Over the summer I wrote several pieces about our struggle to conceive and start a family. The response to those pieces, mixed as it was, was overwhelmingly supportive. I heard from friends and strangers alike who shared with me that they too were struggling with infertility. We offered comfort to each other and continued to share our stories. And then, life just continued. Because that’s what happens; everyone’s life just continues. Even when you want to scream and cry and give up on everything, life just continues.

And that’s what I did, too. Everyday; for more than a year.

My husband and I have been together for nine years. One thing we’ve routinely discussed is having a family. It’s something we both want. We didn’t want to raise a family in Dallas where we lived when we first met, so we moved to Kansas City to be closer to family. We got jobs that we really enjoy, bought a house, and were ready to start a family. And then we couldn’t.

In my job, I coordinate and plan things; meetings, projects – for clients and internally. So, I’m a planner by nature. We had planned for everything – except infertility. We had tests run and the results came back fine. There wasn’t anything the doctors could find that would be preventing conception. Unexplained infertility, they said. I didn’t find any comfort in that.

I tried a lot of different things to help, acupuncture, mindful breathing techniques during stressful times at work, exercise, diet changes, adding fertility enhancing foods, cutting out as many processed foods as I could. None of it worked. So I switched to modern medicine, Clomid. I tried round after round and it didn’t work.

Until one round did – the third and final round. After more than a year of mindfully trying to start a family, I am so happy to share with you all that my husband and I will become parents next summer!

 I want to extend my deepest thanks to everyone that offered support, a kind word, or just a shoulder to cry on. It’s meant the world to me and to my husband.