Our Baby Announcement: The Highs and The Lows

This announcement first appeared on my old blog It’s a Sparkly Life. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to carry it over to the new site! While pregnancy is exciting and fun, infertility is something that needs to be talked about more. I hope by sharing my story, I can make someone else’s infertility journey a little less painful.

Oh hey baby!

It feels so surreal to be putting these words into writing. Because once it’s on the internet, it’s got to be true right?!

Well three ultrasounds and several weeks of all day sickness and fatigue seem to agree that there’s a baby on the way! I’ll spare you the details of the other symptoms!

Ara and I are over the moon and so excited to be on this new journey. God willing our little new addition will make it’s way to us at the end of July. That would make me just over 14 weeks if you were trying to do the math 😉

Baby announcements can be a lot to process these days though especially if you’re having a difficult time on that journey yourself. With all those Instagram posts and Facebook announcements, it can be overwhelming and quite frankly, depressing. I know this for a fact, because that was my life for the longest time.

Every picture, every announcement, every sonogram snap- it hurt. It was a constant reminder of how difficult it was for us to get pregnant. What hurt most was not the actual announcements- it was the fact that it seemed so easy for everyone else.

While we were on our journey towards getting pregnant, I vowed that I would be honest when my turn finally came. Because I wouldn’t want someone like me to feel that same twinge of sadness, hurt and mostly disappointment.

So here’s our truth

It took us over three years to get to this point. Three long years filled with trying on our own, loads of doctors appointments and tests, several failed IUI rounds with injectables, and finally IVF. It was not an easy journey. It was not without tears, pain or heartache. It was long and it seemed never-ending at times.
But in the end we were lucky enough to make it work. We were lucky to come out stronger as a couple (this was one of my fears going into because I’d heard that sometimes couples really struggled throughout infertility). And we were so lucky that we were financially able to go down that road of IVF. I know not everyone is so fortunate.

So why share our news if I know it could potentially sadden someone else’s day?

I wanted to show that not every pregnancy is easy to come by. If you’re having a difficult time conceiving, you’re not alone. There are countless women just like you, going through the same motions. And it is all worth it once you know there is a baby on the way- whatever way that may be. You have to just put one foot in front of the other, do what you have to do to get through that day, and know that your time will come. IVF can seem so isolating and daunting- you feel like you got the short end of the stick whilst other women are literally getting pregnant left and right. I wanted to share the truth behind our announcement because it’s real and was a long time in the making.

These balloons? They were not easy to come by. They cost thousands of dollars, loads of tears, sleepless nights and tons of stress.

Unfortunately there’s a stigma and a huge cloud over fertility issues that exist. People still don’t really like to talk about these issues that so many women have. Here’s some quick facts for you: about six percent of women in the US are unable to get pregnant within one year of trying. And ten percent of women have a hard time getting pregnant or maintaining those pregnancies. Those aren’t small numbers. We often feel so alone through this journey but we don’t need to. We need to be able to talk about it and normalize it. Because it is quite normal.

Prior to our success with IVF I could count the number of people whom I knew had similar issues with one hand. Now? After being open to our friends about our journey, that number is in the high teens. We’ve had people open up about their problems and journeys and I’m so thankful for their honesty. I in turn wanted to be honest with all of you.

If you have any questions about our story or just need someone to chat about in regards to your own, I’m always here. Feel free to send me an email, or a message and I will always get back to you.

I’m excited for what the rest of this year has to bring- I’m still scared and nervous. It feels too good to be true sometimes and I can stress about that if I let my mind get the better of me. But for now I’m going to enjoy the moment that I’ve been waiting for.

Thanks for reading,

xx

Gigi

(For those of you who want a closer look into our journey, Part 1 of my q & a into our story is up here)