I know that our God is one of redemption, but over the last two years, I have seen Him redeem my struggle with infertility and miscarriage in a very personal way and I would like to share my story as a way of encouraging others.

In January of 2018, my husband and I decided the time was right to grow our family, unfortunately, due to some ongoing medical issues, this would be a difficult road for us. Imagine my surprise when in late May of 2018, we saw two lines on a pregnancy test! We were thrilled and prepared to share our news with our families on Father’s Day. Unfortunately, just one week later on June 4th, I began to bleed and I just knew that this baby was not going to be coming home with us in February, as anticipated. The doctor allowed me to come in for an ultrasound, where there was nothing left, but an empty uterus, and our hearts broke for all the hopes and dreams we had made, even in just that short week.

We continued trying after getting the all clear from the doctor and even went forward with attempting Clomid, as we had planned before finding out about our little jellybean. After three rounds of unsuccessful Clomid and a period that arrived on my husband’s birthday, we took a break to try to reset and enjoy the holiday season with family. December 12th, with no medical intervention, we found out that we were expecting again! We were excited, but tried to reality check ourselves, as the excitement before had led to disappointment.

January 4th, exactly seven months after losing the first baby, we sat in the same ultrasound room, with the same doctor and ultrasound technician, crying as we watched a tiny little baby with a perfect heartbeat dance across the screen. I couldn’t ignore the fact that seven is the number of completion in the Bible and exactly seven months had passed from the day we lost our first baby until we saw our second little one with a healthy heartbeat.

Our pregnancy progressed healthily and we went on to find we were having a perfect baby girl. Shortly after this, we had a women’s event at our church and the song “It Is Well” was played. That song got me through the long days of grieving after our miscarriage and to sing it while our blessing kicked in my belly was truly healing.

June 4th, exactly one year after our loss, we had a doctor’s appointment where we got the first 3D picture of our little Bean’s adorable face and heard once again she was healthy and growing as planned. God knew I would need extra reassurance of our baby’s health on that day.

Finally, on August 22, National Rainbow Baby Day, our little girl made her safe arrival and we held the promise we had only dreamed of for so long. We named our sweet girl Elliana, which means “God has answered” and while she is definitely our answer to nearly two years of prayer, I know that God also answered my cries to heal my broken heart through this baby and pregnancy too. While we anxiously await the day that we get to meet our sweet angel baby and see his or her face in Heaven, we treasure the gift that Elliana is to us and we are so grateful for a God who redeems even the simplest things, like a day or a song.