journeys are meant to be long

This entry will be a little more serious than others. I wanted to clarify some of our choices for people and why we have reach this point in our journey.

Today I read a blog entry by another woman struggling with infertility who has just gone through IVF. She conceived triplets and is choosing selective reduction to reduce her pregnancy down to one baby. While she has every right to make decisions about her own body, I have such a hard time understanding that choice.

When you have waited this long and struggled this hard with trying to have a child, I cannot imagine choosing to give up one of those babies. I know it is a health issue for some mothers, but I still cannot fathom how hard it would be to make that decision.

Brian and I decided a long time ago that no matter how many babies God blessed us with, we would be ready for them. While that seems like an easy statement to make, most doctors are very much against this decision. Anything over twins is very dangerous for both the mother and babies. The procedures we are doing have a high chance of twins, with a much smaller chance of triplets or higher.

So while people may make jokes ("you're having fertility treatments? I hope you're not going to have a litter like that woman with 8 babies!"...true conversation by the way...with a nurse!) we know what we are getting into. And feel peace about where God has led us.
Remind us of that in about a year ;-) By the way, I hope everyone is saving all their baby clothes. Because it is us, the family of never-heard-of medical conditions. So I am sure if there is a way for God to give us octuplets, it could happen. But we're prepared for at least twins, or "buy one get one free" as my new doctor calls it.

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.
It is to decide forever to have to have your heart
go walking around outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone