Who We Are and Our Story...

Our names: We are Courtney and Ed, and we met in Chicago in 2004 and married in 2006, but this blog is not really about us. It's about our precious, precious gifts from God, Nico and Natalee. My blogging began as a way to document and journal our "IF" (AKA: Infertility) journey. We began trying to expand our family immediately after getting married. You see, although we were newly weds, we already had two children. Two of Ed's children, his 13 year old twins, came to live with us even before the "I do's" were said. We had a feeling right from the start that conceiving would be a little rocky for us, and after 6 months of trying on our own, we realized were right. There were many tears and the fear of the unknown, but without even knowing it, God was leading in the right path and opening all the right doors for us and we began to walk down the long road ahead of us. After two years, one major surgery for Ed, one failed but overstimmulated IUI and finally one fantastic IVF and $26,000 later, we were blessed to become pregnant with Nico. We just could never imagine how incredibly awesome he is how much of a blessing he is in our lives.

My pregnancy was wonderful and easy, but Nico's birth was scary and one of the worst and best days of my life simultaneoulsy. The whole ordeal was a whirlwind of commotion and lack of communication. The NICU doctors and nurses were in our delivery room ready to go, I had no idea what was happening at the time and the doctor was asking Ed if we were planning on having more children because this one might not make it! I thank God everyday that I had no idea what was happening at the time, but imagine not hearing any crying after having your baby that you prayed so hard for? Nico was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. He was unresponsive, slightly blue in color and had an APGAR score of 1. God revived our brand new baby boy and after just 5 short days inthe NICU we were about to go home. So while the road was rough, really rough, at the end of it there was Nico, a beautiful baby boy, and he was ours.

When Nico was just 6 months old Ed and I agreed that Nico was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to either of us. He was truly a blessing from God and since he was so awesome, why not try to give him a sibling and produce another amazing child? When Nico turned a year old we set up a consult appt with our RE at the time to begin the IVF process again. We were optimistic, overly confident and very upbeat about what lay ahead of us. We planned on doing the IVF cycle that summer, but on a whim I moved it up to April. However, the outcome was not positive. The cycle did not work and we were quite devastated. Although we were down about the first cycle failing in trying to conceive again, we began planning for the next cycle, which went down in June and July. This time our embryo quality was not as good as in the previous IVFs and we ended up doing a 3 day transfer with assisted hatching. We felt like the luckiest people in the world when we got a positive pregnancy test, and when all of our betas came back fantastic as well; however, it was not meant to be. At the first ultrasound we discovered there was no heartbeat and a DNC was scheduled. It was extremely difficult for me to move forward after the heartbreak of the miscarriage. We had to take a break from IF treatments and find a new focus. Nico being our lives helped me move forward and deal with the hurt. I was already so blessed to have such a wonderful, beautilful son who was there during the bad times with his precious face always smiling up at me.

After the New Year, we decided it was time to start back on our IF journey. We did two IUIs, both of which produced nothing but more heartache. Then Ed and I reached out to find a new RE, one who would listen to us, try something new, and look at us as an individual case. Dr Haas did this for us. He talked to us, listened to us, cared about our concerns and made some changes in the protocol; changes that made a difference.

So again, after a year and a half of trying, 2 IUIs, 3 IVFs, 1 miscarriage, lots and lots of injections, probing ultrasounds and heartache, and of course another $32,000 later...I was finally blessed to carry Natalee Lynn to full term. And to top that off, her birth was uncomplicated and she came out just as perfect as perfect could be.

I am so thankful for God's grace and that He was able to answer my prayers and hold me tight all during the time when I was doubting Him and His plan during our journey. God knew what He was doing all along...how about that!?! He knew which two perfect children would be the ones that Ed and I would hold, love and raise. The journey was incredibly hard and I had my doubts throughout the roller coaster ride we call infertility, but we made it through to the other side holding two beautiful blessings from God.