Intro and Conception

Cranio Synostosis.  This is the diagnosis that my son was given at only a few days old.  It is the term that I have spent countless hours googling.  It is what inspired me to start this blog.  My hope is that by blogging about my experience with Cranio Synostosis I will be able to help someone else (up late at night when you know you should be sleeping, bloodshot eyes, 10 tabs open in your browser with various pictures, blogs, resources you have poured over) in the same way that reading about it from other moms has helped me.  I also hope to keep this uplifting (no sob blog here) while still real and therapeutic.

Ethan at 1 month

But there is so much more to Ethan's story than just his diagnosis.  Since this blog will also serve as my journal of sorts it will be about all things Ethan and not just about his cranio.  Thus we need to rewind a couple years.  It took us a long time to get pregnant with our first child, Ella, but when I went to an OB/GYN for help he put my on Clomid and BAM! after one round we were pregnant with her.  So when we decided we were ready for our second child the doc told us if I didn't conceive on our own in the first three months he would write me up another prescription for Clomid and BAM! I'd be pregnant again, right?  Nine months and six rounds of Clomid later I still wasn't pregnant and so my OB referred my husband and I over to a fertility specialist.  After a few tests the specialist told me my body needed a break from the Clomid (I guess it forces ovulation but it is really hard on the uterus) and to come back in a few months and we would try an IUI - Intrauterine Insemination.  After I had been off the Clomid for three months we were making plans for the IUI when I took a prenancy test and it was POSITIVE!  No drugs or medical help at all!  My body had done that all on it's own - what my fertility specialist termed a "spontaneous pregnancy".  Spontaneous?  It seemed like such a strange term since it is something we had been working towards for almost a year at that point (about half the time it took to get preggo with Ella).  Call it what you will we would take it!  

Big sister Ella making the announcement

I know we are super fortunate that our fertility issues were so mild.  Some couples struggle for years and go through many procedures to get just ONE child, and we were now going to have our SECOND.  I do believe that trying to get pregnant is incredibly emotional whether you try for one month or ten years.  Each month you go through an emotional roller coaster of excitement and hope, analyzing your body (am I nauseous? I must be pregnant. More tired than usual?  Bet I'm pregnant. Period is a day late - Pregnant for sure!) and the crushing disappointment with a negative pregnancy test or when your period does arrive.  Going through that process once is enough for anyone.  Going through it over and over again each month can be very trying to say the least. 

This has lead me to believe not only that every child is a miracle, but that every conception is one too.  My husband, Dustin, and I are certainly amazed with the little miracles we are blessed with.