Me? Pregnant? No, that's not possible. Not after 4 IVF attempts, countless IUIs, tens of thousands of dollars and several doctors from here to Georgia always with the same answer: "We don't know why it's not working." Well, now I do.
Miracles are often dismissed as chance, coincidence, or offered some other "reasonable" explanation. I'm not sure why some people don't believe in miracles. I believe in miracles. Why? Because both of my daughters are true miracles. Don't misunderstand, I believe that every child is a miracle, that giving life is indeed a miracle. My girls are just a little more miraculous than that.
Ed and I waited a long time for children. We tried a litany of things that both Western and Eastern medicine had to offer. Add to that list both looking into the state Foster-to-Adopt option and registering with private adoption agencies. Finally, on a trip down to Utah for LDS General Conference, we "met" with Denise from Heart and Soul Adoptions. When I say "met," I mean we called the office to find it closed, left a message, received a return call ten minutes later and found out that Denise happened to be grocery shopping at the Smith's down at the other end of the mini-mall where we had stopped for lunch. Coincidence, right? Hmmmm...
Less than 30 days from that meeting with Denise, she called to tell us of a possible match with Birth Mother from Missouri. Our application wasn't even totally complete at this point, but still we got the opportunity to talk with this amazing Birth Mother and later found she had selected us to be adoptive parents. Long story short, through a series of miracles (not coincidences, not chance), we have our miraculous Samantha Grace!
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| Samantha - Jan 28, 2015 Her "princess pose" |
Fast-forward two and a half years to me and Ed and our decision to begin the adoption process again. Yep, you guessed it, cue me getting sick, taking THREE at-home pregnancy tests all returning positive results (I was just sure I was taking the tests wrong and they couldn't possibly be accurate), and finally having the pregnancy confirmed at the doctor's office.
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| Isabel - Jan 28, 2015 (It's my birthday today!) |
I was crying when I first saw her, just a few weeks along and there she was. I had visual proof that she existed. How could this possibly be? The doctor who had literally written the book on IVF couldn't return a positive pregnancy result for us, but here she was, clear as day (well, clear as a sonogram at least). In the weeks and months following that first visit, there was a lot of uncertainty, nervousness, prayer, disbelief, and finally on January 28, 2014, a retrospective understanding and a different kind of peace. Pregnancy before Isabel couldn't work. That miracle needed to wait until Samantha was a part of our family first.
Do you believe in miracles? Yes I do! I'm looking at two of them right now.
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| Aren't they beautiful? |
