The past three or four months have been a whirlwind. Lots of testing, procedures, our trip to Moldova, ultrasounds sometimes every few days, crazy crazy things.

In case you aren’t aware, there are MANY different steps and many different options that go along with (in)fertility testing. I (Emily) obviously had to do the majority of the work. One of the tests was an HSG, which I would never wish on the enemy of my worst enemy. Some women apparently don’t mind them-I am not one of them. When we decided to go against the suggestions of our doctor, we knew it was all in God’s hands. We chose to begin with a less invasive option. We didn’t feel the Lord leading us to IUI at that point, and we had drawn our line at IVF (everyone has to make a decision, this was ours). The route we chose included medication, lots of injections in my stomach,  and daily uses of progesterone (not exactly exciting). Along with all of that came ultrasounds every few days. While we trusted God’s hand in the situation, our RE didn’t didn’t give us much hope that this would work. But God proved He was bigger than our doctor. Much bigger.

The morning I went in for my blood test, I was a nervous wreck. I stayed that way the majority of the day. Finally in the afternoon, the nurse called. Joe was upstairs playing the paino, I was downstairs trying to pass the time. She asked if I had gotten a call already (NO!). Apparently they had called the wrong number, leaving a message on the wrong person’s answering machine letting her in on the news. Thankfully that person called them back to let them know they called the wrong number. Someone named Diane knew I was pregnant before I did! But I didn’t care. I couldn’t make it upstairs without the tears streaming. Joe turned around to see me bawling. He didn’t know how to respond. I shook my head “yes” to let him know I wasn’t sobbing out of sadness.

The next few weeks were nerve wracking. I work in pathology, I know and see the risks daily. At my six week ultrasound, I was able to see the baby, though tiny. I was also able to make out a teeny tiny heartbeat. At our seven week ultrasound, the doctor suspected a twin, but it turned out to be a shadow. Again, I got to see the heartbeat. Thankfully during that visit, the doctor gave me a script for Zofran because my nausea ramped up like crazy that day. Concluding that visit and reassuring me that my side effects/symptoms weren’t abnormal, we were released into the care of my regular OB/Gyn.

We managed to make it to and from Moldova without many problems. The horribly bumpy roads caused me to worry quite a bit, as did the strong paint/varnish smell of the apartment we stayed in. But other than those two things, we were able to focus on ministry.

We definitely feel blessed that the Lord has given us this child. We pray that every day we will not forget this blessing.  Again, from the bottom of our hearts, we genuinely appreciate the kind words of support, the encouragement, and every single congratulations we have received!

We want to thank each of you who have commented on our website, on our Facebook pages, and sent us private messages and emails. For those who have sent us private messages or asked us questions, we’ll try to get back with you over the next few days. We feel very blessed that God has given us this gift. If you were able to watch our video from our previous post, you saw that this is such a true blessing, but it came after years of struggling, years of heartache. If you have some time and haven’t checked out our tab above entitled “Infertility”, please take a few minutes and read through it. While it isn’t details of our struggle in particular, it does describe many things that people who struggle with infertility and/or loss often encounter.  If you, or someone you know battles fertility difficulties, Hannah’s Hope by Jennifer Saake would be such a blessing for them!

Stay tuned, more to come!!!