The Miraculous Creation: Perspective in Infertility

I believe in miracles. My husband and I often disagree on what a miracle is, but one miracle I know to be true, many of you have been blessed with and are completely oblivious to it. There are millions of things that can go wrong, and a million things that have to happen to bring this about, yet so many take this miracle for granted. 

First, a woman has to ovulate. Did you know some women cannot or do not, second a man has to be able to produce healthy sperm, which can be affected by genetics, childhood illness, adulthood illnesses, among just a few. Third a woman has to have all the appropriate parts, which absent ovaries and/or uterus is a very common abnormality, I learned this is more frequent than you would possibly believe. Fourth a woman's eggs need to be healthy, which can be affected by diet, health, past surgeries, STI's etc. 

Then let's say man and woman have all the necessary parts, sufficient quality in eggs and sperm, did you know that just because an egg and a sperm meet does not always result in an embryo? Then of those embryos few will actually implant and of those that implant, not all implant where they should, such as abdomen or fallopian tubes (ectopic pregnancies). 

Then let's say that a healthy egg meets a healthy sperm and they implant where they are supposed to, some might not attach well, some might have a genetic mutation, some might for some reason not develop correctly. Then just because you are beyond the first trimester does not mean you are in the clear. There are still yet a myriad of things that can go wrong, cord issues, preeclampsia, breech,etc. So next time you hold your baby, or take your baby to school, or talk to them on the phone, or even watch them become mommy and daddys remember that that person is a miracle. A million things had to happen correctly to bring them here, and a million things could have prevented them from coming here, but by God's grace this miracle happened and you and all those in contact with them have been blessed. 

So here is to all the miracles in the world. The 26 billion miracles that somehow made it here. 

So as I write this, I am thinking of the millions of us who are too aware of this being a miracle, and I think of the children whose parents have completely lost site of the blessing they were given, the people who don't know their own value and the miracle they are themselves, the people who grieve for those they lost whether it is before or after birth. In case anyone cares this year, National Infertility Week is in three weeks, the week of April 19th. 

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