It feels like forever ago that Alyson and I started our journey. If you're reading this, thank you. You're a special person to the both of us, and we wouldn't have gotten this far without the loved ones in our lives.
Alyson wanted me to tell my side, the “guys” side.
In our case, as you know by now, the female factor was the primary culprit of our infertility. This came with mixed emotions for me. On one side of the coin, after getting my results I felt a little bit like this….
Alyson wanted me to tell my side, the “guys” side.
In our case, as you know by now, the female factor was the primary culprit of our infertility. This came with mixed emotions for me. On one side of the coin, after getting my results I felt a little bit like this….
But on the other side, I felt for Alyson….
No matter what, we were in this game together. It’s our journey. We share the victories, and the defeats. What happened for one of us happened for both of us, and I was determined to be as positive as possible through the whole process.
Thus began the cycle of medication, monitoring, planning and “being together”, trying to make it work when it seemed like the odds were stacked against us.
There’s no way I can express how proud I am of Aly for everything she sacrificed to get to where we are. She had pages of notes, writing down all the appointments, results, meds and everything. The drugs made her crazy. Oh so crazy. But through it all, I knew my #1 job was to be the cheerleader. She had the tough job. All the physical and emotional changes she was going through, everything she was doing to get things right, all I could do was be supportive, be the shoulder to cry on if she needed, the joker to provide a little comic relief when it all seemed to get too heavy
As each month came and went, part of me started to dread the visit we would have with our doc at the OFC. It killed me to go in there every month and get bad news, because I knew how much it weighed on Alyson. A lot of the time I really felt helpless. But Aly was there for me the same as I tried to be there for her, picking me up off the mat, dusting off my shoulders and telling me to get back in the ring. I honestly feel like the strength I tried to show throughout the process was just a reflection of what she had inside her all along.
Skip forward a little ways and we made the decision to take the plunge. IVF. Now shit was getting real. You already know how rigorous the retinue is for a woman getting ready for IVF, but I can honestly say it cant even compare to what I had to do. You ready for this? After Aly had spent a month injecting, and monitoring, and giving blood, and doing tests, and was going to get a NEEDLE STUCK INTO HER TO SUCK OUT HER INSIDES...
“Hey Mike, go to this cozy little room full of couches and porn, and make a sample into a cup.”
Sometimes you gotta take one for the team.
I almost feel guilty. Almost.
Thus began the cycle of medication, monitoring, planning and “being together”, trying to make it work when it seemed like the odds were stacked against us.
There’s no way I can express how proud I am of Aly for everything she sacrificed to get to where we are. She had pages of notes, writing down all the appointments, results, meds and everything. The drugs made her crazy. Oh so crazy. But through it all, I knew my #1 job was to be the cheerleader. She had the tough job. All the physical and emotional changes she was going through, everything she was doing to get things right, all I could do was be supportive, be the shoulder to cry on if she needed, the joker to provide a little comic relief when it all seemed to get too heavy
As each month came and went, part of me started to dread the visit we would have with our doc at the OFC. It killed me to go in there every month and get bad news, because I knew how much it weighed on Alyson. A lot of the time I really felt helpless. But Aly was there for me the same as I tried to be there for her, picking me up off the mat, dusting off my shoulders and telling me to get back in the ring. I honestly feel like the strength I tried to show throughout the process was just a reflection of what she had inside her all along.
Skip forward a little ways and we made the decision to take the plunge. IVF. Now shit was getting real. You already know how rigorous the retinue is for a woman getting ready for IVF, but I can honestly say it cant even compare to what I had to do. You ready for this? After Aly had spent a month injecting, and monitoring, and giving blood, and doing tests, and was going to get a NEEDLE STUCK INTO HER TO SUCK OUT HER INSIDES...
“Hey Mike, go to this cozy little room full of couches and porn, and make a sample into a cup.”
Sometimes you gotta take one for the team.
I almost feel guilty. Almost.
After all was said and done, her stuff and my stuff ended up being good buddies and we made out with a few good embryos, one of which got implanted, and another of which is quite literally chillin.
After all the stress of the IVF cycle you’d figure that the worst was over, but now we have go through all the anxiety of the pregnancy and wondering how our little ‘bro is doing inside Aly. There was so much time and effort and money that went into this that we were on high alert for the first 12 weeks. It had been so difficult to get to where we were it would have been devastating if anything happened. Luckily we’ve been able to have a few extra ultrasounds because of our situation, so we’ve had a good look at the nugget every few weeks, just to make sure everything is going as planned.
So far, the ‘bro is doing great, and so are we! Aly has been having some of the usual ups and downs of being pregnant, and as any Dad out there knows, my job is to pretty well do anything and everything I can to make her life easier. Reminds me of this…
After all the stress of the IVF cycle you’d figure that the worst was over, but now we have go through all the anxiety of the pregnancy and wondering how our little ‘bro is doing inside Aly. There was so much time and effort and money that went into this that we were on high alert for the first 12 weeks. It had been so difficult to get to where we were it would have been devastating if anything happened. Luckily we’ve been able to have a few extra ultrasounds because of our situation, so we’ve had a good look at the nugget every few weeks, just to make sure everything is going as planned.
So far, the ‘bro is doing great, and so are we! Aly has been having some of the usual ups and downs of being pregnant, and as any Dad out there knows, my job is to pretty well do anything and everything I can to make her life easier. Reminds me of this…
So here we are, pregnant and on our way to being a Mom and Dad. Its been a roller coaster, but we’ve said it to each other time and time again, we’d do it again in a heartbeat. Thanks for reading and being so supportive to Alyson and I, we couldn't have done it without you!
The other half of the equation,
Mike