“Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have.”
Ed Bradley
We were always lucky. Not in the “win a prize” way, but rather, lucky in life. We made plans, worked hard and good things resulted. That was always the way it worked.
After meeting in university in our very early 20's, we graduated together, found good jobs, married and bought a home. We had good friends, great families, got better jobs. We started to travel, have adventures and meanwhile, got our financial situation off to a good start. We bought a better house, traveled some more and the good luck continued for us…we jokingly called ourselves, Mr. and Mrs. Lucky.
We had found one another early in life, built a good foundation, grown up somewhat, but had done so together and after a special vacation marking our 10th anniversary, we were ready to start a family. The preparation, hard work and a little luck had paid off…and we would move on to the next step, or so we expected.
However, it didn't work that way. After nearly a year of trying to conceive, we started with the doctor, then the local specialist. Charting, tests, bloodwork, medication, reading, research, and using all tools possible. Our response to the problem was preparation and hard work to make luck happen. But, it still didn't happen.
So, with the diagnosis of “unexplained infertility” we moved on to the Regional Fertility Program and even more tests, bloodwork, medication, reading, research while adding in acupuncture, vitamins and almost anything else we thought might help. Meanwhile, we tried to live a normal life under an increasingly oppressive weight of disappointment and frustration. Our solace was in the perseverance and preparation for the next cycle.
Hard work was most certainly our resolve. After five years, innumerable medical tests, two fresh cycles, seven (or maybe eight) frozen cycles, three surgeries, one heart breaking miscarriage, and significant financial cost we were blessed with a successful pregnancy. The result was a miraculous pregnancy, immense relief following the results of amniocentesis, and finally unfathomable joy at the slightly premature birth of our healthy baby girl.
We are indeed lucky…not only in the fact that we have a daughter, but in that we learned so much about faith, commitment, humility, grace and gratitude. We are so grateful that we had the financial resources to make our dream come true and can only hope for the same opportunity for every family faced with similar challenges.
