Our Infertility Story, Pt. 1

I thought I'd take a minute to share our infertility story:

Caleb and I decided to start trying to have a child at the very beginning of October 2009. I've known since I was 14 that I would have difficulty getting pregnant. My brother and I are 7 years apart. My mother and her sister are 11 years apart. My father and his sister are 6 years apart, and my cousin is 14 years younger than me, born when my aunt was 37. Needless to say, we are not an especially reproductive family! In many ways this has been a blessing- I am very close to all of my extended family because we are such a small family. On the other had, it has made me painfully aware that poor reproductive genetics run rampant in my family.

To make things worse, Caleb's parents also had problems conceiving Caleb's younger brother, who is 4 years younger than him. They originally wanted 3 children but decided to stop at two because of how emotionally draining having their second was. Now that I'm going through it myself, I completely understand!

Anyway, 2 years ago we decided to start trying. Caleb had just turned 28, I was 26, and we'd been married for 1 1/2 years. We owned our own home (we closed on our condo the same day we became engaged) and we both have decent-paying, reliable jobs. I knew it would take us a couple of years to have a child and I was anxious to start. Caleb wasn't really ready, but he knew how important this was to me so he agreed to start trying.

After over a year of trying on our own, we decided to see a specialist. The next day, we got the both exciting and crushing news that Caleb's younger brother was expecting. As anyone who has had difficulty conceiving can tell you, having close friends and relatives become pregnant can be terribly painful even while being joyful at the same time. I was very excited to become an aunt. However, it was also painful to have been trying for so long and have someone else succeed where we were failing. I know that may sound awful to some people, but that's how I honestly felt.

Well, that's enough for today. I'll continue on tomorrow...