Well, my story began many years ago... We got married when I was 29 and then waited a few years to start trying to have children. I was probably 33ish when we started seriously trying but after a few years of trying with no positive results we decided to start infertility testing and treatments. Over the course of a few years we did 1 or 2 IUI treatments and a few IVF treatments to no avail. I did have an ectopic pregnancy during this period. These years were an emotional and physical roller coaster. We had a great support group of family and friends but it was very hard. Everyone was walking on eggshells. After so much disappointment I was afraid to even get my hopes up so I tried not to have high expectations just to protect myself emotionally. I would see my husband so full of hope and then the sadness in his eyes when it didn't work. Family and friends were trying to be so positive and then afraid to ask about the results. It was years of stress for everyone. Finally after many years we stopped treatment. After a lot of thought and conversations with each other and friends we decided to go the adoption route. We knew we might have to wait a bit but in the end we would have our child. So after stopping all treatment and resuming a relaxed lifestyle, guess what, we got pregnant. We had a beautiful , healthy baby boy! Now I was 40.

The story doesn't end here. To make a long story short, after that I had a series of miscarriages which led to genetic testing and I found out that I did have a genetic mutation which was why I had so many miscarriages. My body knew those pregnancies would not have been viable and nature did its thing. More heartache! Well, that just brought us back to our plans for adoption as we wanted another child and we wanted a sibling for our first son. I could write another whole book on the process of adoption but we finally brought home our second son 5 years after having our first. Our hearts were so full of love and our family was now how it was meant to be. We took may paths to get here but that only makes it more special.

One very important lesson I learned was how important it was to open up about our struggles to friends and family. We thought we were alone but as soon as we started mentioning infertility, we found out so many of my friends and family also struggled with this and we shared stories and experiences. We learned a lot from each other. Then as soon as we started to talk about possibly adopting the same thing happened. We learned so many people around us were adopting or were adopted themselves or knew someone adopting. Wow, it feels so freeing to open up about things. You don't feel so isolated. It opens up your world to so many more friends and so much more knowledge when you all share your experiences.

Love and best wishes to all!!!