Biggest Announcement Ever

Guess what!   Curtis and I are going to have a baby!  We are so incredibly happy and blessed and excited.  Our baby is due June 26th, 2011, which means I'm 13 weeks today.  I'm only sad because we won't find out if the baby is a boy or girl until sometime in February.  I don't know how I can wait that long, I wish we could have found out the gender the day we found out we were having a baby.  They should make a test that does that, don't you think?  I do.  Really though, not knowing the gender doesn't really make me sad, we couldn't be happier.

Baby Stallings - 8.5 weeks

We want to say thank you to our friends and family who prayed for us and supported us through the process of trying to get pregnant, and it was a process.  Without those special people to talk too and cry too, I'm not sure how I (we) would have kept on going with the whole process.  Thank you for being there! 

We want to tell you a little bit about the process we went through because we want to give the credit where credit is due - To God!  Now I know what it means when people say it's the miracle of life, it really is our miracle because without Him, this would not be happening. 

We have been trying to have a baby since May of 09.  I know that a lot of people try way longer than we did and they have way more complications than we did, but when you decide you're ready for this step in your life, every month that it doesn't happen feels like a failure, an eternity, and an empty spot in your arms and it hurts.

Turns out, I don't ovulate.  And of course, without an egg, there is no baby.  I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) and that means, my follicles never develop into eggs, just lots of cysts.  My ovaries look like bubble wrap - isn't that nice.  However, it took lots and lots of tests and seeing my regular doctor then seeing a fertility doctor for them to tell me that.  (Which is annoying).  So, we finally got started on the process of trying to make my body create eggs in mid-2010.  They recommended we do an IUI, which is an insemination of 'the goods' into my 'baby maker' to put everything in the right place at the right time.  Even this proves not to work every time.  Which is why I know without a doubt, that God gave us this baby.  The medicine and the doctors can only do so much.  The making of life is not controlled by those medicines and those procedures and tests.  It's only controlled by God.

So, I can't say that I handled infertility the way a Godly woman should have.  I had doubt and frustration and tears and anger and just a good ole' melt down.  But even though my faith was not strong, God is.  He knew when it was the right time for us.

I could go on and on about this whole process (the story can be very long), and if you want me too, I'll answer any questions, but the point is - We owe this miracle to God and we are so grateful He heard our prayers and the prayers of others and gave us this little baby.

To those of you who are trying to conceive, I know how these announcements of new babies can feel, please know that I wanted to share how God answered our prayers to hopefully encourage you. 

Love,
Stef