Love Makes a Family

We created this blog in hopes that we will be able to update and share our journey with friends and family.

WE ARE ADOPTING!!!!!
*I couldn't hold it in any longer!  Now let's flashback to how we arrived at choosing adoption to grow our family.

October 29, 2013-  After trying for almost a year, we found out that were pregnant!  The excitement was short-lived because at our appointment we learned that it was an ectopic pregnancy. This is where the embryo implants anywhere but in the uterus.  Only 2% of pregnancies are ectopic and I was fortunate that my doctor discovered it early so I did not need surgery.  I did however have an injection and once a week blood draws for two months to monitor that my pregnancy hormone levels were dropping.
--I am sorry if this is surprising news, but we chose to keep this close to our hearts and not share with everyone.

July 2014- I went in for my annual appointment and to discuss our continued struggles to get pregnant.  He ordered a ton of blood work to rule out any causes and an HSG test.  My blood work came back normal, except for I was a little vitamin D deficient--easy fix!

August 2014-  I went for the HSG test. During this test, they shoot dye through my uterus to see if there is blockage preventing pregnancy. I had already prepared myself that I might have a blocked tube from our ectopic pregnancy, but was not prepared for the news that we ultimately found out. The doctor told me I have a unicornate uterus.  She explained that a normal uterus looks similar to a triangle with two tubes coming off each end.  My uterus looks like half of a triangle similar to a horn with only one tube.  My only Fallopian tube I have is blocked from the previous ectopic, therefore I can't conceive naturally.  After the doctor told me, I was pretty hysterical and so thankful that my mom was able to come back in the room.  Before we left she said to read up all about unicornate uterus and I did exactly what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information out there but here is the gist of the what we found:

• It is the least common uterine anomaly. --Yep that's right, I am rare! 
• I was born with my uterus this way. 
• When in utero your reproductive and urinary organs form at the same time.  Since I only have half of my reproductive organs I could only have one kidney.  This was a worry and I made a mental note to ask the doctor.
• If I were to get pregnant, I have a greater chance of  miscarrying and or preterm labor because my uterus is so small.  Carrying one baby for me is like carrying twins for a normal sized uterus.

I have had a gambit of emotions from feeling like a failure because I can't reproduce to being extremely angry.  If it wasn't for Matt, I think I would have been completely broken.  He has been super supportive and constantly tells me that he loves me and is not going anywhere.

It was difficult to know why we couldn't conceive, but at least Matt and I had answers. Our next step was to figure out how we wanted to grow our family. The options we considered were in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, or adoption. We knew whatever option we chose would be cost consuming and it weighed heavily on us. At first we looked into in vitro but the cost and guarantees were just not there.  I have a 50% chance of getting pregnant.  Plus if you add into the fact that I may miscarry or go into preterm labor, I will be a complete wreck the whole process and pregnancy. For a quick second I looked up how much surrogacy would cost and when we found out it was roughly $100,000, it was no longer an option.  I had also been looking into adoption and God was definitely softening my heart to the idea.  Through prayer and reading adoptive parent's blogs and stories, I was really starting to fall in love with the idea. Then one day at lunch, Matt said he thought we should adopt and that was that.  I was totally comfortable and giddy with our decision.

We did go back to the fertility doctor to learn more about in vitro fertilization and our risks but after the appointment we felt even more sure that adoption is the journey we are supposed to be on!  WE ARE MEANT TO ADOPT AND WE HAVEN'T LOOKED BACK!

December 2014- We've visited with an agency and felt very comfortable there.  We recently started filling out the 32 page long application and gathering the necessary documentation we have to send in.  Last night after working on the application, I went to bed with a smile on my face because it is really happening!  One day we will be bringing home our sweet baby Diehl!