Perfect....

I believe our group of friends has been inordinately blessed this year.  So many of us have been given the blessing of a child, and after 4 years of trying Mike and I received this gift too.  I know there are still some friends of ours that are trying or have not even thought about kids yet, but this has been an exciting year.  To know that our Lil Sunshine has so many friends that are going to be roughly the same age as her... well, that is super exciting to think of all the gatherings and watching them all grow up together.

It has been such a journey to get to this point.  When we finally learned we were pregnant, Mike had found out 2 days before that his cancer had returned.  Talk about some serious talks we had at the point. We were talking about adoption and what our options were. I did not wish to give up the hope we might conceive, but I had come to the conclusion that perhaps it was not in our cards to have that happen. With my mental health issues, and Mike's cancer.... well, we figured at that point to just let things happen as they may but consider adopting.
I have to thank, however, the Seattle Reproductive Clinic.  We had previously gone to the Gyft Clinic (which I would NEVER suggest anyone to do). The Gyft Clinic performed all these tests on me, which our insurance covered because of my thyroid problems, except one key test (never mentioned to me). They also did a study on Mike.  One evaluation. That was it.  Based on this information they stated we would have to do IVF. This is the most expensive procedure there is for fertility.  Oh my gawd!!! They also did not consider my mental health issues at all and said I would need to take progesterone until I became pregnant.  (Enter the sound of money being flushed down the toilet). Progesterone does all kinds of funky things with my emotions. Add that on top of mental illness, equals a lot of extra emotions floating around. This was all in June 2009. For several months I went round-a-bout with the nurses there, and was not treated very respectfully. It was not looking hopeful.

I saw my midwife/obgyn in Feb. 2010, and I discussed with her what had occurred. She asked if the Gyft clinic had done an HSG?  (Where they squirt ink into the fallopian tubes to see if there are any blockages). I said no, they hadn't. Didn't even know what it was. That was when she suggested my going to the Seattle Reproductive clinic, because she knew that the Gyft clinic would proceed to the most expensive procedure before trying to solve things or try little things first. She also knew that I would be treated with more respect and that SRM would really take into consideration how any procedures might impact my mental health.

I saw Dr. Lynn Ryan in Tacoma at SRM in May of last year.  She said that often, there may be a blockage but that the procedure of an HSG often unblocks them and women become pregnant 3-6 months later. Otherwise, I looked good to go. Mike saw Dr. Tom Walsh in Seattle at SRM in June, and found out that his radiation could have impacted some issues. He started Mike off on some supplements. Two months later, we discovered we were pregnant.  Talk about a blessing!! Without the use of any major medical procedures, too.  I believe that Seattle Reproductive clinic treated us with much more respect and gave us hope, even if we considered adopting. (As there are so many kids out there that deserve good parents, this is still an option for us.)

So, here we are 11 months later and we have the most beautiful little girl! We truly could not imagine a more special gift and how blessed we are.  So this is my shout out to Seattle Reproductive Medicine.  You guys rock, and we have a beautiful girl to show for it!!