Hey Y'all! Welcome to Blissful Becky!

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Follower of Jesus. Wife to the most handsome man. Labradoodle owner. Love photos, home decor, thrifting, and making life fun!

Thursday, April 13, 2017

The Story of BAM: Part One

*Hey everyone! Just as a heads up: THIS IS LONG! I wrote this one early morning during my maternity leave to remember everything that lead up to us having our sweet son, Brady. There will be four parts to this story, and I hope you stick around for all four! These posts serve two purposes. The first is for memory sake, so that I can remember the moments, the details, the emotions that brought us to where we are now. The second purpose, and the one that really holds dear to my heart, is that this will bring HOPE to others. Whether it is hope for having a baby, or something else that you're longing for, my prayer is that my story gives seeds of hope to those who need it. So if you read this and you know someone who could benefit from hearing my story, please feel free to share with them. I'm a firm believer that everyone's story can help someone else, no matter how big or small you may feel it is.*
I’m going to start this story by giving a brief description of what lead up to the arrival of our son, Brady Glenn Myers. Okay, maybe not as brief as I am one to give all the details in a story (sorry husband, I know that annoys you, lol). From the moment we found out we were pregnant, we were elated. Every single moment felt so surreal. Like why now? Why us? We felt so privileged. Our pregnancy came as a bit of a surprise, as I only had one fallopian tube remaining after an emergency surgery that almost cost me my life. I was pregnant at the end of November of 2013, and we had celebrated big and shared the news with our closest friends and family during the Christmas season. However, at the beginning of January 2014, heartbreak came as I had an ectopic pregnancy causing the baby to be stuck inside my right fallopian tube, and surgery to remove my ruptured tube took that sweet little angel to Heaven. To read more about that, click here. From that moment on, we had tried to get pregnant again with no success. I was having to face the reality that having children may never be in our cards, and that came with months of sadness and defeat.

Jump forward to the spring of 2015. I had gone to a fertility specialist to be examined. They were going to check out my left tube to see if there was any blockage. The exam (known as an HSG) was painful, but I breathed my way through it and left in tears. I remember sitting in my car right after, feeling so broken. I remember feeling like I was no good for Jearen, a waste of a wife who would never be able to have his children. I felt alone. I didn’t understand why I was the one going through this. And this was just after the exam. The same feelings showed back up after the fertility specialists rushed me through a consult to basically tell me that IVF was the only answer. I remember that day well. Jearen was with me for that consultation, and as we got home, I broke down. I couldn’t believe it. I stood in our dining room crying, as my sweet husband held me. He looked me in the eyes, and told me all of the following:
  • We were just going to have to believe God for a miracle.
  • If it just wasn’t meant to be for us to have kids, that that was ok too.
  • He loved me no matter what.
  •  I wasn’t a waste.
  • I was everything to him.
Oh that sweet man of mine. Those words began a journey of healing for me. Healing for the child we had lost. Healing for the news we just received. Healing to trust God no matter where He takes me. *I told you I love details….so this is most likely going to be a LONG story, but it is one I always want to remember*
Then came the summer of 2015, just a few months after my healing journey began. We went on a family trip to Hawaii and celebrated our 5th anniversary as we were there. It was a beautiful trip! I do remember though crying to my husband as we were walking down a pier, apologizing for not having a kid by now. Our “goal” was to have a kid by the time we were five years into our marriage, and we used to talk about that all of the time. Imagine being a planner like myself and not being able to say you were successful in making something you always planned happen. Oh man, I’ve learned so much through this. Especially how to let go of control, and little did I know then how much control I would have to give up. After that trip to Hawaii, we traveled to Boston for a week for Jearen’s job, and then to Belize with other parts of our family. That trip was amazing too, but it was a scuba diving trip for Jearen and his brother, so while they spent most of their time exploring in the ocean, I was lounging by the pool reading and working on my tan burning.
As I was doing that, I read a book by Pete Wilson called Plan B. Basically saying how sometimes our life doesn’t turn out the way we plan, and that’s ok. It was a life changing book for me, in the sense that I finally found a peace to not being pregnant. And that was hard, being that many months leading up to that moment were met with tears flowing as Aunt Flo showed up, or the testing stick was another negative, yet again. The day after I finished the book, as we were on this trip, I started my period (sorry TMI, but this IS a story about becoming pregnant, so…) and I had complete peace. Like OK God, I trust you. I am not mad, sad, angry, or bitter. The following months brought about the same kind of peace. And truth be told, I gave up in trying to get pregnant. I didn’t want the pressure. I didn’t want to feel confused. I basically gave up trying.
A year went by, and my husband brought up trying again. Maybe all we needed was a second opinion. And lots of prayer. We had this discussion as we were on a romantic getaway to Chicago for Valentine’s Day that Jearen worked up all on his own. The day before our trip was over, we finally had “the talk.” I had pushed this topic of child bearing under the rug because hello, it hurt. Moving on with life made more sense and was less painful then discussing seeing another specialist for a second opinion. But, that is what we decided to do. Several weeks after our trip, I found myself walking into a different fertility specialists’ office, feeling as though I was literally going to poop my pants be sick from being so nervous. I was too far into my cycle to be examined by another HSG exam, so the doctor told me to call back once I have started my period so that they could schedule me in to be seen. He made me feel like I didn’t have to rush out the door which was nice, and gave me lots of hope.
 Having been told IVF was my only option before, this doctor made me feel like there were several other options we could try before ever having to come to that. I remember asking him “So should we still try in the meantime?” And he said, “YES! Just try a little sooner than you have been.” Ok, sounds good. I have a plan now, and it doesn’t include IVF at this point. So, I went home, and we “tried”…and then tried some more. Two days after the consultation, we conceived. On our own, without IVF. It was JUST the beginning of this miracle.

Come back for The Story of BAM: Part Two!
-Becky

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