Drum Roll....

First things first: I can't think of any subject more deserving of the first post I put on here in months than the fact that we are expecting Halliday Baby #5 in July! Over the next few months I plan to chronicle the good the bad and the ugly about my pregnancy so I figure now is as good a time as any to post the "how it all came about" story:

This baby is a long time coming and such a blessing and answer to prayers for our family. We have been trying for a little over 2 1/2 years for this one. Go figure. For those who don't know, it took 5 years for us to get Caleb here but then after that we seemed to have the formula down. Nate, Hayden and Max came along boom boom boom...like a little step ladder so it came as a bit of a surprise to us that we didn't achieve pregnancy #5 with such ease.

2 years into trying we finally started seeing Dr. H. Randall Craig at The Fertility Treatment Center. We did the whole fertility workup and then they started us on a fairly aggressive regimen of fertility medications that included injections and oral medications and monthly IUIs (Intra Uterine Insemination). Each month we got our hopes up...each month it failed. It was very hard emotionally especially with all the hormones coursing through my blood! :)

On the third cycle of meds I actually developed ovarian cysts instead of viable follicles. That was devastating. I had to take medications to supress ovulation and it set us back about 6 weeks. As it turns out we had a very early miscarriage on the subsequent cycle. So early that we were unaware of the pregnancy until I was actually miscarrying (perhaps 5 gestational weeks which is actually maybe 3 weeks after conception). Again, it was devastating.

Finally on Nov. 5 we had our 3rd IUI and as they say, 3rd time is a charm...12 days later (I couldn't wait out the 14 days they suggested!) we tested and found out that we were expecting. Two days later on Nov. 18th we had an ultrasound and got to see our little blip on the screen with it's tiny heartbeat. AMAZING! After all of that there we were looking at a baby that was just 14 days in the making!

We could hardly believe it...there are times that we can still hardly believe it. We are totally thrilled and madly in love already. And so begins this adventure!