Click here to read Part 1.

Click here to read Part 2.

At this point, Brian and I went back into the infertility specialist’s office to have our second consult with him regarding Brian’s second bad semen analysis. We thought we’d go in and he’d tell us, “Ok, based on your test results, let’s proceed with IVF.” Well, that wasn’t the case. The specialist wanted to do more tests on Brian and me.  Drawing from Brian’s second bad semen analysis, he thought maybe Brian had a chromosomal disorder, which would (A) Cause him to have a .01% chance of reproducing (even with IVF) or (B) likely to pass on a disorder if we conceived a son.  So, we proceeded with a (mucho) expensive caryotype blood test for Brian which would hopefully rule both of these possibilities out. The kicker is, the test results don’t come back for several weeks. Talk about a weighty couple of weeks! In the meantime, I proceeded with a sonohysterogram. They tell you that many women who have this procedure tend to get pregnant during their next cycle. Well, I just brushed it off because the nurses didn’t know most of our infertility was male factor at this point.

Turns out my sonohysterogram went really well and couldn’t have looked better, thank the Lord. It was also way less worse than I imagined. With the specialist’s suggestion, Brian and I also talked about proceeding with Clomid during my next cycle. We even scheduled an appointment for an ultrasound a couple days before starting the meds to make sure I didn’t have any cysts that may become dangerous if I were to be on Clomid.  A couple days after I scheduled the appointment Brian asked me to cancel it. He didn’t feel right about it and thought let’s just wait to get his blood results back before making me do anything else.  So another week goes by….

I woke up the morning of Thursday, February 16 (4 days late) and thought that I should take a pregnancy test, just for my sanity. This was the latest I’d ever been, so why not? I took 3. Two different brands. (Yes, I had that many on hand.) I was shaking so badly because I couldn’t believe it (it was also 6 am and I was sorta half asleep). I busted open the bathroom door (nearly tripped on George) and ran down the hall to our bedroom and in a panic announced to Brian “Oh my gosh… I”m Pregnant!?!”  How could this be? Doctors have been telling us that we would need medical assistance to conceive… and I had a previous miscarriage. Brian may only have a .01% chance of conceiving. What in the world?! So as if I needed to prove it to Brian I showed him all 3 tests. They were very bold in color, which I guess made me feel better?  His first response as he sat up in our dark bedroom and threw the covers off “Is it the water heater?!” (He has some innate fear that our water heater is going to bust and ruin our hardwood floors.) At the time it wasn’t as funny because I was in a state of shock, but it’s pretty funny now. We curled up on the bed and began praying to God. Praying for a healthy pregnancy, thanking him for his amazing grace, his sovereignty, His power, His ability to bless us with a pregnancy. We can only do so much to make it happen, the rest is up to the Lord.

So a couple days into discovering I was pregnant, we still hadn’t received Brian’s chromosomal blood test results. It was hard for us (mostly Brian) to be purely at peace with the pregnancy without knowing the results. We were somewhat discouraged that maybe the pregnancy wouldn’t last.  I called the infertility specialist’s office to see if they could rush the lab (no can do apparently). So, a week into knowing we’re pregnant I got a call saying that his blood test came back normal. YES!  Praise God (again!)

Talk about answered prayer!  We had all of our family praying for us (we have 4 sets of parents combined, so that’s a lot), our close friends, our church home group, my mom’s Bible study group, our own prayers, friends who don’t even live near us, people who don’t even know us well, etc… I’ve never felt so blessed before. What an amazing gift. God truly is in control. The power of prayer really does work.

Wanna know what else is weird? This was the same week exactly 1 year ago that we found out I was pregnant and then soon miscarried. I guess January is a good month for us? Not that we’re out of the forest yet, but it’s difficult to see that God is sovereign and merciful during tough trials. He surely is. The ONLY thing that really got us through this past year of infertility was leaning on the Lord. He is the God of comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7:  ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Jeremiah 31:13 “I will comfort them and turn their mourning into joy, their sorrow into gladness.”