One of our favorite blogs, momlogic.com, is running the conception diaries of five women. They will be following the women over the next two months as they try to conceive babies. Several of the woman are just starting to try while others have been unsuccessful for a year or more.
Reading their stories brought back some difficult memories for me. Though it may not look like it from the picture above, my husband and I had trouble in this department.
I think like every woman, I always assumed that as soon as I decided I was ready to have a baby, I would get pregnant. But that didn’t happen. First, it took over four months to conceive which seemed like eternity. After a tip to eat lots of carrots, (which can aid in more fertile mucus) we were able to conceive pretty quickly but shortly after, I had my first miscarriage. A few months later, I conceived again and then promptly miscarried again.
Then there were a series of tests which concluded nothing. So a few months later, we tried again and conceived again. But again, I started bleeding at 7 weeks — despite taking progesterone — and had to go on bed rest. A month later, a sonogram showed that the baby had died.
From there, we were sent to a specialist who did more invasive tests. But he also found nothing to pin all the problems on. So eventually, we were given the go ahead to try again. I conceived right away, and we went back to the specialist regularly. I continued taking progesterone, and we held our breath. I was so worried I would lose the baby, I had to see a psychologist. But nine months later, Maggie was born.
When Maggie was a year, we started trying again because who knew how long it would take for another baby to stick? Two months later, we learned I was pregnant with twins.
After that, the last thing on our mind for a long time was conceiving. But when the twins were 3, I was ready to try again. I thought I had this conception thing down, but I was wrong. I conceived right away but lost the baby again. This was a real blow, and it left me so off balance, we put off trying for awhile.
A year later, I conceived and carried Jonah to term. Our conception story is sordid, but it has a fruitful ending. We are so blessed.
I plan on keeping up with the diaries on momlogic.com. I’ll probably follow those that are having trouble the closest because I feel for them. I hope in the end, their family picture will look as full and beautiful as mine.