Friday, June 1, 2012

Wouldn't It Be Nice...


Since the day I brought Leah home from the hospital I have been counting my lucky stars. Even now I can hardly fathom the fact that she is my daughter. I wake up every morning excited and astonished to greet the baby babbling and kicking off her blanket, ready to start the day. There were so many days I spent paralyzed with fear that we would never know parenthood. And experiencing it makes me want that for all of you so much more. 
Two days ago we got a certified letter from my RE. It’s a letter requesting direction on what we would like to do with our remaining embryo. It's also bill for storage fees. We of course plan to keep it, for now. The further we got in to the process of Infertility, the more we felt like just one baby would suffice. Partially was because of the financial implications. We knew it would take plenty of money to get pregnant to begin with, so we assumed we may not be in the position to A. do IVF more than once, and 2. We sort of liked the idea of being able to provide the extras (including paying for college) for one child as opposed to maybe splitting our resources between two. I think another big reason was that I just felt so fragile then. Like one baby would be all I could ever handle. 
But now that Leah is here, I look into her eyes and when I think about the amount of love and joy I get from seeing her little face- well I just can’t imagine not at least trying to experience all of that again. I loved being pregnant, and I love watching her grow. And I would love, love, LOVE to experience this all over again. I of course realize that this is a very premature conversation, because A. Umm, i just had a baby five months ago. 2. We don't know if we will be in the position to afford another child. and C. Don't even know if our one remaining embryo would make it through the thaw, let alone implant post transfer. But I will tell you this.  I will never go on Birth Control again, and I will never do a fresh IVF cycle again. IVF was fucking hard, really hard. Granted I did not have the smoothest cycle, (Remember the Whore-bag Cyst that delayed my cycle by SEVEN weeks???), Obviously worth it, but still... And as far as the birth control goes, there are two reasons. The first being that because of my clotting disorder MTHFR, I shouldn't be on any progesterone based Contraception pill because it can increase my risk of stroke. (yes, I know there are other options) And second, even though three different RE's told us we had a less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally; if we get pregnant and it DOESN'T cost us 20k - I'm okay with that. 
Part of me is surprised by my feelings on this, because I was pretty well set on being happy with one baby. But to tell you the truth I have missed being pregnant from the day after I delivered. And now more than ever, I feel like being a mother is something I was made to do. And I hope that we are lucky enough with all aspects to be able to have another baby someday, but if not I know I won't regret a thing, and that we are still very lucky to have the most amazing baby girl ever. 

7 comments:

Jos said...

I've definitely been going back and forth on this. I used to always think at least 3 kids...but now I might be good with just 1. My only thing is that I LOVE my siblings so much, so I can't imagine Stella not getting that. We shall see...

Alex said...

I hope you get to do it all over again. I miss being pregnant again too - I can't wait for the next time! I'm glad to hear you're going to use that remaining embryo - one day... :)

JackieMac said...

I could of wrote this post - I am right there with you - I want another one - but I will never do another fresh IVF again - I also will never do on birth control.

MyTwoLines said...

IVF is pure torture, sometimes I can scarcely believe I put myself through it five times for zippo. However, I think you have a great attitude--feeling very content with Leah but also perfectly happy (duh) if you have another.
I do agree on the split resources--we always wanted two children and of course chose to adopt two at once but it is VERY EXPENSIVE. We don't get the benefit of hand me downs since they're the same age and also different genders...but of course, money is just one little thing. Important, but not the most important thing...
There is some relief in knowing you won't do more fresh IVFs though, isn't there?

Hillary said...

Beautifully said. As one who did conceive without treatments after thinking it could never happen, I'm glad you'll never be on BC. :) But I also know the likelihood of that happening for others and even myself again is not something we can count on...

It is so freeing to know I will never do treatments again, either.

Jendeis said...

You are definitely not alone in this. I too miss being pregnant and get such joy from just watching R explore the world I feel as though my heart will burst. :)

Kerri said...

Aww, I love this post. I love reading your posts about Leah and seeing all of the pictures you post of her on Facebook. It's so clear how happy you are and that makes me smile. You are such a great mom and if you do hae the chance to do it again, you'll have two very lucky children.

And hey-- stranger things have happened. They told me I had less than a 5% chance of conceiving without fertility help and look what happened.