The Long Road to Parenthood: Callie&Alan Mitchell
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It is a little long, but it is from the heart. Please feel free to read if you have time, and thank you for doing so, from the bottom of my heart.
Three words: are you sure? I must have said them about 50 times when the nurse practitioner from the fertility clinic told me I was pregnant. Three years, ten months, three weeks, and however many days, and it was my turn. Instead of planning the baby showers, making cakes for birthday parties, answering patients' questions for the 5 pregnant coworkers with whom I worked, liking and loving pictures of my nieces, nephew, and second cousins after they're born... it was my turn! No more trigger shots, no more follistem shots, no pregnancy side effects from countless medicines I took with nothing to show, no more laparoscopy surgeries, no "I am so sorry, but better luck next cycle" messages. We had finally done it. My husband, my best friend, and I were going to have a baby. I felt I was in a dream. All the days I spent so sick from fertility medicines/treatments not able to get out of bed, had all paid off. And not at a better time. Three days after my grandfather passed away from Covid... I was pregnant. I handed my husband the "world's raddest dad" mug I had bought back 2 years ago when I had thought I was pregnant, I could actually give it to him! My father's broken heart, from the loss of his father, suddenly had hope. I saw his smile return.
All my labs were "amazing!" They were right on track. I was elated the first time I vomited with morning sickness. It was the day of my first ultrasound to see the baby.
It was at this visit, six words destroyed me: if this were a normal pregnancy... I turned to my husband, tears seeping through his mask, breath shaking, as the doctor told us the news: ectopic pregnancy. My lining was "beautiful", my levels were "progressing perfectly", the nurses had "a great feeling about this!" The words ran through my mind, on a horrible loop that smashed my broken heart. As we waited for the emergency surgery, my husband told me I was the most important thing in his life; then he kissed me, and they wheeled me away.
When we got home, I was lying in bed and my husband collected the pregnancy planning books and new born onesies we acquired, through sputtering tears I said, "this will not defeat us. God wants us to have a baby. This was not the right baby. We will do this."
They had to remove one of my fallopian tubes. The inflammation was so severe that it was life threatening. But I have hope. I do. My grandmother always says, "you live life in reverse. It will make sense when you get through it." And we will get through it. The love I have with my husband will grow and it will be extended through our future child.
My insurance says IVF is "not medically necessary". Actually, according to BCBS employee program, nothing we have paid for is necessary. I know I am not trying to re-populate the earth, but what my insurance does not know is how my family needs this baby and how this baby will save so many people. To give them hope and an outlet for my love and my husband's love.
IVF, which the doctor is saying is our safest and most likely chance, on our own is impossible.
Three words: are you sure? I must have said them about 50 times when the nurse practitioner from the fertility clinic told me I was pregnant. Three years, ten months, three weeks, and however many days, and it was my turn. Instead of planning the baby showers, making cakes for birthday parties, answering patients' questions for the 5 pregnant coworkers with whom I worked, liking and loving pictures of my nieces, nephew, and second cousins after they're born... it was my turn! No more trigger shots, no more follistem shots, no pregnancy side effects from countless medicines I took with nothing to show, no more laparoscopy surgeries, no "I am so sorry, but better luck next cycle" messages. We had finally done it. My husband, my best friend, and I were going to have a baby. I felt I was in a dream. All the days I spent so sick from fertility medicines/treatments not able to get out of bed, had all paid off. And not at a better time. Three days after my grandfather passed away from Covid... I was pregnant. I handed my husband the "world's raddest dad" mug I had bought back 2 years ago when I had thought I was pregnant, I could actually give it to him! My father's broken heart, from the loss of his father, suddenly had hope. I saw his smile return.
All my labs were "amazing!" They were right on track. I was elated the first time I vomited with morning sickness. It was the day of my first ultrasound to see the baby.
It was at this visit, six words destroyed me: if this were a normal pregnancy... I turned to my husband, tears seeping through his mask, breath shaking, as the doctor told us the news: ectopic pregnancy. My lining was "beautiful", my levels were "progressing perfectly", the nurses had "a great feeling about this!" The words ran through my mind, on a horrible loop that smashed my broken heart. As we waited for the emergency surgery, my husband told me I was the most important thing in his life; then he kissed me, and they wheeled me away.
When we got home, I was lying in bed and my husband collected the pregnancy planning books and new born onesies we acquired, through sputtering tears I said, "this will not defeat us. God wants us to have a baby. This was not the right baby. We will do this."
They had to remove one of my fallopian tubes. The inflammation was so severe that it was life threatening. But I have hope. I do. My grandmother always says, "you live life in reverse. It will make sense when you get through it." And we will get through it. The love I have with my husband will grow and it will be extended through our future child.
My insurance says IVF is "not medically necessary". Actually, according to BCBS employee program, nothing we have paid for is necessary. I know I am not trying to re-populate the earth, but what my insurance does not know is how my family needs this baby and how this baby will save so many people. To give them hope and an outlet for my love and my husband's love.
IVF, which the doctor is saying is our safest and most likely chance, on our own is impossible.
Please, please help us achieve our dream. Any amount would touch my very soul and lift my spirits in a way that we will be eternally grateful for every single day for the rest of our lives. Please, help us grow our love.
I've heard that until you give up, you are not defeated. And we are not defeated. Thank you, and God bless you with all sincerity and genuine wishes. Thank you.
I've heard that until you give up, you are not defeated. And we are not defeated. Thank you, and God bless you with all sincerity and genuine wishes. Thank you.
Organizer
Callie Mitchell
Organizer
Prattville, AL