Bump Watch: Good things come to those who wait

May 20, 2014

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By Julie Griffith

I am a planner by nature. I typically have my major life milestones mapped out before me and am driven by successfully completing goals. My life plan was as follows: 1) Play soccer at Texas A & M – check! 2) Marry an amazing man – check! 3) Complete graduate school – check! 4) Buy a home – check! 5) Establish myself in my dream career at Texas Children’s – check! 6) Start a family – check……finally!

Like most young, healthy couples, we thought it would be a breeze for us to conceive. After more than a year of trying and no sign of a second pink line anywhere in sight, we decided to turn to the Family Fertility Center at the Pavilion for Women last October. After being given a small chance of conceiving naturally, we made the decision to take the next step and pursue IVF. Even though it can be emotionally challenging at times working at children’s hospital and being surrounded by pregnant women, we knew we were in the right place to achieve our goal of starting a family. Our revised baby making plan was as follows: 1) Complete all the necessary doctor’s appointments – check! 2) Attend the IVF class – check! 3) Sign the 27 page consent form – check! 4) “Take a break” and wait to begin the IVF process in the new year.

Then, one Sunday morning in November, on a bit of a whim, I decided to take a test. It had probably been more than six months since I had taken a pregnancy test, because I felt that my heart couldn’t handle the disappointment each month. Well, on this particular day those two beautiful pink lines shined through in all of their glory! I was flooded with emotion, from disbelief to extreme happiness! There was a part of me felt that it was cliché to finally get pregnant while “on a break,” but honestly, I could have cared less how it happened!

My husband, Tyler, was at the gym that morning and the 45 minute wait for him to get home was excruciating! As soon as he got home, I showed him the evidence (three positive pregnancy tests) that would change our lives forever. There were moments of shock and then joy knowing this was really happening!

We believe that our longer than anticipated journey towards starting a family has made us more appreciative of the many wonderful blessings of pregnancy and even more connected to our ultimate goal of having a healthy baby. I am now in my third trimester and have been fortunate to have a happy and healthy pregnancy so far. I think my doctor, Dr. Putterman, with Partners in Ob/Gyn Care, said it best, “Good things come to those who wait.” We have been actively taking advantage of all of the incredible classes and resources available to us at the Pavilion and are looking forward to sharing our journey to parenthood on Bump Watch.

Here’s to conquering life’s next milestones and preparing for our baby boy’s arrival this July!