By now you've probably heard the good news! Brent and I are expecting! While this has been an exciting time for us, it has equally been as nerve wrecking. This baby was conceived around the end of May and was a total shock to us. I'll spill the details on how we found out down below. Finding out I was pregnant was complete validation that opening up and starting these series of posts were necessary. I knew no matter the outcome of this pregnancy, there would be someone out there who might relate and benefit from hearing our journey. The "M" word is always in the back of my mind, I won't lie. But I will say one thing, each day feels like a total blessing to be getting to experience something that could be taken from me tomorrow. When you live for so long with constant disappointment, it seems natural to prepare yourself for the worst possible scenario, so each day that passes I'm thankful for.

I will get straight into how we found out! The weekend of June 10th, I felt crampy, which I attributed to my period starting soon. It's typical for me to feel this way. I was a few days late, but again, typical. So I went about that week knowing I had my yearly pap on June 14th. Never once did pregnancy or taking a test cross my mind. There comes a point were you just can't let your mind go there and can't handle another negative test, so I typically just waited for aunt flow to arrive. The morning of my appointment day, Brent just wasn't feeling the idea of going to work, so he decided to use a personal day. That afternoon rolled around and Brent decided he would go to Zanesville with me, which looking back it was definitely God in control of this day because this is not typical Brent behavior to offer to spend hours of his day off sitting at a doctor appointment that he didn't need to be at. So, I arrive at my appointment on time and go in. The doctor was running 30-45 minutes behind so I signed in and told the staff I was going back out to my car because the waiting room was full. Brent and I spent some quality time in the car before I decided to head back in about 35 minutes after my appointment time. When I got called back, I gave the typical urine sample for urinalysis, updated my health history, told them my last menstral period and went into a room and put on a gown. Within five minutes of being in the room, I heard a knock on the door. Surely it wasn't the doctor, I just got into the room. It wasn't. The nurse practitioner popped her head in, then her whole body and said " your urine pregnancy test came back positive!" Uhhh, excuse me? Positive? What does that even mean? I remember saying "Noooo" in total disbelief atleast ten times. Then I said "How does this happen?" To which I laugh at thinking about it now. Duh, I knew how it happened, but how did this happen FOR US. Then she asked me if I was happy, to which tears welled up as I said YES! Holding a positive test for the first time ever felt surreal. I immediately called Brent who was waiting in the car and asked him to come into the office. He came in the room and sat and I immediately handed him the positive test. I'm not sure either of us have experienced a shock like this one ever. This was NOT how I expected this appointment to go. After a good bit of sitting around and smiling at each other in disbelief, the doctor came in and congratulated us and said "I told you you would have increased fertility after the hsg test!"

We drove home in utter shock. How do you try for so long, spend so much money on fertility procedures and medications and BAM. When would seem the most unlikely timing, it happens. Brent hadn't been back on Clomid but a few days when this would have happened. The only earthly explanation is that the hsg test cleared my fallopian tubes enough that his weaker than average swimmers could make the journey successfully. Isn't it funny how God's timing is so different than the timing we would have chosen?

We had mentally prepared ourselves before the ultrasound that it might not go as we hoped, but this was a milestone for us no matter the outcome.

Monday, July 3rd we got to see our little person for the first time and see its little heart fluttering at 157 bmp on ultrasound. Again, surreal moment. I jokingly told Brent that it looked just like him. He and the tech just chuckled. The baby was measuring at 7 weeks 3 days, right in line with my last period. We left with a few pictures and we felt a little more at peace.

And again, July 24th, we got to see our little miracle on ultrasound at our first prenatal visit. The baby was measuring right on track at 10 weeks 3 days and a heart rate of 167 bpm. This time things felt much more real. Just when I thought things couldn't get more surreal feeling, they did. We could see its little arms wiggling all around and its facial profile. I had never seen Brent's face light up with so much excitement as he filmed the monitor.

Thank you all again for your continued support and sharing in our excitement that this otherwise painful journey has become! It means the world to us knowing so many people care.
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Today, I wanted to talk about the first two years of our journey and why it was an absolute blessing in disguise that pregnancy wasn't in our cards. Brent and I had been dating for about 4.5 years when we got married in September 2012. That's a good while to get to know someone- when you're both adults not teenagers. We both had no idea how much growing up, responsibility, and adulthood would change either of us at 22 when we tied the knot. We were either going to grow together or grow apart. We struggled the first two years of marriage and had many demons to face. There was a lot of anger and resentment. Being totally naive I thought, maybe parenthood would soften Brent's heart, but boy am I glad we had those first two years without a child in the mix. Marriage is its own kind of adventure and we needed time, lots of time to work out the kinks, reestablish our priorities and rebuild our spiritual foundation. We sought counseling, both attended church support groups and learned how to communicate better. It's amazing how different things can be when you actually put in effort and don't give up the fight, which we were on the brink of. We had a lot of nights of just bawling our eyes out in our one bedroom apartment in a new town with no family and very few friends, yelling about how the other person wasn't the person they thought they married, and feeling complete hopelessness for our future until our breakthrough. Growing up and finding your own identity, exploring careers, and moving away from family all while being newly married can take its toll on a relationship. Getting married young is a beautiful, often catastrophic thing. And thankfully God knew what he was doing keeping a baby out of the picture during our first two years. Those years were critical to the people Brent and I are today, the people that so excitedly and longingly wait for baby Smith. As hard as it feels in the moment, God's plan for your life is so much bigger and better than anything you could fathom for yourself. It's the hardest thing deciding you're going to relinquish all control and give it to him. Some things you're not meant to carry alone. I only finally started to feel at peace with our situation when I realized no matter how hard I tried or planned, my timing didn't matter. By no means do I regret the things we've done along the way, failed IUI's, testing, appointments, etc. These were all necessary stepping stones that revealed things to us about our health, gave us answers and peace of mind, and taught us how to be better people.

Before our own infertility struggle, I would never have given it a second thought about asking someone if they wanted children or when they would start a family. I think those are common curiosities people have. But being on the other side for 4 years now, it stings every single time we get a question about the one thing we've longed so long for. I know intentions aren't vicious, but it's just one more reminder that we have zero control in the timing of starting our family. I know God has a plan for our lives, but we would all be lying if we said it didn't make us happy when things happened on our good timing. And what sort of response do you give back to someone who's curious? Do you open that can of worms and say " we're struggling with infertility" and leave that person feeling awkward and guilty for asking? Or do you simply say "someday"? I often find myself saying the second. Is it a lie? Quite possibly. How am I to know where this infertility journey will take us? Maybe God's got bigger plans for us than to be parents. But it's the least alarming answer for the recipient.

I can remember at a recent Christmas, a relative came up to me while I was holding a baby and said "are your ovaries burning?" I can remember feeling my heart sink into my stomach. I knew they weren't being cruel, but it felt like pouring salt in a wound. How do you even respond to that? I didn't. I sat there holding this little person in pure and utter shock. Words didn't come out and I forced a smirk after what felt like an eternity of awkwardly sitting there.

I feel like the awareness for people who've never struggled with or known anyone to struggle with infertility doesn't exist. Sure, some people will never have a filter even if they knew someone was struggling, but I like to believe most people would be more sensitive if they knew. I find that being asked "do you WANT children?" is a totally valid question. It's a yes or no question. If someone says "yes", leave the question alone. They will tell you more if there is more to tell.

When do you want to start a family?
Your clock is ticking!
You and *insert name* better get busy!
Don't you know how babies are made?
It will happen when it's supposed to.
Quit trying and it will happen!
Just don't think about it.
​You have too much time on your hands. You need kids.

I have heard all the above statement and believe me, they cut like a knife. Smiling and simply saying "I'll be praying" and "God knows the desires of your heart" are perfect ways to handle awkward infertility statements someone might throw at you if they're open about their struggle. So to those struggling, have compassion for someone who might seem insensitive to your situation, they likely don't understand your struggle. I often found myself feeling bitter towards people when they said or did things early on in this journey because I was overly sensitive, which I think is a normal response to dealing with something so painful. But before you react, take a step back and put yourself in their shoes. Likely, they want what's best for you and if they knew their words were hurting you, they wouldn't have said them. Maybe, also, it's time to start filling people in on what's going on in your life. It's not easy. It took several years for me to admit the small detail that I hadn't been on birth control to close relatives, let alone spill that we've had every testing imaginable and undergone two failed IUI's. It takes time, but once the cats out of the bag, a weight almost feels lifted and you don't feel so alone.

Moral of the story, be kind. Everyone has a struggle. And don't be so quick to let things hurt you, you're stronger than that.
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Hello! Welcome to the latest addition to my blog! If you're already familiar with my blog, welcome back. If not, my name is Beth. I live with my husband, Brent, in central Ohio and started this blog a few years ago as a way to document and share our home renovation process (does it ever end? Lol). Here I have linked a timeline of events during our journey which might make it easier to follow along with this post.