We're Having a Baby!

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I feel like shouting that from the top of the highest mountain.

We're having a baby!

This has been a long and difficult journey for my husband and I. When I married at 24, I had it all planned out. Spend 4 years getting used to being husband and wife and build or home. At 28 try for our first child, and then at 30 try for the next. I wanted a boy and girl. It sounded easy enough. Well at 28 I had my first of 4 miscarriages over the course of 10 years. 

Not only did I have the heartbreak of miscarrying, I also have a rare condition while pregnant called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Less than 2% of woman are burdened with this condition. Why I get to belong to this exclusive club, I don't know! The only way to describe it, is it's like having food poisoning 24/7. At 6 weeks I could not keep any food or liquids down and was vomiting 7 times a day. At my worst I was vomiting every 30 minutes. I lost 20 lbs, was hospitalized over a month and went without eating anything for a month straight. I couldn't work. I had no energy. It was basically hell.

After my 4th miscarriage last year, we decided that we needed to seek the help of fertility specialist if we were ever going to make our family a reality. Because of my Hyperemesis and how sick I get when I'm pregnant we decided to try IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) and selected to have the embryos genetically tested for any chromosome abnormalities. We felt that this was our best option for guaranteeing a healthy embryo be planted in my uterus. Out of the 9 eggs they retrieved, I had one normal egg. ONE. The other 8 were no good. I was so thankful for that one perfect little embryo. But even with all the extra steps we took, I still worried about miscarrying. For those first 12 weeks I was optimistic yet cautious. And at 6 weeks my Hyperemesis hit. However this time we tried something new. My doctor had me start Corticosteroids to control the vomiting and anti-nausea meds (Zofran) for the nausea. And it worked! It has been like a miracle drug. For the first time I am able to function. It's been a real blessing, almost a miracle.

My husband and I are ecstatic that after 15 years of marriage we are finally going to have our own family unit other than our two very spoiled dogs. And I get to decorate the baby's room! A new project!

Thank you for letting me share our good news with you.


 xoxo,
Jenny

P.S. It's a girl (they can tell you that with genetic testing, pretty amazing!) and I'm due 1/2/12.