said that we would wait until a doctors appointment to confirm everything but we couldn't wait. We made up an excuse to go visit both of our parents without them being suspicious. We decided to prepare a little box that contained a pacifier and a poem to announce that "Baby B" ,as we called the baby, was on the way. We started at my parents house and then made our way to Patricks parents house.. they were all so excited!!
We went about our lives like nothing was going on... it was the hardest secret to keep but we wanted to be sure it was real before telling anybody else. Finally we went to see Dr Uzma Porche on October 1, 2018. They started by making me give a urine sample and the next thing i know Dr Porche was coming in talking about everything to expect while pregnant. As soon as she saw it was us she ran and gave me a hug congratulating us!! I was still in disbelief.. i asked her "wait so its real?" and her response was "yesss you are pregnant! WANT AN ULTRASOUND?!". She was so excited for us that she gave us an ultrasound right on the spot and sure enough their was a baby in there!! It showed i was 5 weeks 5 days. I was in disbelief. Now i could start telling close friends and get to share the excitement!! I started off by telling my coworkers.. they were all thrilled! They knew how hard we had been working to try and have a baby! I slowly started telling some of my close friends and they just couldn't believe it. After everything... we ended up getting pregnant naturally. Dr Porche and us believe that the 3 months straight of a timed cycle and medicines is what finally got everything on track to get pregnant. We still could not believe it.
Every second I was terrified I was going to miscarry.. I knew with endometriosis its hard to get pregnant but it doesn't tend to cause a miscarriage. But i was still on edge. I stayed very sick in the beginning. I could barely hold anything down. If i ate too much I would throw up or if I ate too little I would throw up.. it was a lose lose situation. I didn't care if I stayed sick because the way I saw it was if I was still having pregnancy symptoms that meant I was still pregnant. Weeks went by and then it was time for our next appointment. Dr Porche schedules an appointment with you every four weeks to be sure everything is going smoothly. At every appointment we would get an ultrasound so we were able to see the baby. We went back when I was 8 weeks along. We got to heartbeat for the first time and it was so fast!!! We couldn't stop smiling!! The baby had gotten much bigger since the first time we saw it and I just knew everything was going to be okay!! I was able to relax a bit and enjoy the excitement. We went on our family vacation to Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl. I wasn't able to ride the rides but I was still so excited to see Harry Potter World. We took our first family photo in front of the Hogwarts castle... we had to keep it hidden for a while but it was so much fun to celebrate the baby in a public setting!!
Once we got back home we anxiously awaited the next doctors appointment!! The day came and I was officially at the 12 week mark.. the last week of the first trimester!! We arrived at the appointment on November 15, 2018 and I was a nervous wreck!! I kept having a feeling that there would be no heartbeat and I was terrified. We went into the ultrasound room and they put the baby on the screen and the next thing we heard was the sweetest sound of the heartbeat! I was so relieved and Dr Porche told me you are officially out of the worry zone and you can now tell people if you are ready!! I was so excited as soon as we left I was ready to tell the world!! We were lucky and already had our announcement pictures taken by the amazing Carolina Precht Photography !! As soon as I got in my car I posted to Facebook to announce!! Everyone was so excited and supportive.. we had shared our journey with everyone so I had tons of people messaging telling me that we gave them hope. That felt amazing. I did not realize how many people our story had impacted so I was overjoyed to finally share it!! Our future concert buddy was arriving in May 2019!
Since we finally announced.. now it was the anticipation to find out what we were having!!! I originally thought girl but Patrick was so dead set that it was a boy that he even started convincing me that it was a boy haha. So by this point we had no clue what it was!! Patrick and I decided we wanted to have a gender reveal party with family since so many people were asking us to do one. We were nervous that on the day of our ultrasound (which was the same day as the reveal) that the baby wouldn't show what it was, so we decided to go to A Moment in Time to see the gender a week before our reveal. Patrick and I went alone after we got off of work and we were ready to find out if we were having a little boy or a little girl!! The baby kept turning its back to us and did not want us to see the gender.. finally after what seemed like forever the gender was revealed. We kept the secret of what the baby was for week!! That was a long week! Finally it was the day of the reveal.. we decided to go to Casa Manana and had a cake made by Maria's Happy Treats !! Surrounded by family we were ready to cut the cake after everyone ate their dinner. Once the cake was cut everyone was screaming "ITS A GIRL!!!!" Everyone that was there was wearing blue because most people thought it was a boy.. they were all dead set on it! Hailey Grace Brown was going to be making her appearance come May!! ♥
Weeks were going by and I was starting to finally show more and more.. We were getting so excited!! 20 weeks was approaching and we were ready to get to that half way point!! Once we finally got there we decided to start getting her room ready!! We put up her crib and changing table.. started getting her clothes we were given in order! More weeks were passing and we were getting closer and closer. We scheduled our maternity pictures with the incredible MadHart Productions !! We had the best time taking them just in time for the baby shower put on by Haileys amazing nanny Randi, family, and friends!!
The week of the shower on April 17th we went back to the doctor for a normal check up that turned into an anatomy scan. They noticed that Hailey was a little smaller than she should be at this point. At 34 weeks a normal baby should be in the 50th percentile and Hailey was measuring in the 14th percentile. They told me we would need to come back in two weeks when I would be 36 weeks and measure her again and if for some reason she would be even lower on the chart they were going to deliver me. They weren't extremely concerned yet because they said she could just be a small baby but they just wanted to be sure. Due to the fact there was a possibility she could be coming early.. Patrick and I started to get everything ready. We finished her nursery, got the bags packed, car seats in the car, got the owlet monitor set up, and finished purchasing last minute items we hadnt gotten yet. We also went and bought premie clothes just in case she wouldn't fit in anything we had for her.
On May 1st we had our follow up appointment to check Haileys growth and make sure she was still on track. Once we got there they noticed she was only weighing in at 4lbs 14 oz and had dropped down to the 6th percentile. Dr Porche wanted us to come back in a week to figure out the game plan. Due to how small I was when I was born they were thinking that she could just be small like me but they wanted to be certain. She said if it wasn't for how small I was they would send us to the hospital immediately but they decided to give her one more week to grow. We were sent to the hospital to pre register so that way if they would need to send us in we would be ready to go. Our heads were spinning because we didn't know if there was something wrong with her or what was going to happen. All we did know was that even if she did grow they were still going to deliver her before the 15th to be safe. On the bright side they let us see her face in a 4D ultrasound so we got to get a glimpse of what she would look like.
May 8th came and we had the most important appointment at 7:30 am. We were up bright and early. We arrived at the office and went straight into the ultrasound once more. They were showing her weight to now be 5lbs 9oz which we thought was great!! However, then they said that she was still under the 10th percentile. Dr Porche came into the office and said that she was going to need us to come back to the hospital at 3:00 pm and we were going to start everything for an induction. Our baby was coming into this world but not in the way we had imagined. We were scared, excited, nervous, but most of all happy!! Either that night or the next day we would be meeting Hailey... we would finally be getting what we've wanted for the past three years.. our baby. ♥
