DIANE KNOX: There will be plenty to be thankful for after one of the hardest times of my life
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Well, the news is out and I am so thrilled to be able to talk about the biggest, and best, part of my life. For weeks, it’s been on the tip of my tongue and I’ve had to stop myself from screaming it from the rooftops... And now, as I come to write this column, I am so overcome with emotion and don’t even know where to start.
Garrett and I are so happy to share that we’re having a baby. I’m pregnant!
Little Baby Balas [my married name] is due in November, the week of Thanksgiving, so we’ll certainly have a lot to celebrate, and be thankful for, as the American holiday season approaches.
We shared the news with family and close friends right away, and told everyone else last week after we had our 12-week scan. That was the second time we’d seen our baby, as my doctor got us in at seven weeks to confirm the pregnancy. What an incredibly special moment, and one I’ll never forget as the wee baby was kicking its long legs, waving at us and rolling over. So it’s safe to say that we’re on cloud nine.
Let me take you back a few months. Garrett and I got married last September and knew we wanted to start trying for a baby right away.
I was 38 at the time (he was 35, my toy boy!) and, not that I felt time was against us, but I knew that if we were going to have kids we needed to get the show on the road. We tried for five months with no success, and I have to say it was one of the hardest periods of my life.
I felt we were going above and beyond to do everything right – taking vitamins and supplements, reading the correct books, I had cut out alcohol and caffeine, Garrett had stopped his daily sauna sessions. I was tracking my cycle obsessively and, looking back, behaving like a bit of lunatic. Every month we were met with disappointment.
I know five months seems like nothing in the grand scheme of things, but all I could hear was the “tick tock” of my biological clock.
I went to the doctor who referred us to a fertility specialist.
If the female is over 35, doctors recommend trying naturally for six months and then seeking some kind of help. We went to meet with our specialist and decided that IVF was the next step.
As daunting as it sounded, the fertility doctor was fantastic, put our minds at ease and really made the whole process seem like the way forward for us.
You hear it time and time again – when you stop trying so hard, it happens... and it happened for us right before I was due to begin my course of treatment. It was the week of The Players Championship golf tournament, and I took a test one evening when we got home from the course.
As soon as I took it, I wrapped it up in tissue and threw it in the bin; we were having a great week and I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment and resulting sadness, a feeling that felt all too familiar. About 20 minutes later, I had a niggling feeling to go check the test.
I was greeted with two dark lines meaning “positive”.
Four more tests confirmed it and I knew that was it; we were about to begin the happiest, most fulfilling journey of our lives.
Click here to read more from Diane Knox.
