“ A Smile Makes It All Worthwhile ”

My heart melted and I felt pure joy. My seven-week-old baby girl just smiled at me for the first time yesterday. That smile means so much, especially after everything my husband and I went through to have this precious bundle in our arms.

When I first met my husband, it seemed that fate brought us together. Well, it was either fate or my mother. I moved all the way across the country from the west coast to the east coast to live near my mother. Through work, I met my husband and then my mother moved back to California! Now, my husband and I have been married for six years.

A year after we were married, we decided to have a baby. After trying for a few years, nothing was happening. For almost five years we both went through many tests, only to be told that nothing was wrong with either one of us. It was very frustrating to try month after month, not become pregnant, and have no reasonable explanation.

We learned about the different options we had for our situation and decided to take one step at a time. Over a period of eight months, we tried inner uterine insemination (IUI) four separate times, but had no luck. Then, we tried In Vitro Fertilization. It was a lengthy process with many shots. Although we were trying not to get our hopes up and expect IVF to work immediately, we were still crushed when I did not become pregnant.

We decided to try IVF again. Finally, the second time worked and we were going to have a baby! I remember answering the phone call from the nurse and hearing the wonderful news. My husband and I both started to cry out of joy and relief. At first I was terrified something would go wrong, but I focused on staying positive and really had a good pregnancy. The day before my birthday, the best present arrived. Our daughter was born weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces and measuring 18 inches long. Immediately after she was delivered, the doctor rested her on my stomach and I could not have been happier.

I had been working full time as an office manager, but now I am happy to be a stay-at-home mom. So far, these seven weeks have flown by. I spend my days holding the baby, nursing the baby, and trying to catch up on sleep when the baby is sleeping. In the near future, we would love to have another child and are hoping it may happen on its own. If not, we would definitely try IVF again.

As difficult as the past few years have been, the experience has brought my husband and I closer together because we really leaned on one another for support. The best lesson we learned was to continue to stay positive. It is hard to know what to tell someone who is going through the stress of not becoming pregnant, but we believe that it does help to stay positive and hope for that special, little smile to make it all worthwhile someday.