miracle baby girl

in this post i promised to tell the story of why our sweet baby bella joy is such a miracle...

you see, when i was about 14 years old doctors began telling me that i would not have children. (yeah, i don't recommend telling 14 year old girls this regardless of how accurate your information is). i always knew i wanted to be a momma to lots of babies so when folks began telling me so early that it was not going to happen for me i developed a heart for africa and the sweet orphans that live there and knew that someday i would adopt.

when i was a freshman (i think) at western (i know i was in duc when my dad called to tell me what the doctors had called to tell him) i was officially diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome* and doctors began telling me that if i was able to have children it likely would not happen without the help of fertility treatments. at this point in my life, my walk with the Lord had been established and i knew that even if i could have my own children that i still wanted to adopt.

*polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos) is an endocrine disorder that affects approximately 5% of all women. it occurs amongst all races and nationalities, is the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age (12-45years old), and is a leading cause of infertility. the principle features are obesity, anovulation (resulting in irregular menstration) acne, and excessive amounts or effects of androgenic(masculinizing) hormones. the symptoms and severity of the syndrome vary greatly among women. while the causes are unknown, insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity are all strongly correlated with pcos....or at least thats what wikipedia says :)

so when adam and i began seriously dating and talking marriage i had to tell him about my disease. it was not an easy conversation (especially because he was preparing to leave for cleveland and i was in tampa). i told him that i knew he wanted to have his own children but that if he were to marry me that it may not happen. i told him how (if possible) i wanted to have 4 children, 2 adopted and 2 biological. he told me that he didn't care if we could never have our "own" children and that it didn't change the way he felt about me.

fast forward to july 16, 2009. adam and i had been married for 8 months and 8 days when dr. hewitt called me at the medical center to inform me that we were indeed expecting and even he was surprised that this girl with pcos who wasn't trying to conceive a child had done just that!

we obviously were not planning to have a child 8 months (+9ish months) into marriage, but God had different plans for our sweet family. we are so so so thankful that He has blessed us with our sweet miracle baby girl.