Sunday, July 20, 2014

L.C.'s Story - God is Good!



Thank you to L.C. for sharing her story on her journey with us.  Stories of edometriosis and infertility tend to go hand-in-hand, but is (again!) something we don't talk about openly.  Also, something we have not touched on yet in this blog is the power of God in these situations.  L.C.’s story truly shows the power He has. 

For as long as I can remember I’ve suffered with painful menstrual cycles, so painful I missed school and work. My doctor tried several different birth controls over the years, but nothing seemed to help with the pain. He was 90% sure I had endometriosis, but wouldn’t know for sure unless we did surgery. I had laparoscopic surgery and found out I did have endometriosis. My doctor told my husband and I we weren’t going to worry about infertility unless we reached that point. I was still in pain after the surgery so I was given a Lupron shot for six months, this still didn’t help. He finally decided to put me on two different forms of birth control and I would take them continuously throughout the month, meaning I wouldn’t have a cycle. I was finally getting some relief from the pain and this worked out great up until my husband and I decided we wanted to have children. I stopped taking the birth control and was told we would have to manage the pain, unfortunately for me that meant pain medication. We tried for several months and nothing was happening, I was in so much pain and it only seemed to get worse each month.

 My doctor decided because I was in so much pain and had endometriosis that we needed to get me pregnant as soon as possible so he referred me to a fertility specialist. We made an appointment and went in for a days’ worth of testing; we answered questions no one ever wants to answer; it was horrible. There were some things that my husband and I weren’t willing to try, we just felt like this was such a God thing. We tried several procedures, shots, etc.  It had come to the point where we had tried everything we were willing to and we just knew we were pregnant this month. I went in one Monday morning and had my blood drawn for a pregnancy test, the nurse said she would call me with the results. She didn’t call until 4:30 that afternoon; it was such a long day. I left work, met my husband and listened to the voice mail to find out that I was not pregnant. We were devastated and felt like we were at a dead end. I cried all night and neither one of us got any sleep. A day passed and I decided I was not going back to that doctor despite what several people thought; I needed a break. The doctor was telling us I had all of these problems and that my husband and I would not be able to do this on our own.

 I decided that day that I wasn’t going to get any more help or take any more medication. I thought God can do this; God can give us a child. I handed everything over to Him that day and told Him I knew He could do it. It was hard to let go and not get any help, but know this was The Lord because I couldn’t have done this on my own. I woke up the next day feeling like a new person and I knew this was his peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 A month passed and I was late, I took two pregnancy tests and they were both negative. I called my regular doctor, he said it was common to have an irregular cycle or to skip your cycle when you stop taking fertility drugs. This eased my mind, but I still thought you never know what God is up to. I decided not to take another test unless I had some symptoms. A few days passed and I started to feel a little strange, but wasn’t sure if it was all in my head. I told my husband how I was feeling, he laughed and said that’s nausea go take another test. I took one first thing the next morning and it was positive. I left the fertility doctor in February, handed everything over to The Lord and got pregnant in March. I’ve been to the doctor several times now and he says that everything is perfect and that we have a healthy baby. Praise The Lord! We are so thankful for what we’ve been through and the journey the Lord has us on, and we look forward to what’s to come.

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