My Journey into Motherhood: Encouragement from Nerida Walker

In 2011, I attended a mid week service at New Creation Church where Nerida Walker was preaching.

Hers is a  tremendously inspiring story of how God came through for her husband and her even though the doctors pronounced her husband as clinically sterile. I was very encouraged by her testimony and I've been following her on twitter since. A couple I know from church gave me her book "God's Plan for Pregnancy"and I was really blessed by it! The other book which I highly recommend is Jackie Mize's Supernatural Childbirth.

As I re-embark on my journey, I took this morning to encourage myself in the Word and used one of Nerida's blog posts to remember that God always comes through for His children. Her blog is called Faith & Fertility and it really encouraged me as I read about the promises of God in the bible and all the women who waited on the Lord for their baby. Check out her most recent post "Answers for Infertility".

I'm so glad that I didn't mope around this morning or watched TV. Instead, I found my faith renewed as I saw that I am not the first woman who is waiting on the Lord for a baby. And like the women in the bible, I will not be disappointed because our God is faithful.

Going through the bible and reading about these women, I learnt that these women were always loved by their husbands, their first born are always sons and their sons are always used mightily by God. These women all felt shame and disgrace when they could not conceive, but when God gave them a child, He exceeded all their expectations. You see, all they wanted was a baby, but God gave them a champion, called to do great things for His people (eg Joseph, Samuel and John).

My faith is renewed and my heart strengthened because there is not once where God did not come through. He is always a God that fulfils His promises.

If you'd like someone to pray for you with regards to having a baby, you should definitely watch this youtube video that Nerida posted. I just put a hand over my womb and as I played the video, I agreed with whatever that she was speaking forth. Hope this encourages you as much as it encouraged me.

My favourite verse out of all the verses she listed on her blog is:

 

You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.

Psalm 128: 2 -3

My Journey into Motherhood: Dilatation

After the failed IUI procedure in July 2012, my doctor recommended that I undergo a dilatation as my cervix was too small (which was what the doctor who administered the HSG procedure told me as well) and hopefully the next round of IUI would be more successful.

My dilatation was scheduled on Day 8 of my cycle at 10.30am in the morning.

At 10.45am, I was injected with anti-nauseus/pain killer and told to rest.

At 11am, the doctor started the procedure which basically involved inserting a metal rod into my cervix and leaving it there for a while to enlarge my cervix. Before all that, there was the whole process of injecting a local anasthetic near my cervix and that was PAINFUL but it was quick (thanks to my very efficient doctor). After the injection, I was told to wait for the anasthetic to take effect.

About 15 minutes later, the doctor tried inserting the metal rod. Because I was under anasthesia, I hardly felt a thing. Although I felt no pain, my husband who was in the room with me told me (after the procedure was over) that there was a lot of blood. I think he nearly fainted...

After some effort, the doctor finally successfully inserted the metal rod and pronounced that my cervix was so small it was the size of a pinhole! Maybe the reason why its always easier to get pregnant after the first child is because the cervix has naturally enlarged and the passage way for the little guys has widened.

I rested for about half an hour with the rod inserted in my cervix before the doctor came and removed the rod. After which he said I can rest in the clinic for another 15 minutes. The entire procedure took about an hour and a half, including resting time.

After that I was spotting for the next 5 days but there was no pain. This was much easier than the HSG procedure!

The whole procedure cost us about USD$100.

We went for another round of IUI in September 2012 but it was again not successful. At the 2nd IUI attempt, my doctor prescribed a course of progesterone support which cost USD$150 for a box of 15 applicators. This is called the "pregnancy hormone"as it thickens and prepares the lining of the uterus which helps in the implantation of a fertilized egg. It's basically applied like a tampon applicator. Very easy and since the cost is relatively low (having paid a lot more for the entire IUI procedure), we felt that if it increases the chances of us getting pregnant, we were prepared to pay for it.

At that time, we already knew that we were coming to Melbourne so we've also informed my doctor who strongly recommended that we proceed to IVF in Melbourne. We decided then to take a break from it all and just settle into our new life before we consider our options. As mentioned, we've made an appointment to see a gynaecologist in Melbourne and we are looking forward to his recommendation.

Moving to Melbourne: Hello from the most liveable city in the world!

Around the time I wrote my last post, my husband received an unbelievable job offer in Australia and he was given the choice of moving to Sydney or Melbourne. Well, that was the easiest decision ever!

We lived in Melbourne about 10 years ago whilst in university; Melbourne was just voted the most liveable city IN THE WORLD and we've got a couple of friends in Melbourne who could help us settle in.

So about 2 months after the incredible offer came in, we found ourselves in Melbourne!!!

Moving countries is CRAZY. Within 6 weeks, I had to find a place to rent in Melbourne, negotiate with our then landlord about releasing us from our contract, quit my job, sell our car, cancel stuff, consolidate stuff, attend hundreds of farewell lunches/dinners and oh yeah... organize to ship all the stuff we've accumulated over 10 years!!!

It was madness. I hope to write a post about that someday so that if and when we move again, I can have a roadmap to follow.

After 5 months of absence from my blog, I came back and found that hundreds of people have dropped by to read about my journey into motherhood. My journey took a hiatus whilst we made the move to Melbourne but it's going to continue very soon. It was a good hiatus because it allowed me to live my life and not think about cycles, injections, clomid etc for a while.

I've just made an appointment to see a gynaecologist here and I've found out that fertility treatments here are heavily subsidised (much like all other treatments & medications) which is great especially since I'm offically a homemaker now. I'm excited to re-embark on my journey to motherhood!