This month I’m talking about surprise babies. I’ve been looking forward to sharing with you the story of one special little girl named Lillian Rose, who surprised her parents and their family with her miraculous debut. Her story begins long before she was born in 2002, when Heather and Jeremy met while working together at a local tool store. The high school sweethearts started dating two years later. On August 6, 2006, they tied the knot. About three months after they got married, they decided to start a family, but it wasn’t long before Heather realized things weren’t going to happen so easily.
“The first month we tried, I had a 47 day cycle. I took at least 10 pregnancy tests that month alone,” explains Heather. The second cycle followed a similar pattern. At her next routine exam with her gynecologist, Heather brought up her concerns. Her doctor ran numerous blood tests and discovered that Heather had PCOS. To make matters worse, a semen analysis revealed that Jeremy’s sperm was morphed.
The couple faced more roadblocks as it took three months to even schedule an appointment with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE). The RE ran a second semen analysis, and this time, there were no signs of morphology. Unfortunately, the good news stopped there. The doctor decided to put Heather on Clomid, which failed the first cycle, and sacked Heather with a grapefruit sized ovarian cyst during the second cycle. After the cyst was surgically removed, they tried Clomid for a third cycle, combined with an HCG injection. Heather’s follicles finally grew and eggs were released, but she did not get pregnant. Heather and Jeremy grew increasingly frustrated, but they were not ready to give up just yet, despite the high costs of fertility treatments. Their efforts were getting fairly expensive and they were paying out of pocket. The Clomid was $75 and the HCG was about $400.
“We decided to make a final attempt.” This time Heather did get pregnant, but the couple was devastated when she miscarried in October of 2007. Heather had to have a D&C. Their doctor suggested they combine the medications with an IUI, but the couple decided against it. “Not only could we not afford the procedure but we did not want to take the one remaining natural aspect of conceiving a child out of the picture.” Their TTC journey was over.
Heather and Jeremy began working on their marriage. Their infertility struggles had driven a wedge between them and they were determined to repair it. Ironically, they conceived the following cycle without any fertility treatments. Their elation was short-lived, however, and they suffered yet another miscarriage.
For the following nine months, Heather continued to deal with long cycles and had another cyst removed. In addition to the PCOS issues, Heather struggled with a condition known as IC, which causes severe pain during intercourse. It seemed all roads towards starting a family were closed. Still dreaming of raising children together, Heather and Jeremy requested information packets from several adoption agencies and started setting money aside for their future family.
On November 3, 2008, they received the news that would change their lives forever. Heather was pregnant! Because of her history, Heather found it hard to believe. What was even more unbelievable was the fact that she and her husband had intercourse on only one occasion due to her IC. Worried about miscarriage, she had three HCG betas run to ensure her numbers were doubling. In addition, for the first eight weeks of her pregnancy, she had a weekly ultrasound with the RE to ensure everything was developing correctly.
The RE was just as shocked as Heather. “You shouldn’t have been able to do this without me.” And with that he released her to her obstetrician. Heather cried tears of pure happiness. Not only did she conceive without medical intervention, but she beat incredible odds. Even when everything is working as it should, couples still only have about a 20% chance of conceiving. The fact that Heather and Jeremy conceived on the single day they tried despite so many obstacles is truly miraculous.
As the pregnancy progressed, Heather struggled with severe morning sickness. For the first half of her pregnancy, she struggled with feelings of guilt for hating being pregnant. “I couldn’t understand why I was being punished with such a horrible pregnancy when it was so hard just to get pregnant.” The sickness made it difficult for her to bond with the baby growing inside of her. Once the baby started moving around and kicking, everything changed. The reality and excitement of becoming parents began to grow.
Today Heather is “eternally grateful” for her experiences, as difficult as they were. The couple’s journey through infertility and loss brought them closer together than she could ever imagine and led her to view life with a whole new perspective. “I realize that nothing should be taken for granted.”
Lillian Rose was born on June 19th of this year at 6 a.m. She weighed 6 lbs and 13 oz and she measured 19 ¾ inches long. Today she is a happy, healthy, red-headed little girl who may never fully comprehend just how special she is to her loving parents. She is truly a miracle.
