Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Ending Nation Infertility Awareness Week


The blog you guys have all been waiting for :) But before I can give you the story, there is some important background info you need.

BACK STORY: Near the end of last year, Nic and I were discussing our plans for the new year.  We wanted to get out of debt, I wanted to grow my massage therapy business, and a couple of other things.  But the most important thing we wanted for the new year was to grow our family.  We wanted to pinch our pennies and save for an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment.  We were very excited about the new year!  Then 2012 arrived in all of it's glory and we soon realized that we the things we wanted for the new year were no longer in our reach.  Nic got a HUGE pay cut at the beginning of the year and after much prayer (and FAITH) we felt it was best for him to quit his job (he had worked for this company for 8 1/2 years) and start his own lab.  I struggled with this decision.  I knew that if Nic quit his job it would make it more difficult for us to get out of debt and to put money away for IVF.  But this is where I made the decision to change the way I prayed.

I prayed telling Heavenly Father that I KNEW He would provide us with the way to grow our family.  That I KNEW He would allow us to have the desire of our hearts and bring a brother or sister (or both!) into this world for our sweet Gabriella.  I told Him that I KNEW He would take care of our family and would not abandon us in our hour of need.  A lot of this prayer was filled with tears, but in my heart I KNEW the words to be true.  I KNEW that through my faith that Heavenly Father would bless our family.

For awhile I had stopped using this language in my prayers and put aside the thoughts of growing our family; though my heart ached for more children I became content with the thought that Gabriella would be our only child.   It was hard.  I wanted her to have a brother or sister.  I wanted to hear them giggling and sharing secrets with each other.  I wanted to see them running and playing in the yard.  I wanted her to have all those wonderful memories that I have of doing things with my brothers.  I decided to pray for more children.

On Sunday, April 22nd (the beginning of NIAW) I, again, prayed to Heavenly Father telling Him that I KNEW He would bless our lives with children and that through our faith He would provide us with a way to bring more sweet spirits into our home.  Through my tears I felt peace.  Later on that afternoon one of my friends posted this as her FB status: ****It's National Infertility Awareness Week. If you are local, and going through this trial, head over to the Idaho Center for Reproductive Medicine (next to the Ronald McDonald House) Thursday at the 6 pm for their open house/seminar. Drawings for 50% off IVF, Free consults and more******* When I saw this posting, my heart about jumped out of my chest. I immediately told her thank you for posting this.  She told me that she felt she needed to post this for all of her friends out there. True, I had hoped we would win, but I more so took this information as a sign that we needed to continue with our desire to grow our family.  I told Nic about it (the grand prize giveaway) and without hesitation he said: "Awesome!  Let's make sure we're there."

Well, fast-forward to Wednesday.  I get a call from the spa that I work at asking me if I would be okay working a late shift (until 7:30), without even thinking I say yes.  I don't realize my mistake until Nic comes home later that evening.  I tell him that I won't be able to go and since I don't want Gabriella with a sitter for an extended period of time (there was a 2 hour block where our schedules over-lapped and Gabriella had to be with a sitter) he either has to take her with him or not go at all.  Out of frustration I tell him to just not go at all.

Thursday morning on my drive to work I call Nic and tell him to go to the meeting and to take Gabriella with him and I would call him when I'm done with my appointments.  I go to the spa and wait for my client. As I'm there I'm telling the girls that Nic and I are wanting to grow our family and we're taking the first step by going to ICRM for NIAW.  It was nice to discuss infertility with them.  I tell them about the "grand prize" and they tell me that they hope Nic wins (love those girls).  At 5:40 pm my clients were a no show.  I call Nic to see where is he at (down the street from ICRM) and have him come pick me up.  We show up late to the meeting but are greeted by the friendly staff.  They tell us before we enter the room we need to enter the drawing and only one entry per family.  I was nervous as I was filling out the entry form, though I'm not sure why.  I mean, I really didn't think I would win. I guess I was just nervous about the the IF.  We sat through the presentation and relearned some things.  I also became frustrated because with my previous OB-GYN because it took her THREE years to refer us to ICRM, she should have done it after a year if not sooner (Infertility is defined as 1 year trying to conceive without any success, but since we already knew Nic's "factory" wasn't working properly we should have gotten a referral sooner.  All is well).  At the end of the informational meeting it was time for the drawing.  They were raffling a new client consultation, 2 ultrasounds (two separate ultrasounds), 2 cookie boutiques and the grand prize-50% off and IVF treatment.

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.  Swimming, swimming, swimming!"


Every time Dr. Slater pulled her hand out of the jar I sat waiting to hear my name.  I kept telling myself  "I'd be okay with a new client consultation or with the ultra sounds" the cookie boutiques not so much. . .haha.  And then the moment.  The grand prize.  Nic and I, along with everyone else in the room, held our breath. "And the grand prize goes to. . . Elaine Ward." I sat there.  Perfectly still.  In shock.  I couldn't believe it.  I could tell they were looking for their "excited" winner so I slowly raised my hand, much like a kid in school fessing up to something they did wrong.  They congratulated me and I just sat there.  There was some more info shared and as I sat there processing everything that just happened, I began to cry.  Heavenly Father had heard my prayers.



After the meeting the office manager came up to me and asked if we were returning patients (since we had Gabriella with us) and we told her that we had met with Dr. Foulk four years ago, but we were blessed by adoption with our beautiful girl. I told her how our friends (who, when my name was called exclaimed "yes!" and clapped their hands-though, I didn't hear them) who felt they needed to share the info and here we are. The office manager told us it was meant to be.  When I shared the news with the girls at the spa the next day they said the same thing too.

We are hoping to meet with Dr. Slater in a couple of weeks and that meeting will give us a better outline as to how much more money we need and when we can do the procedure.  I've made a guesstimate as to the amount that we will need ($6,000-yikes!).  Our tentative plan is to do the procedure in October.  

We know we still have a few thousand dollars to go before we are able to begin the procedure, but we know that the Lord will continue to guide us.  We will be holding garage sales, making and selling items, Nic is looking for another job (in addition to running his own lab), I will be taking on more clients, and we will be taking donations. . .haha. I'm serious though.  Send us your money ;)

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