We got back from the hospital two days ago, and it's been crazy trying to get everything organised just the way you want it...
Now I know that I teased you all earlier in the piece with a slide show set to music, and so here it is. For us, the fact that IVF was necessary in allowing us to get pregnant, did not automatically mean "baby in nine months time". Those who struggle with infertility know that there are hundreds, if not thousands of steps in the process from before fertilization of the egg through to live birth. If any one of those steps is flawed in our process then the end result is not a live baby in 9 months time. The rationalist might say "It's only a matter of time", but for us at the coal-face of infertility - there is so much more to it!
With the slide show I wanted to capture the emotion, as well as the faith journey that Sarah and I have gone through. Ultimately we feel that without God's loving hand being involved in every minute aspect from formation of gametes through to birth - none of this would have been possible. So this slideshow is as much to present Abbigail Grace to you all, as it is to give our thanks and glory to God for what he has done. And I guess I just wanted to say that he is magnificent. By the way, the photo of Sarah and I with a rose in the background was just after the moment Sarah told me that she was officially pregnant :-)
I put this together during the week, and I know it's caused one or two damp eyes since we've shown it to relatives and friends. So let me know what you think, and I'd love to hear if it touched you like it did them. I had the most awesome time making it!
I realised that I really need to explain a little bit more about why the song choice was so significant. There's a few lines which stand out to me particularly as relevant in our infertility journey.
Only love can leave such a mark - anyone who has truly loved knows this is true. In the case of having children the mark is exponetially larger
Only love can heal such a scar - you all know what scar this refers to. Infertility itself is for all of us one of ther heardest things we will ever endure. This scar penetrates so many levels of our psyche - and we all know the one thing that can cure it, is so elusively distant from our grasp... until the magnificent happens.
You and I will magnify, the Magnificent - This is perhaps the most moving line of the whole song for me. As a christian, it is only fair that I say that I attribute the birth of our daughter to Him. We couldn't do it by ourselves. Yes medical science was instrumental, but all medical science could do is put the sperm inside the egg. God still had to look over all the biochemical and genetic aspects of the fertilization, implantation, development, birth and everything in between. We all know that there are plenty of things that can (and have in our case) go wrong to prevent a fertilized egg progressing to the end result. We all know there is no such thing as a foregone conclusion.
Take care all,
Abe
