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e to The Daily Dose of Ella or what we like to say "Our Greatest Adventure." I never thought I would be a blogger and who knows I might stink at it! I am going to try though! With family and friends near and far, I figured this would be a great place to keep in touch!
I figured it was time to share our story and explain why we call Ella "Our Greatest Adventure." Yes, parenthood is adventure for everyone but our adventure started long before December 19, 2015.
I am starting with this post because I am feeling extremely LUCKY on this St. Paddy's Day.
I say "what a difference a year makes" because this time a year ago, we had just done our 4th unsuccessful round of IVF. And 1 year later we have Miss Ella! After the 4th round, we had to decide to try again or give up. I will say at this point I was ready to give up. But we decided to try 1 more time in April. So last St. Paddy's Day we partied it up and had a blast bar hoping with all our friends. It had been awhile since we had cut loose and had fun without the stress of IVF. It was much needed break! We just put it all behind us for the day and had a blast!
I feel like I am leaving out major pieces but I will post more details on another post. Today I am just cherishing how far we have come and how lucky we are. After we decided that we were going to try again, we said we were going to stop trying to control it (or maybe I was going to stop-because Collin was the strong one through the process) and just continue to live our life. So many times before we would say, "oh we can't do this because we might be pregnant." No more of that. So on that St. Paddy's Day last year we decide to plan a trip to Vegas with our friends in April. Then we put a deposit on another dog- the one known as "Lucky Stache."
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| Lucky "Stache |
We were just living our life. Side note...Stache was born April 1st and we had our best egg retrieval on April 3rd, so we felt he was our lucky charm! That's where the Lucky came from, but we couldn't explain that because not many people knew our situation.
So in April of last year we started our 5th round of IVF. It's hard to tell people you are going through a round, because then they want to know the results. And it's hard to have to tell them the news-it didn't work- as you are still processing it. Many prayers were said for us and many fingers were crossed. We did the transfer on April 8, 2015. My parents came to stay with me because Collin had to go out of town for work and I was suppose to take it easy. Let's say that week and a half was the hardest. You try not to think about it and try not to get your hopes up. This had failed 3 other times.
So on April 16th, the night before my scheduled blood test, I took a home pregnancy test. I wanted to be able to find out like everyone else. I wanted the surprise of seeing the + on the test. I took one early in the day and it came back negative. I was heartbroken and defeated. Note they advise you to NOT take a test before your scheduled blood work. I NEVER listened. This time I swore I wasn't, but I gave in. When Collin got home, I decided to take another one. (I had thrown the first one away by this point). To my surprise a + came up right away. It was very faint, but still there. I was in shock!!! I went and dug the first one out of the garbage and it was + too! Collin was on the phone so I waited until he got off to show him. I was still unsure-I didn't want to get my hopes up. It was a cheap off brand test, so we get in the car and run to CVS for a digital one. Sure enough it came back + (2-3 weeks)! We were in disbelief! I still didn't want to believe it before the blood work.
Collin was scheduled to go out of town the day of the blood work. So we went to get the blood work done, had lunch and then I dropped him off at the airport Now all I had to do was wait for the phone call! LONGEST wait EVER!! My nurse called me as I was waiting to go into acupuncture. Here's how the call went:
Nurse: Robyn, did you take a test last night?
Me: Yes, I broke down and did
Nurse: and what did it say?
Me: It came back +
Nurse: It's right YOU ARE PREGNANT!!
I honestly never thought we would hear those words. We had waited for 3 years to hear them. She wanted me to come back on Monday just to make sure my levels were rising. Again, I didn't want to get my hopes up, so we kept it to ourselves. So I had 2 days of waiting for another blood work at home alone!!! Again...long wait. I went back on Monday April, 20th for another blood test and sure enough We Were Pregnant! Looks like Christmas was going to be at our house!!
Ella's original due date was Christmas Day 12-25-2015. She was born almost 8 months to the day we found out we were pregnant! Bet we couldn't do that twice!!
So as this St. Paddy's Day comes to a close...I look at Ella and realize how extremely LUCKY and blessed we are! I hope she will always know how much she is loved and how many people prayed for her!
Here's a picture of our 2 Lucky Charms!
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| Ella & Stache 3-17-2016 |
Stay tuned for more on "Our Greatest Adventure"
