"Our Own Little Cowboy"

My husband and I have been married for seven years. I am a legal assistant, and my husband is an electrician. We first met at a rodeo through mutual friends. At the time, my husband was competing in the rodeo in the team-roping event. In a rodeo, you never can predict what will happen, and I have found that our lives are just the same way.

When we had been married for two years, my husband and I were ready for children. Although we were trying, nothing was happening. In early 2000, my doctor gave me Clomid so that my body would become more fertile. I also had an ultrasound while saline was inserted through my fallopian tubes. It appeared that the fluid traveled through my tubes freely, although I found the procedure to be painful. The pain I felt was a clue that my tubes were beginning to close. A couple of months later, I had a laparoscopy and found out that both of my tubes were completely blocked. I was told that there was nothing that could be done to unblock my tubes. I was devastated.

Throughout this stressful time, my husband was the solid rock that kept me together. He stayed positive while I was falling apart. The doctor told me that I could not become pregnant the natural way, but I still had a chance with another method. I was sent to an infertility specialist. On January 4, 2001, we went to a fertility institute in Oklahoma City. The doctor reviewed the results from my laparoscopy and said that there was an 80 percent chance that I could become pregnant through in vitro fertilization. I immediately felt better!

A week later, my husband and I started taking a class to learn about the IVF procedure. The class was very helpful, and it took us step-by-step through the entire process. I thought to myself, "Ok, I can do this now that I know what's going on."

Two weeks later, the doctor started me on birth control pills to get my body on a regular schedule. I was on the Pill for two months. When my body's cycle regulated, we were able to figure out a timeline. The timeline planned when I should take my shots, have the egg retrieval, and then the implantation. On March 4, I started the Lupron shots, which I took daily for two weeks in the mornings. I also took Follistim in the evenings. I received my medications from IVPCARE, who was helpful by providing me anything I needed. My husband gave me the shots in my stomach. I felt like a walking pincushion! He told me that he wished he could take the shots for me.

During this time, I went to the fertility clinic every other day for blood work and ultrasounds to monitor the size of my eggs. On March 27, the egg retrieval was performed. The process really wasn't too bad. I was under local anesthetic and felt a little scared, but it was exciting to be close to the end of the process. Nine eggs were retrieved. The laboratory called every day to tell us the status of the eggs. The second day, we lost three eggs and the third day, a few eggs were found to be immature. On March 30, the in vitro fertilization was performed with three embryos. The process was not painful and took only about five minutes. Then, I had to stay flat on my back for five days. I even traveled home in the car on my back. For the first 48 hours, I could only roll to my side to eat and stood up just if I had to go to the restroom. Those were the hardest five days, but I understood the importance of the bed rest.

On April 10, I took a pregnancy test and learned that I was pregnant! I called my husband at work, and he was very excited and emotional. We went back to the clinic three weeks later for an ultrasound and saw one little heart beating. We were ecstatic…and my husband was relieved we were not having triplets! Now, we were happy to share the news with all of our friends and family. Our baby was due in December.

Although the IVF worked, I was not finished with the shots. After the implant, I took progesterone shots in my hip muscles every day through the first trimester. I must have had more than 100 shots in total. The progesterone shots were the most difficult because the oil was thick and my muscles would knot up. I kept telling myself I was doing this for our baby. During the first month, I had some spotting, but I was told this was normal for women who had IVF, so I was not too worried.

Around 20 weeks into the pregnancy, an ultrasound showed that the placenta was in front of my cervix. At 30 weeks, it was in the same position. At 36 weeks, I had another ultrasound and learned that the placenta had still not moved up. Two days later, I began spotting and was hooked up to a fetal monitor. We were told that the baby was doing well. On November 30 at 4 a.m., I began bleeding again. The fetal monitor showed that the baby was fine, but my doctor was concerned at this point. I was scheduled to be induced the next day, but I began bleeding again due to a tear in the placenta. This time, I was brought in for an emergency cesarean section. On December 1, our son Colten was born. He was healthy, and he weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20 inches long.

For anyone who is just beginning the process I experienced, don't let all of the steps and shots scare you. Think of the baby to help get through it all. The minute our baby was born, I forgot about the long process and all the shots. Now, we have our own little cowboy. Colten is three months old, and our days are busy with plenty of playtime. In the future, I will go through in vitro fertilization again if I have to. I need to try for a little girl to be my shopping partner!