Two and a half years ago I thought being pregnant was the only thing that mattered. I was consumed by it. It also didn’t help that I watched over 50 COUPLES get pregnant and announce it on Facebook…but who’s counting. I ask myself how come 100 people were able to become parents, but not us?
Let’s back up though. How did we get to two and a half years later? Well, in Jan/Feb 2009, Rob and I thought it would be a good time to start our family. After 6 months, of negative pregnancy tests, I thought something might be wrong. We decided that if after a year of trying, we hadn’t conceived, we would go to a fertility clinic.
Cue February 2010 and our first visit to a local fertility clinic. We had a myriad of invasive tests and questions we had to face. Six months of appointments, drugs, the last month which included an injection in my tummy…we still got a big fat negative.
The cost of treatment was getting to be too much, not to mention the emotional, physical and mental drain on your body. Infertility can be used by Satan as a foothold to get between you and your spouse. Rob and I have been completely open about this with one another and our close friends. When you’re both striving for something whole heartedly and it doesn’t happen you can get disillusioned and it causes you to have some serious introspection. “Why doesn’t God want to bless me in this way? How come all our friends are pregnant? Why do I feel like no one cares?”
If you’ve never had to go through something like this, it’s hard to really understand how it feels. Resolve, the National Infertility Association, compares the struggle of infertility to that of a cancer patient. You deal with the loss of self esteem, loss of security, loss of control, loss of anticipation–after so many negative results you just start losing hope. The biggest that goes unnoticed to “outsiders” is the loss of someone. Every month that is not a success, its like mourning a death…and then you have the loss of health/body image because you weren’t able to produce a life. All of these emotions can wreak havoc on a relationship. And I believe–I truly believe, Satan loves to use this struggle to come between husband and wife. You feel inadequate and the quiet whispers of “God must be punishing you…you’re not a real man or woman…your name won’t live on,” well, that can bring you down quite a bit.
So at the kitchen counter in July 2010, we looked at the monetary costs of another round of treatment…$2,000. (Did I mention insurance covers zero)? We discussed our emotions and we affirmed that NOTHING was more important than our relationship with each other and with God. And that this struggle was getting a foothold in our lives and that needed to stop. I cried all weekend, but I knew it was the right decision. So from July 2010 to September 2011 we didn’t do any fertility treatments. I had some acupuncture and did yoga for stress relief, but we put our biggest desire on hold for more than a year as we tried to sort though what God was trying to teach us.
October 29th, 2015 at 10:15 pm
Hi, my name is Joanne…I m 29.. I’ve been struggleling with infertility from 7 years now….7 hard years… I used to believe in God’s perfect plan for me…I ve always said that He has His perfect time for me…He will remember me and my pain…He will bless me with a baby….but nothing happend…in all these years we’ve been praying so much, we’ve been fighting… I use to cry and pray day and night… It was the hardest time I have ever had in my life…I m sure you know what I am talking about… now I m so dawn….I have no hope…we would like so much to adopt, but we don t have enough money for that pray for me, please God bless you an your family ( PS: I m rumanian, but I live in Spain, so please excuse my english ).
October 30th, 2015 at 12:44 am
Joanne, thank you for commenting and sharing your heart. I totally understand where you’re coming from. God’s timing can be incredibly difficult sometimes b/c it often may not align with ours and trusting and waiting is hard. I try to remember, and this isn’t easy, but we can only see right in front of us, but God has the full picture. Our lives are better entrusted into his hands than our own. I’ll pray for you, please remember your hope is in the Lord. Your full hope…and Christ is your reward. Xoxo