8 years ago

So I started my "Infertility" focused blog yesterday. But really this journey started 8 years ago for me. In June 2002 I had my daughter, precious baby girl, Madison Rae. At that point and time in my life, I was 22 years old, trying to finish college and in an unhappy abusive marriage. I knew without a doubt I did not want anymore kids with my husband at the time and I thought if we ever divorced (which was inevitable in my mind) no good man would ever want to marry a woman with two kids. So I had a tubal ligation and by choice made myself infertile (sad face here but I have forgiven my younger self for my indiscretions). This was the best option for me at the time.

A few years later I was single and absolutely not looking for a husband of any sort. They always say when you are not looking- you will find THE ONE- well that saying is true! I met Dustin Bryant in July 2006 but we were just friends until December 25, 2006, when we started liking each other in a more than friends way- weird how that just happens. June 13, 2007 we got engaged and November 17, 2007 we were married! What a whirlwind romance!

We love him and he loves us- all 3 of us- he is truly my knight in shining armor!

Now to the complicated reality of an infertile marriage...

I was clear in the beginning that I had a tubal ligation and we knew if chose to have children it would be a complicated, expensive process. Of course we knew we would have children because 1) I love him and would love to have kids with a good man whom I love and he loves me I have never had that before and 2) he does not have any children! And we want a Bryant Baby!

So for the last 3 years and 9 months we have been researching our options- IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), IUI (Artificial Insemination) and Tubal Reversal (a surgery put my tubes back together). I weighed the pros and cons, researched success rates, read blogs, participated in discussion boards and did LOTS of praying. It came down to this MICRO IVF would be the best option for us. (Don't worry I will expand on Micro in a later blog).

So we knew WHAT we were going to do to get pregnant but WHO would be the perfect man or woman IVF doc for the job?

Hhhhmmm....an entire world of options awaited us....