Our Journey So Far....

Our journey began during the summer, 2006. I “met” the love of my life. I had actually known my future husband my entire life – he is a cousin of one of my best friends. We ironically had never had a conversation. One night we began talking..and talking…..and talking…..and spent 8 hours learning each other’s likes, dislikes, dreams, aspirations….I knew that very night that I would marry Matt one day…Little did I know the long, hard, road we would have ahead…

That fall, in October of 2006, after sickness and issues with his nose and throat, Matt was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue tumor in his nasal passageway. This type of cancer is a childhood cancer that is very rare – near to impossible to appear after puberty. Matt was 23 at diagnosis. That being said, the type of cancer was a huge blessing because it led us to one of the most amazing places in the world – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. After meeting a team of amazing doctors, nurses, and support staff, Matt was given a plan of action, a course of treatment, and began the battle of his life. Ten months later, with 10 rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments behind him, on August 03, 2007, he was Cancer Free!!!
With that tribulation behind us, on April 11, 2009, we set out to conquer our next journey….Promising our lives to each other…
Fast forward to August 2010, we had been told before my hubs began chemo, that there would be a good chance, given the extent of his cancer treatment and the types of drugs used to fight the tumor, that his fertility would be effected. So, he was sent to the Fertility Associates of Memphis for cryopreservation. When we decided that we were ready to begin our family, the doctors at St. Jude advised us to consult with FAM to make sure that their assumptions were in fact true – that Assisted Reproductive Technology, namely In Vitro Fertilization, would be our only hope of achieving our dream of becoming parents. We met with Dr. Raymond Ke. After a series of testing, bloodwork, needle pricks..all the things that come along with preparing for IVF, in January 2011, we began round one. After a textbook perfect cycle, we got the devastating news that our two little embabies did not implant, and non made it to freezing. After months of soul searching, asking God why, and all of the things that go along with a “loss,” so to speak, we were ready to try again. In October, 2011, we completed our second unsuccessful round of In Vitro. Fast forward to June 2012, we transfered our last frozen embryo, and became pregnant with out first child.  We were able to watch our baby grow each week, see it's beautiful heartbeat, and feel the love we had to offer our child.  A few days short of our 9th week, during a routine ultrasound, we found out that our miracle no longer had a heartbeat.  We find some comfort in knowing that God needed our first love before we ever got the chance to hold our precious baby in our arms. Infertility is one of the most challenging things that a couple can be faced with. The most important thing is to believe that God has the perfect little miracle waiting on us, no matter how we achieve it!