Cheryl & Ryan

Here's a story: Boy and girl meet at age 12 and 13. Boy and girl grow up together. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl eventually get married at age 21 and 22. It's a beautiful wedding. It's a difficult but beautiful marriage (really what good marriage isn't?). Fast forward about 6 months later. It's Christmas and they are with all of their family (and trust me, it's not small) and she starts to feel a pull in her heart, an ache, and she knows that she wants something more. That's how we started. We wanted more. We found that we loved each other more than anything and we wanted to share that love with a little person that would have their Fathers' brains and their Mothers' taste. It didn't take long for us to figure out that things just... weren't working right. We knew to begin with that we would probably have at least a small struggle. My family has a history of fertility issues ranging from thyroid problems to endometriosis to PCOS-- which is what I have, (I'm sure we'll get into what all of those things ARE in a later blog post) but there was always that hope in the back of my mind that maybe MAYBE it would be different for me. MAYBE it wouldn't be difficult and I would get pregnant right off. Unfortunately, that's not the way that it happened. So it's been almost 4 years. 4 years full of heartache and pain. 4 years full of herbal treatments, birth control, prescription drugs, at least 1200 Ovulation tests, Negative Pregnancy tests, Fertility books, advice (usually unsolicited and insensitive-- although very well intentioned)and tears. It's also been full of love and an opportunity to come closer to my husband and to my Father in Heaven. This struggle has taught me how to be patient and that I can't control everything, no matter how much I'd like to. So we keep trying, and someday, someday we will have our children gathered around us, and we will teach them the things that we are learning now. :)