Kendall's Story

Kendall, our little angel, waited nearly eight years to find my husband and I. We struggled through many invasive infertility treatments and finally she's here. I can only hope that our story will bring hope to those who are also struggling through the heartbreak of infertility.

The first thing that went right for us was finding our infertility specialist. He was an absolute godsend. We went through the typical testing and found out that I have endometriosis and polycystic ovaries (among other things). And so the journey began...first with Clomid, then five rounds of artificial insemination with Repronex injections. When these options didn't work, we decided on in-vitro fertilization. The first time around didn't work; the second time around, using frozen embryos didn't work either.

By then, our hopes of having our own family were pretty much dashed. We decided to give one last ditch effort at a fresh embryo transfer and lo and behold--it worked--I was pregnant!

Little did we know this would not be the dream pregnancy we had hoped for, in fact it was quite the opposite. At six weeks, I began hemorrhaging and thought for sure I had lost the baby. But there she was on the sonogram monitor with her little heart beating away. Sadly, we did lose her twin, but we were determined to have this little girl hang in there.

I was put on strict bedrest until the small tear on my uterus repaired itself. Unfortunately, this also meant increasing my progesterone shots, from one a day to four (OUCH!!). Finally, just as we were starting to feel comfortable about the pregnancy, my water broke at five months. I had to stay in the hospital on I.V. and constant monitoring for two months. I had a sonogram every other day to check the amniotic fluid level and was on many rounds of antibiotics to fight off recurring infections. Things seemed to get better and my amniotic fluid reached a normal level, the tear had sealed itself to a certain extent. Instead of a gush of fluid every time I moved I had a slow trickle. I was sent home once again on strict bedrest.

A few weeks after being home-monitored by Matria, my doctor opted to induce labor because of recurring infections. So my husband and I joyfully went to the hospital, ready to meet our little girl. We knew she was going to be premature and we were prepared for the worst. Having never had a baby before, I was shocked by the pain of back labor--36 hours worth of it(YIKES!)!

My husband, who stood by me faithfully through all the ups and downs of this pregnancy, always there for me to cry on--ran home to gather a few needed supplies thinking we still had a few hours before the birth.

Well, to make a long story short,he missed the birth of our miracle baby -- and he'll never hear the end of it! I dilated from a five to a ten in 20 minutes and pushed twice. She was whisked from my arms and taken to the NICU where she spent several weeks learning how to eat and breathe at the same time. Today, our daughter is a happy, healthy one-year-old with no lingering effects from the pregnancy or early birth.

Kendall Faith is truly a miracle. She is proof that love conquers all.