When I met my wife, she had two children from a previous marriage. I never doubted for a second that I was a father figure to them. I always accepted them as my children. I also wanted another child with my wife so that we could experience all the joys of having a child together.
When we first began our journey, it was fun and exciting. We were going to parents and we had so many things planned that we wanted to do as a family. We went into this journey as a family of four hoping to be a family of five. After a few months went by we became a little anxious so we went to the doctor just to check on things. I was left wondering if my having scarlet fever as a child had ruined our chances of having another child together.
One appointment led to another and I felt like we were spinning in circles. We went from New York to Kentucky to see a specialist and have a surgery by the best of the best. My wife had been diagnosed with precancerous cells and subsequently with endometriosis. In what seemed like forever, the doctors finally told us that while she could carry a baby, she would not be able to have one on her own. This left us with the only option of having invitro-fertilization.
Well, at least we finally had that all settled. Now I felt we really could just go have our baby and be done with this mess. We went through several failed attempts with no known reasons; we suffered one loss after another until I really felt like my wife wouldn't be able to take another. It was taking a toll on both of us but it hurt me to watch her suffer each month. Our doctors wanted to try and get the medications right one more time, our fifth try. We halfheartedly went through the motions. I think she did it more for me than for herself. She had shown me such devotion; I couldn't love her anymore than I did at that moment.
Our fifth time proved to be a success, with a little extra help from the doctors because of her low hormone counts, we took some extra shots and later delivered the second love of my life. My little girl, what a joy it was to see her smiling face. I still can not completely discount that the scarlet fever didn't play a role in not having success sooner. The doctors were never really able to find a cause for the failed attempts.
The love and joy that we have felt has overcome many obstacles designed to tear the best apart. We have stuck together and reaped the rewards of devotion.
