God’s glory. Whole story.
He was there in the waiting, and He’s been just as present in all the rejoicing.
I don’t want to let this sweet season slip away without documenting and sharing the ways that He has truly brought about a miracle in our little family.
The story starts back in late July when I had an important appointment with my fertility care provider. I’ve shared before that I see a doctor who is very conservative in his approach to treating infertility. At this time, I had not started any type of ovulation medication; instead, I had been taking progesterone in order to help regulate my cycles and, hopefully, regulate ovulation. I had been taking progesterone for several months and documenting my cycles and fertility signs. We were going to discuss starting ovulation medication at this appointment after gathering all of that information.
I went into the appointment hopeful but left pretty shaken up. After reviewing all of my fertility charting and past lab work, my doctor admitted that he was stumped. He was very fair in his presentation, but he basically told us that he had never seen cycles like mine on progesterone. He did not think I was ovulating often if at all. He didn’t have a clear next step for us. And out of something like 700 couples, this is the first time he had seen a chart like mine.
It was devastating, to say the least. When your body seems to be failing you, the last thing you want to hear is that you’re included in the small percentage of more severe malfunctioning.
He recommended that we visit a specialist a few hours away to get a second opinion as well as discuss potential surgery for PCOS. In the meantime, we could try ovulation medication during my next cycle, but he wasn’t sure it would do anything.
We were happy to still have options and immediately made the appointment for mid-August before I started my master’s program. We made a long weekend out of it and spent some sweet time together.
While at the appointment, the doctor was very informative and told us she thought ovulation medication would help me based on what she was seeing, which was very encouraging. I could try that for six months before considering surgery more seriously. She also did an ultrasound and some blood work. Based on those, she told me I had definitely ovulated that cycle.
I didn’t believe her. But I was excited to hear that there was hope for us.
I had been praying specifically for a while that we would conceive without using any kind of ovulation medication. I have nothing against it, I just found peace in praying big prayers like those when they felt so impossible. On the days I was particularly weary and down, it was comforting to say aloud: God, you can make this happen without medicine. You are bigger than anything that is wrong with my body. I believe you can make a miracle happen.
I never thought that it would actually happen for us that way. Especially during my very last cycle before we were supposed to start the medication.
But it did. Because God loves to show off His power and rain blessings on His children like that.
It was Tuesday, August 25th when I got a positive pregnancy test. It was four short days after we had seen the specialist. It was also the day after I started my master’s program.
There wasn’t any big reason I took a test that morning before joining Dellan in the living room for coffee and devotions. I would test pretty often just out of curiosity and kept a big bag of cheap test strips in our bathroom.
I had no reason to believe the test would be positive, but it was.
I was elated, to put it plainly, and decided I would keep the news from Dellan until that night so I could think of a way to surprise him. My dreams of a cute reveal didn’t come true, however, because I had online class from the minute I got home from work until late in the evening. After class, Dellan suggested we walk to the local ice cream shop, and I told him on a park bench while we ate. He was just as confused and excited as I was, and we literally skipped part of the way home because we couldn’t contain ourselves.
I called the fertility specialist a few days later to tell her the news, and she said she already had a hunch. When she had seen us the week before, it looked like I could be pregnant, but she didn’t want to get my hopes up. I still can’t believe that incredible detail in the story God gave us.
From that point on, it’s been a whirlwind of telling family and friends and experiencing all the details of pregnancy. It hasn’t been easy to work full-time, be in school full-time, and grow a baby full-time, but it has also been so special. I’m becoming a counselor and a mom, and it feels like my dreams are coming true.
In just a couple of weeks, we will know whether we’re having a baby boy or a baby girl. I am team girl while Dellan is team boy, but we will be so excited either way. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for this little one.
Thanks for reading along, and thank you for praying for us. He is a God who hears.
In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
Psalm 18:6 (ESV)
Gabrielle Ruth Writes 