Footsteps for Fertility 5K

Dear Family and Friends,

Most of you probably are aware that Nathan and I have been trying to conceive, but may not be aware that this journey has been a three year struggle. We’ve waited, prayed, hoped, taken various medications, and have undergone surgery. We’ve been to two fertility doctors and just this year received a disheartening diagnosis. It would be an understatement to say that this journey has been difficult and disappointing.

This year we’ll be faced with a heart-wrenching decision to end our pursuit in conceiving naturally and begin looking at other options that might be available. Before we go down that path, we will be participating in the Footsteps for Fertility 5k.

It takes place September 25, 2015 at 6pm in Eisenhower Park. We have created a team (Team Nerd Herd ) during the registration process so that our friends and family can participate with us.

It would mean the world to us if everyone would join us that evening to walk or run for the baby we hold in our hearts. With every registration each person will receive one complimentary ticket that may be entered for us to possibly be awarded a fertility grant. The process of awarding the grant is by random selection, but regardless of the outcome having the support of our friends and family is the most important award we could ever receive.

If you are out of town, busy that night, or dislike walking/running for a 5k you can still support us by taking part in the “Sleep-in for Fertility” option. And even though you are not participating in the event you will still receive a registration packet which will include a ticket for the fertility grant.  

To support us all you need to do is go to http://footstepsforfertility.org/events and register for the event in Texas, our team name is Team Nerd Herd. If you have any questions please feel free to ask either Nathan or myself.

We love every single one of you and thank you for your prayers and love.

Much love,

Mal and Nathan

Mother's Day is coming up very quickly and I am sitting in another batch of emotions from another failed pregnancy attempt. 

Today I was thinking once again about how this might be my new reality. The reality where I never get pregnant and never get to experience everything I've dreamed of. The reality of where my friends will get pregnant and have babies and I'll have to be "happy" for them. The reality of those uncomfortable conversations that result in the "I'm pregnant and I didn't want you to find out from somewhere else.". The reality where all my sister-in-laws have had and are having the experience of providing grandchildren to the grandparents.  The reality of when family pictures are taken there are new babies every time except for mine. 

I don't like these realities. 

They just make me hurt inside. 

I want a happier reality.

Maybe someday I'll get a better reality, but until then these are the only realities in front of me. 

What I Grieve Every Day Because Of Infertility:

Seeing a positive pregnancy stick

Telling N that I'm pregnant

Hearing my baby's heart beat for the first time

Feeling N hold my hand while we look at our baby for the first time

Having a sonogram that showed us a tiny baby growing inside of me

Getting lots of sonogram pictures to post on the fridge and one in a frame for our wall

Finding out the sex of the baby

Sharing the news with all of our families

Picking out new names for the baby or using the ones we already have in mind

Having the cliche pregnancy announcement pictures taken. I always liked the one with the parent's shoes and then the tiny little shoes with the "coming soon" underneath.

Going baby shopping

Planning a nursery for the room upstairs

Dragging my pregnant body to baby showers

Feeling my baby move inside of me

Being annoyed that people feel it's okay to touch my pregnant belly without asking

People asking me about my pregnancy

Getting to talk about being pregnant

Capturing each month of my pregnancy in cute pictures

Deciding whether to breast feed or use formula

Holding my baby inside of my body for 9 months

Having N touch and talk to my big belly

Just being pregnant and all that it involves physically

Lack of sleep

Going to classes

Knowing that my family has all gathered together in the waiting room while I'm in labor

Labor

Holding my baby for the first time

Hope...

Hope invites you to a place at the table. It's precious, tender and gives you a sense of belonging. Hope fills your heart and mind with dreams and longings. Hope is sometimes synonymous with happiness. When you feel hopeful, you feel happy and vice versa. Hope is redemptive.

But...

Hope is also the very thing that makes your longings ache without comfort. It is fleeting and time sensitive...you never know when your hope will "dry up". Hope makes a fool out of our hearts. Hope lets in dark lies that whisper a sweet song in our ears. Hope is a dangerous thing.

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One week from now we'll see if all the medications I've been taking, the "special" injection, and the sonogram to check on my follicles have helped. Tomorrow I go in for another progesterone test and then a week after that I go in for a pregnancy blood test. That scares me.

I've never gotten used to seeing a negative on the pregnancy strip. And now for the first time I'll be waiting for someone to call me and tell me whether our dreams have come true or not.

I'm terrified.

I want to hope that this is it. With this phone call we can breath and dream and plan and cry some happy tears. I want this to happen so badly. I want the phone call to tell us that God has shown up for us in a huge, miraculous way.

One phone call can change our life.

What's going to happen?
Do I dare to hope that something good will finally happen?

Multiple Choice

When you ask me how I'm doing do you mean:

A) You are serious and actually want to know exactly how I am doing?
B)Asking because you want to see how good I should be doing?
C) Asking to be polite, but not really interested in the realness?

When you ask me if I've taken a pregnancy test because my period is late do you realize that:

A)   I'm now going to shut down emotionally.
B) I have taken more pregnancy tests then I would care to admit and taking one more and seeing a negative (again) is heartbreaking?
C) You make me feel stupid for sharing this personal thing with you.

When you ask me if I've considered adoption do you realize that:

A) You have asked an insensitive question?
B) You have completely dismissed my longing to give birth with my own body?
C) Yes, we have considered it and yes, we would like to adopt regardless of getting pregnant or not.

When you ask me "Are you feeling better yet?" do you realize that:

A) I did not stub my toe or catch a cold? I did not get pregnant once again.
B) That question makes me feel like you are rushing my grief to be over with?
C) You have dismissed almost 2 years of my grief and heartbreak in one question?

Do you realize that when I share something personal about my infertility experiences:

A) I do not want you to share it with others (no matter how small or big). This is my story to share.
B) There are no other options than (A).

Do you realize that when you flippantly say "Don't worry about it. You'll get pregnant.":

A) I want to shake you hard and slap the shit out of you?
B) This is so hurtful and inconsiderate to my pain?
C) You have no right to say this because it may never happen and all it does is shame me and my body.

If I don't reply to a well meaning message of support: 

A) It does not mean I don't appreciate it. Quite the opposite. It's just that some times I feel a loss of words and a simple thank you feels impersonal and distant. I apologize if I don't respond...sometimes I feel to defeated to offer anything back.

When you say "You're so lucky to not have kids." or "You have no idea how hard it is.":

A) My heart feels physically stripped bare and beaten.
B) I would love to feel how hard it is.
C) No, I am not lucky that my body cannot give me the one thing I want most.

When you talk about how birth control is to blame for infertility do you realize: 

A) How hurtful that is? I took it for almost five years. Are you saying that it's my fault I'm not pregnant? If so then you need to go have a talk with Jesus. Stop being insensitive and uninformed!
B) That by saying this you show that you have not done any research about infertility and are just saying things you have heard or read on the internet.
C) bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. bleep. bleep. bleep.


I know it's hard to understand, but:

A) Every day is painful and hard. There are few good/easy days.
B) I want to be a mother so much. There is no erasing that ache.
C) I need support and love. It's lonely in the ocean of infertility. Very lonely.
D) I rarely ask for help, but that doesn't mean I don't need it. I do. Desperately.

Grieving Infertility

It has been 20 months since we started trying to conceive and I'm scared as we continue through this year with very little hope and few answers. In September of last year, we got our first diagnoses of infertility. My heart felt like a knife had been plunged into it as that tiny box was checked by my doctor. In that moment I just wanted to shout "Stop! Stop and take a second because this is a huge, emotionally hard moment for me.", but my voice got caught in my throat.

I have spent every month hoping, praying, and grieving.

Hoping that this month will bring us good news. Hoping that my body will regulate itself and do what it's supposed to do. Hoping that I can plan my pregnancy announcements. Hoping to experience pregnancy and all that it contains.

Praying for more hope and peace. Praying to see a positive instead of what feels like a death sentence. Praying to see that God cares for my heart and desires. Praying so hard that my heart is screaming and aching. Praying that the infertility tests reveal something. Praying that we can figure out why we can't get pregnant.

Grieving every negative test. Grieving each loss. Grieving the ache in my heart. Grieving the delay of my dream. Grieving every time I see baby pictures on FB and Instagram and every where I look. Grieving the intense loneliness. Grieving all the emotions that wreck my body and mind.

In the past year and a half I've had countless blood work tests and ultrasounds. They found cysts on both of my ovaries, but my first doctor didn't diagnose me with polycystic ovaries. I had an HSG done last year and was told repeatedly throughout the process that I had a tiny cervix and it was causing great difficult to get the procedure done. After all that intense pain, they said everything looked good and I didn't have any blockage. Once again, there was that "Oh see! Everything is good!", but I didn't feel happy. I just saw that I still don't have any answers.  I had more lab work done to see how my hormone levels were doing and despite the fact that my progesterone levels were incredibly low, my doctor continued to say it was nothing to worry about and just to keep trying.

We had N tested also and everything seemed find with his little guys. I won't lie and say that I wasn't disappointed. There was a part of me, whether right or wrong, that hoped that it was an issue on his part and not on mine. I wouldn't blame him at all. It would be a simple issue at that point. But so far everything was pointing to me...and I felt shame and blamed myself...even though I knew I shouldn't.

The next appointment consisted of saying that maybe I had endometriosis, but we would have to do surgery to figure that out. The plan laid before me was simple: do the surgery, TTC for six months, then try artificial insemination, and if all that failed then my doctor would send me to a fertility specialist. I left feeling so discouraged...so hopeless. I sat in the car and wept. I hate going to doctors appointments alone and in that moment the loneliness was crushing.

It took several weeks of strong signs pointing me to a certain direction. The direction of what my heart and gut were screaming: "Jump ship! Be true to what YOU want." So I did exactly that. I cancelled my next appointment with my doctor, called and cancelled the surgery plans, and called up a fertility specialist. Three months later, everything my first doctor had ignored was carefully looked at by my new specialist and I was diagnosed with PCOS. I've been taking Clomid and another medication (which I'm stopping because my body feels horrible on it) to help my body ovulate and do what it's supposed to.

And now I must keep waiting. Wait to see if my body does what it's supposed to do... wait to see if my hormones regulate... wait to see if this time I'll get pregnant. I'm hanging on so little hope right now.

We're coming up on our 7 year anniversary and two months later I'll be 28 years old. I never thought this is what life would look like. I never thought deciding to have a baby would end up looking like this. It feels like a slow death to my heart.
 

I'm not really sure what else to say right now... There just seems to be a lot of grief in my heart lately. Whenever someone says "How are you?" I always smile and say "I'm doing good!", but what I don't say is "I'm sad. Really, really sad."

"As soon as you stop thinking about it, then it happens." 

I seriously hate this quote.

It's something people offer others in order to be "helpful". It's one of those annoying placating phrases that they say when they have nothing else to offer.

I've noticed that the only people who say it are those who already have what the other person is longing for or they can't even possibly understand because they don't have it. Regardless it's always said by someone who hasn't ever felt that ache. I have never heard someone who is in the tension and feeling the ache ever offer those words to another in their situation.

Wonder why?

Because those are shitty words that make a person feel shame because their ache is too deep to just "stop thinking" about it.

I wish I could just stop thinking about wanting to have baby. I wish I could stop thinking about the fact that I have been trying for almost a year to get pregnant without any success. I wish I could stop feeling this overwhelming sadness and ache. I wish I could stop thinking about how badly I want to be a mother. I wish I stop feeling the ache every time I see the babies in my family and my friend's babies. I wish I could stop.
According to that phrase then maybe I will become pregnant if I just stop thinking about trying to get pregnant. Wow. My mind is blown.

If only it were that easy.

If only people would stop and think, "What if I were in their position? How would my heart feel if those words were offered to me?"