OUR BABY STORY
Brianna Lynn Farina
Due Date: February 10th, 2005
Infertility is very physically and emotionally draining. It's very easy to let yourself turn against your spouse, and hate everyone else that's pregnant. We tried for seven years to get pregnant - off and on of course. We saw several Dr's and all were negative at the notion of conceiving. We were lucky and found a Dr that didn't care that we only had less than a 10% chance conceiving using the IUI process. We did 5 months of pills and shots trying to conceive naturally before we met this Dr (not counting the years before we tried to conceive). I will spare the details of the pain I experienced and other complications, let's just say it was a living hell some days, but I knew somewhere along the line it would pay off.
The Dr wanted to try the IUI procedure. The first IUI procedure failed miserably. We all decided to do it one more time. It would be the 8th month in a row doing the treatments. My body was getting tired. I didn't want to stop, but we've done everything we could emotionally and financially. So we went ahead for one more try. We all assumed it wouldn't work so it was no big deal. Just went to the clinic, did the procedure, and went home like nothing happened.
3 weeks later I was pregnant. I was so skeptical I didn't even get excited when I found out. I thought for sure it wasn't happening. But now that I feel Brianna kicking away 24/7 inside my tummy, I am now more excited then I thought I would ever be - and so is Daddy of course. We both feel that this is such a priviledge to exprience this pregnancy that we are absorbing every moment, and not taking these mext months, and years for granted.
Unfortunately many couples don't get a happy ending, but we hope our situation can shed some hope onto other couples struggling to experience the most incredible miracle of having a baby. Our advice is don't give up no matter how small of a chance you have, because you never know if that's all you need to be successful. We had less than a 10% chance - and we did it!
How We Found Out
We just moved into our townhouse a week before. During the move I felt tired, but I figured I was moving furniture so of course I would be. We had done the artificial insemination May 21st. That was going to be the last time (after 7 previous tries), and I was convinced it didn't work since we only had a 6% chance of conceiving.
So, I thought I was just worn out. All the first week of June I was exhausted. I felt "weird" and was feeling very tired all the time. So I reluctantly went with Reg to get a pregnancy test. I didn't want to, I was tired of being disappointed, but Reg told me I should just so we know. This was Saturday June 12th. I decided to wait and take the test Sunday morning.
However, I had a slight feeling that I could be pregnant, but I didn't let it get to me since I've had so many negative tests over the past 7 years. So I couldn't wait till Sunday as planned. I said screw it and took the test at 10:30 p.m. I waited a bit then looked at the test. (I didn't tell Reg I was taking it.) When I looked at the test I thought Yep, it's negative and threw it in the garbage. A routine I was very used to. But something clicked in my head...that test looked different.
So here I am in a bath towel (I was getting the bathtub ready for a bubble bath to cheer me up) digging around in the bathroom trashcan. Of course the test fell to the bottom of it. I looked at the test again and saw two lines. I twisted and turned the test thinking I was totally reading it wrong, but I knew it wasn't.
I was too afraid to be excited. I yelled for Reg to come upstairs and to tell me I was reading it wrong. I handed him the directions and the test, I looked at the box. We looked like complete idiots standing in the bathroom - me in my towel, and him in his boxers - examining this test. I thought maybe it's upside down, maybe I'm looking at the Spanish directions, this just can't be positive. Either way we looked at the test and it still had two lines.
Reg was smiling, I was skeptical. I took another test Sunday morning and it was positive - again! I was ready to explode with excitement, but I held back. Then I got my first ultrasound (I went by myself because I was sure the Dr was going to tell me I wasn't pregnant and I wanted to tell Reg the bad news). But it was perfect. A little blob with a heartbeat. I never thought I'd be so happy over a blob! And now it's growing healthy as ever. With all our previous complications, and let downs, this is certainly a miracle baby.
