Infertility Journey

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to have children. The only consistent thing I wanted to be throughout my childhood was a mother. The career I wanted to embark upon changed more than my underwear. I never cared for school and when I got to college that became more apparent. I hated school and I still hate studying subjects that don't interest me. Russ and I met in the summer of 2002 and started dating in August. We became exclusive in September and married 2 years later. Russ wanted to wait a while before having children, but I didn't. I finally brought him over to the dark side in May of 2009 thus beginning a hard and tedious journey. When we didn't get pregnant that first year, I was disappointed, but I never thought about going to a specialist about it. Then Russ decided to become a preacher and we started concentrating on raising support for preaching school and eventually moved to Missouri. Russ started preaching school in 2006 and I started looking for a job. During this time, we actively tried to get pregnant with no luck. I started spiraling into depression and gained a lot of weight. I was moody and irritable. My depression got the best of me. I was bitter and resentful and then my weight peaked around 230 pounds. One day I realized that I needed to see a specialist. In order to do that, I wanted to be healthy and decided to lose weight. I also needed to get a job in order to save the money to pay for treatments. Finally, in July 2007 I landed a great job and we were able to start saving more money. I also started getting healthy by eating right and exercising. In February of 2008 Russ and I went to see a specialist. We found out that Russ was not the problem. I was diagnosed with anovulation and started on a clomid regimen. I did clomid treatments for 4 months all the while still losing weight. In July of 2008, I hit my weight goal. I had lost 70 pounds and more ready than ever to become a mother. Also, in July my doctor and I decided to try a clomid/IUI (intra-uterine insemination) regimen. The day I hit my goal weight was the day of my IUI...and also the day I finally got pregnant. Chloe Jo was born on April 10, 2009. At this time, Russ and I have decided not to seek any more fertility treatments. We are beyond thrilled with our little girl and are happy with our small family. Although, that is not to say that I don't dream about having a "surprise" baby one day or revisiting the idea of treatments. We are just taking one day at a time and leaving our options open.