Faces of Infertility: Brandi & Kareem

In celebration of "National Infertility Awareness Week", I am featuring stories of infertility this week. These are all guest posts that I hope will put a real face on this devastating disease. Please spread the word and share these stories!

Kareem and I married in 2005, and we started trying for children immediately. When it didn't happen, we just put it off as it just wasn't time. But after about three years we were suspicious, and went to the find out what was going on.  

After quite a few uncomfortable procedures we found out that my fallopian tubes were blocked and couldn't be unblocked. And even though my husband had millions of sperm, they weren't all ideal. 

So with the military's help we were able to try IVF in 2009. I was in tip-top shape, and I was confident it would work. 

And of course it didn't. 

I was devastated but didn't have the time to wallow because I decided to start nursing school, and my husband left on a six-month deployment.

So for the next two years, we were hoping for a miracle so we wouldn't have to go through that again. Everyone said that it usually happens on it is own after you have a failed IVF. Well it didn't happen. 

So we tried again in 2012, when I was not in tip-top shape and was working crazy hours in a Labor and Delivery unit. 

And this time it worked. Because of the field I work in, I didn't believe it was true or going to last or anything. I didn't want to be hopeful. So in my mind I just wanted a healthy baby. We didn't care the sex of the baby, just that he or she would make it and be healthy. I see horror stories daily, and I just didn't want to be one of them. 

With God's grace we delivered or nugget October 26th of 2012! And all of the crazy stuff I dealt with during the pregnancy was worth it in that one moment. I was 34 when I had Kristian Octavian, and we thought we better use up these eggs we froze before I got too old. So we went through a round of FET in September of 2013. 

It was so hard on my body physically that we made the decision if this didn't work we weren't going to try again. The shots were horrible for IVF, but way worse with FET (a frozen embryo transfer) because I had to add an injection in my leg every three days. I was mentally exhausted and physically off from all of the hormones. 

We are now eight months pregnant and I can't wait to meet our second little nugget. It's been a journey, and I wouldn't change a thing. God has been great to us, and we feel blessed everyday when we get our child out of his crib in the morning. I think how did we get so lucky? And we know we will feel 
the same about our little girl on the way!

(Please note that all parts of this article are the opinion of the guest writer and not necessarily viewpoints that I personally share)