Featured Friday: Erin from Hoping for Our Own Peanut
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| Erin with her husband Tom and sons Gavin and Trevor |
Tell us a little bit about your family.
My husband, Tom, and I just celebrated six years of marriage. We have two sons, Trevor who is 2.5 and Gavin who is 3 months. We live in a suburb of Chicago
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| Trevor |
You are now a happy mother of two beautiful boys but from reading your blog we see that it took quite the ride to get there. Tell us about how you first came to discover you were infertile and what you felt.
Gosh, let me take a minute to let my mind rewind! Tom and I got married young. We wanted children right away. While most people our age were worried about where they were headed drinking Friday night, we were worried about why every pregnancy test only had one line on it. We tried on our own for about 9 months and then decided to see a specialist. Honestly, I couldn’t believe I had to make that appointment. A lot of infertile women say they had a feeling they would struggle getting pregnant. I never had that feeling! I went to my first RE(fertility doctor) appointment at 20 years old. We had every test under the sun done and everything looked great. We fall under the unexplained infertility category. I think that was/is more frustrating than simply being diagnosed. You are considered infertile if you have been trying to get pregnant for a year with no luck. Not knowing why we can not get pregnant was/is a harder pill to swallow.
IVF seems to be the final step to conceiving a child in the infertile world. Did you try other options first and if so what were they?
Yes! We did a few months of clomid with monitoring. I always have great response but no pregnancy. We moved on to IUIs with injectibles. I did four months of those before deciding to move forward with IVF.
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| Gavin |
Many women feel very alone when they struggle with infertility. What advice can you give them?
Go online!! I have made some lifelong friends via my blog. There is something about finding someone who knows exactly how you feel. I have gotten the best support from my blog, in good times and in bad. My other advice would be to be open about your struggle. Of course, that is not for everybody. But, it’s the only way you’ll find someone in real life that may have the same issues you do. 1 in 8 couples suffers from infertility. Chances are, some of your friends and family are dealing with a similar issue!
Having two boys now, do you see yourself having more children?
Yes, please!! I have always wanted 5 children. Tom jokes that 5 is a circus and 4 is plenty. J We made the agreement that if we get twins next time, we will be done. There is a big gamble doing another cycle because there is always a chance of multiples. I will be seeing my RE this summer to get the ball rolling..
Has infertility affected your marriage at all?
Oh, yes! It has made our marriage SO MUCH stronger. Our dream of being parents wasn’t handed to us. We had to work for it. Make sacrifices. But, we suffered together. Tom cringed while giving me shots. He held my hand as we waited to see if our baby had a heartbeat. He cried when I miscarried. He told me everything would be okay. He is my best friend and greatest support. I love him so much more than I could have imagined. And yes, I do attribute lot of it to our infertility struggle. That and watching him as a father to our sons!
Tell us about your sons.
How much time do you have? Haha
Trevor is the best. He is at such a fun age. He is super active..running, climbing, playing sports. He is smart. He can recognize every letter of the alphabet and spell his name. He loves books and could be read to all day. He is all boy and yet the biggest sweetheart. He says the funniest things. His love for his younger brother is intense and I am constantly amazed at how natural it was for him.
Gavin is such a little snuggler! His favorite spot to cuddle and sleep is mine or Tom’s chests. He smiles and talks all day long. He just rolled over and found his feet. He is a peanut compared to Trevor. He brings so much joy to our family and has made our hearts a little bit fuller.
Thank you for reading and thanks, Bren, for this opportunity!
You can find me bloggin’ over at www.terobertson.blogspot.com.
My email is TERobertson18@aol.com.
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