The Creation of a Girl - aka - Happy Birthday Miss Boo!

One of the most frustrating feelings in the world is wanting a baby, and not being able to have one. In the spring of 2000, we were ready for another baby.  Mason was almost 5, we wanted to give him a brother or sister, and we wanted another baby to love.  A year later, nothing...my doctor ran some tests.  All looked "normal".  6 months later, still nothing. Maddening!  We went to see an infertility specialist in Dayton.  We were tired of waiting for it to "just happen on its own".  In the fall of 2001 we started treatments - first Clomid (that stuff can make you crazy!) and then shots to stimulate the ovaries and more shots to get the eggies to release. Some weeks there were 2 or 3 trips to Dayton for doctor appointments and ultrasounds to make sure my ovaries weren't going to explode. Other weeks it was just the wait, wait, wait and obsess...am I pregnant yet?

By the spring of 2002, we had done 5 months of treatment, including 4 inseminations (that is what leads to things like sextuplets and Jon&Kate Plus 8). Each month the frustration and worry were getting worse.  Finally, the doctor suggested in vitro fertilization (IVF).  At the beginning of the whole infertility treatment I had thought "never", we wouldn't go as far as IVF.  Now, it was a different story.  We had baby stepped our way right up to it and it seemed impossible not to take the next step.

So, in June 2002, I stabbed myself with hundreds of needles again and on June 18th we went and had the egg retrieval.  It was an incredibly fascinating process. After getting a shot of an amazing painkiller, the doctor went in with an ultrasound guided needle, sucked out some eggs (apparently you can't numb your ovaries, thus the other pain med) and put them in a petri dish.  We ended up with 12 eggs total. By the next day, 11 of the 12 had fertilized. They watched the eggs in the lab after that to monitor how they are doing and if I would have a 3 or 5 day transfer of the eggs (it depended on how well they "grew out").  I was able to call the lab and check in to see how they were doing.  On Sunday, June 23rd, I had 2 of the eggs transferred straight into the ol' uterus.  I loved how black and white the process was up to this point.  No guessing as to what was going right or wrong along the way.  I knew we had eggs, I knew we had fertilization and now I knew they were where they needed to be.  But at this point, it was more waiting and hoping and praying that this would result in a pregnancy.
9 days later I was ecstatic to get a positive pregnancy result!  Our first ultrasound was on July 29th and we saw the baby bean, a heartbeat and a wiggly little body.

20 week ultrasound

Fast forward to Monday, March 10, 2003 - I got Mason off to school, met a friend for lunch and then went to Kohl's to do a little shopping.  Walking around, I felt something trickle down my leg (yeah, I thought I was having bladder issues).  I checked out and went home, got Mason from school and tried to lay down for a bit. I was still have the trickle issues.  Finally I called the doctor who told me to come on in to Riverside. The nurse checked me - and said "Guess what? You're having a baby!".
And sure enough, after a little pitocin and a few pushes, Ella Margaret Patrica Lynn was born at 11:20 pm, all 6 pounds 11 oz and 20 inches of her. Our miracle girl was here. Finally.

Happy 8th Birthday Ella Boo!

We love you and are so glad you found your way to our family!