Miracle Day Celebration

I was made a year ago today. The following entry may be confusing for younger readers so don’t have them read it unless you want to discuss how babies are made. Don’t worry – it isn’t graphic! Mommy has decided to allow me to share my story in the hopes of inspiring and educating others. Afterall, I’m a miracle! I’ll do my best to convey the story she told me.

It all started in 1996 when Mommy and Daddy fell in love. They were still in high school when they started dating and dated for about five years before they were engaged. They tied the knot on June 15, 2002 and Daddy started dental school while Mommy started teaching high school math. This went on for a few years and then Daddy and Mommy started to want a baby. Mommy even read a book a year before they started trying on how to best prepare her body for pregnancy. She started eating better, exercised, took vitamins, talked with Daddy about future plans, and felt prepared and excited to have a baby in 2005.

Mommy figured she would get pregnant right away since women in her family tend to be that way. She fully expected to be having a baby in the spring or summer of 2006 and tried to arrange it to best fit into her teaching schedule. They started trying to make me, but Mommy’s body didn’t cooperate. She says that Aunt Flo (whom I’ve never met, but Mommy assures me I’ll get to meet someday) would only come to visit every 90 days or so and that really made things challenging. Mommy was getting frustrated very quickly as others around her started to expect babies.

In January of 2006, Mommy went to see a specialist. He gave her some medicine called Clomid to help things along. She was convinced that she was going to expect a baby soon after that. Clomid did some crazy things to Mommy. She had hot flashes and was very emotional. Sometimes she was even mean and had to apologize for things she said. For four months Mommy and Daddy rode the emotional rollercoaster before they went in for more testing. The miracle medicine just wasn’t working for them.

Mommy and Daddy got terrible news in June of 2006. They found out their chances of making a baby on their own were extremely low. Not only that, but the problems weren’t easy to fix. Mommy cried and cried and cried. Then she picked herself up and decided to try something else. She was nowhere near the point of giving up on me. Mommy and Daddy proceeded with a Follistim and IUI cycle. For those of you that watch Jon & Kate Plus 8, that’s what they did that ended up with sextuplets. Anyway, Mommy’s body over responded to the medicine and the doctors were afraid she would get six babies just like Kate. She also got very sick and had to go to the hospital to get checked out. Despite all of that, Mommy and Daddy still weren’t expecting even one baby. That was a big letdown!

It was time to get serious. Daddy started his Oral Surgery residency so all medical treatments were now free so they figured, why not? Mommy’s body didn’t handle the IUI cycle well so they didn’t want to repeat it. It was time for the big guns. In August of 2006, they went to the specialist to see about starting an IVF with ICSI cycle. It was very overwhelming, but they were ready for their dreams to come true and willing to try almost anything. Their first IVF cycle ended in disaster in December of 2006. That’s a whole other story that Mommy will tell me when I’m much, much older. You can see the sadness in Mommy's eyes on December 31, 2006. If only she knew she'd be nursing me as she rang in the next new year.

Mommy lost a piece of her heart, but was ready to start another IVF cycle in February of 2007. Mommy started getting shots in March and Daddy took very good care of her. He did all of the shots and gave her stickers for every single one. Even mommies need encouragement sometimes. Mommy had lots of bruises and her tummy didn’t feel good, but she knew that a baby would be worth it all. Her body responded very well to all of the baby-making medicine and the doctors told her to come in to see them on April 5th.

Aunt Emily came to stay and help Mommy. She drove Mommy to the hospital early in the morning. They listened to Weird Al on the way because Mommy listened to it on the way to every appointment to break the tension. Aunt Emily dropped her off and wished her luck and Daddy met Mommy upstairs. He had already been working that morning and was only able to take off a few hours. Mommy put on a gown and kissed Daddy goodbye before she was wheeled into surgery. That’s where the magic happened. Dr. Chris removed a couple dozen eggs from Mommy while she slept. He did a great job. Daddy went to the Daddy “Fun Room” and he did his part to make babies too. Mommy woke up and was happy to hear that everything went well. Daddy drove her home and got her settled in with Aunt Emily as nurse. They watched movies and hung out until Daddy got home from work to take over.

Mommy wondered how I was doing the next day and she found out that 15 of her eggs were fertilized and they froze 8 embryos right away. Embryos are potential babies with a bunch of luck and love. She was soooo happy that I was growing nice and healthy and couldn’t wait for me to be back in her belly. On April 10th, they transferred two embryos back into Mommy. One of them was me and one of them was my guardian angel. In fact, I have an angel’s kiss above my right eye and Mommy likes to think it was from him. This is Mommy's first pregnancy picture that was taken a few minutes after they put me in her.This is a picture of me with my guardian angel. I don't know for sure which one was me, but I think I'm on the right. Mommy nicknamed us Thunder and Lightning. Lightning came on fast and looked very pretty, but Thunder came from behind and was very strong. Maybe that's why she calls me Strong Woman so much.I stayed safe and sound in Mommy until December 29, 2007. I gave Mommy a couple of scares, but overall she had a very easy pregnancy. She loved being pregnant, but she was so glad to meet me after a long labor.
This picture was taken a few hours before Mommy went into labor. She was 40 weeks pregnant.So that’s my story. Now I understand why Mommy cries sometimes when I smile and laugh. I understand why she holds me so tight. She’s so full of love for me and so grateful for the gift of my life. Someday, I hope to have a brother or sister. Afterall, my siblings could already be made. They’re chilling out just a couple of floors away from where Daddy works every day. Wouldn’t that be cool if my brother or sister had the same miracle day as me? We’d kind of be like twins.
Note from Andrea: Please leave comments to wish Mina a happy Miracle Day. Thanks for all of your support through our journey! We plan to celebrate Miracle Day every year. I hope all of you that are trying have a Miracle Day very, very soon.