My husband and I had been trying for a baby for 2 1/2 years. I am now 33, and he is 38. I had previous complications from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy before I met him, which caused scarring and the loss of my tube. Little did we think that would ultimately cause us to pursue an <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a> journey this past September after years of trying naturally and multiple hormones.

Through the <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a> process I learned a lot more about the "whys" behind my infertility than I had with my regular OBGYN. It wasn't just my scarring or only having one tube. I learned I had an ovulatory disorder that caused me to only release an egg maybe twice a year, where women on average do this 9 times a year. We also learned on my husbands end, his sperm morphology was an issue, meaning the "shape" of the head is not ideal for penetrating the egg. After all this, we began our preliminary exams and soon after my day was full of supplements, blood tests, at home shots and ultrasounds. It was hard. No, unbelievably hard. Your body, nerves, emotions, physical and emotional state are all jolted. As my ovaries grew bigger over the course of 10 days of shots, the retrieval proved to be the hardest step. Due to my elevated state of pain from nerve damage resulting from my previous ectopic, my pain tolerance turned out to be minimal and I was in significant pain afterward. The good news was they retrieved 25 eggs, which 15 turned out to be mature. They decided to inject my husbands sperm vs letting it "naturally" occur in the lab due to his morphology, and 5 days later we were down to 3 mature blastocysts that were strong options for transfer. We did our first single egg transfer on Halloween. And 9dp5dt on Nov 9th, our beta test showed hcg levels at a 61. We are pregnant! Two days later today, my hcg is at 124, doubled from 2 days ago. Now, I can't seem to keep my hands off my belly or keep myself from talking to it already. It's the most beautiful and amazing feeling after all we went through for years.

The reason I wanted to share my story is that I know how hopeless I was in moments regardless how your supposed to stay positive. I remember the tears each month when my period showed up. The time spent "timing" things and charting it all, all the while seeing everyone else I knew having babies. My stomach and heart were always in knots and pain. It's hard. There's truly no words to describe exactly how it feels to be let down month after month. But there's light there! Don't give up. Don't let defeat take over what your true goal is. Embrace the reason you wanted a baby together in the first place. Love each other. Keep your faith. Let this process be something that makes your marriage or relationship with your SO stronger. I'll be praying for all of you. 💕