Our difficult journey to parenthood

When Zach and I decided to start a family, we thought getting pregnant would be easy.  However, after a year and a half of trying, we decided to go to the gynecologist and run some tests.  After the first round of tests, our doctor immediately referred us to a fertility doctor.  After more tests, the fertility doctor recommended In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).  We obviously were not thrilled with the news.  We were looking for a much cheaper answer.  IVF only has a 50% success rate, which is not the odds you want when the procedure is $15,000.  We decided we would think and pray about it and save money in the process.  

Zach and I saved money for nine months, and then decided to go ahead with IVF.  We had saved enough to pay cash, which made the decision much easier.  IVF involved many trips to Omaha for Ultrasounds and prescription refills.  Zach was giving me shots in the stomach a couple times a day to increase my egg production.  On July 9th we went to Omaha for the extraction of the eggs.  The doctors were very pleased with how many eggs they retrieved and how many took to the fertilization.  We were notified later that we had seven viable embryos.  On July 14th, we went back to Omaha for the implantation.  We decided to implant two.  Because the embryos could split, we had the chance of getting anywhere from 0 to 4 babies.  We then had to come home and wait for a few days.  

On July 27th, Zach and I got a phone call.  The nurse told us we were pregnant.  We could be excited, but cautiously so, because we had a large chance of miscarrying.  Even though we weren't supposed to, we told our family and many friends right away.  They all knew we were doing the procedure, so it would have been difficult to keep a secret.  At seven weeks, we headed back to Omaha to find out how many babies we were pregnant with.  We were very thankful to find out it was only one.  
Infertility had caused so much heart ache in our lives, but it had also done so much to strengthen our marriage.  Praise the Lord!  We were pregnant with our miracle baby!  What a blessing!