My Story

Hi! I'm Kristi. I'm a 40-year-old stay-at-home-mom, part-time photographer, and former elementary school teacher. My husband and I have been married for 14 years and live a wonderful life blessed by God.

When my husband and I got married we talked, as many couples do, about the family we hoped to have one day. Little did we know, our plans looked nothing like the Lord's plans. We have been through infertility, pregnancy loss (both tubal pregnancies and miscarriages), and foster parenting and learned to trust God in both good times and bad. It has been hard but God has shown Himself very real to us during our life together. I am so thankful for a God who is sovereign, a God who - even when the hard things come - is in control, and a God I can lean on.

My hope for this blog is that it will simply encourage you where you are and that through the gift of an online community, we can sharpen one another!

If you are interested in my fertility story:

About two years into our marriage, and seven months after we started trying to get pregnant, I went to see my OB/GYN. I told her I was worried about not being pregnant yet and that I had a nagging feeling that something might be wrong. She chuckled a little bit and told me that everything looked fine and it was too soon to worry anyway. And yet just weeks later my fears were realized in a way I had never imagined. I learned that I had an ectopic pregnancy. I had to have emergency surgery in order to keep my fallopian tube from rupturing. There was nothing that could be done for the baby. I was devastated. I had not even known that I was pregnant. But I still felt a very real sense of loss, the loss of a child I had longed for and prayed for.

Imagine my joy just six weeks later when I found out that I was expecting! I should have been nervous, or at least cautious, but I wasn’t. I was elated. Somehow I knew that I would hold this baby in my arms. And I did. I gave birth to the sweetest little girl in August of 2010. God had answered my prayers!

When my daughter was just nine months old, my husband and I decided that we were ready to give her a sibling. We knew that it could be many months before getting pregnant, so we didn’t want to wait too long. God had other plans. As our daughter grew older, we received the same well-meaning comment over and over. “When are you going to give her a baby brother or sister?” People were only trying to show interest in our family, but after over a year of trying, I was starting to worry. And the repeated questions were painful to hear.

During that time that we tried and failed to get pregnant, I struggled to accept my infertility. I can’t be infertile, I thought. I already have a child. This isn’t suppose to happen to me! I felt guilty for feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t think I was allowed to be sad about my fertility struggles when I had already known the blessing of having a child. But whether I thought I was allowed to feel that way or not, I was crushed. With every new announcement of a friend or acquaintance who was expecting a baby, I fought back tears. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t able to make my own announcement. And for the most part, I went through my struggle alone. I was embarrassed to talk about it.

After a year of trying, I called my doctor to schedule some tests. Due to my previous ectopic pregnancy, our first step was to look at my fallopian tubes. I found out that one of my tubes was completely blocked. Strangely enough, it was not the same tube in which my ectopic pregnancy had occurred. The doctor said that with the other tube in tact, it was still possible for me to get pregnant, but it would just take longer. She put me on Clomid, a fertility drug, so that I would be more likely to ovulate from both ovaries each cycle which would increase my chances of getting an egg into my “good” tube. I was worried, but thankful that we were able to find a reason why I wasn’t getting pregnant and a solution that would likely increase my chances of conceiving soon. I felt hope.

When I found out I was pregnant just two months later, I was cautiously optimistic. I wanted to be excited, but I was nervous. And waiting for our sonogram confirmation was excruciating. Even though it was just a couple of weeks, it felt like months. When the day finally came, I could barely breathe. The technician started the ultrasound but was very quiet and I instantly knew that meant bad news. The doctor told me that the ultrasound was inconclusive and I was told to wait two weeks and then come back. But just a week later, I ended up in the emergency room with those familiar pains and another ectopic pregnancy. I felt like my life was on repeat. The loss was devastating. I had to say goodbye to a baby I had begged God for, a baby I had waited fifteen months for, a baby I already loved very deeply.

My mother suggested a book called I Will Carry You by Angie Smith. It is the story of Angie’s own loss, the story of the baby she could not keep. I read it in one day. My pain was still very raw and it was difficult to read the book while I was still so deep in my grief. But I am so glad I did. As I read the book I knew that I wanted God to turn my loss into a blessing. I was not sure how He could do that, but I knew that He could. I reminded myself right then and there that God makes no mistakes and I told myself that I would not waste my pain but that I would use it to become a better person and to somehow bring comfort to others. I started this blog that day.

I know my story is going to sound redundant at this point, but this is really how it happened. Weeks after I lost my third child, I became pregnant again. I felt numb when I saw those two pink lines. More waiting, followed by an inconclusive ultrasound, multiple blood tests, more ultrasounds, fear. When it looked like it was probably another ectopic pregnancy, we were surprised to find something in the uterus. But it wasn’t a viable pregnancy. I miscarried the baby. Two months later, it all happened again. Another positive test. Another miscarriage.  Five pregnancies and only one living child. My pain was deep and my hope was fading.

I remember sitting quietly with the Lord. Day after day, words escaped me. I wanted to pray, but I didn’t even know what to say. God understood. He wrapped His arms around me and just held me. I was confused. When words finally did come, they were questions. Why are you letting this happen over and over? If I am not meant to have anymore children, then why are you letting me conceive? Is my family complete? What are you trying to show me? During the previous six months, with each pregnancy loss, I would hear doctors tell me that I had some decisions to make. What they meant was that perhaps I should give up. I started to believe them.

I struggled with the word “faith.” I used to think it meant believing that God would. But it was during this difficult time that I learned that faith means believing that God can and that if he doesn’t, it is because His plan is different than mine. I realized that perhaps His plan was for me to have only one child. Why did that have to be a bad plan? I tried to lay down my own plan, to give it to Him. But each time I set it at His feet, I would pick it back up almost immediately. I want to give this to you Lord! I want to trust You! But it’s hard to let go of my dream!

My husband and I talked and prayed and decided that what we needed was a break. I went back on birth control. I knew I could not bear another loss at that point. I needed some time. Time to renew my relationship with my husband. Time to strengthen my relationship with God. During these months I was finally able to give my plans to Him. I was able to tell Him that I trusted Him, whether He was going to give me a baby or not, and really mean it. I don’t mean to say that I no longer desired another child, but that I was finally content with the amazing family God had already given me.

During all of this time, I continued blogging about my experiences. I shared what I was going through as it happened, even while the emotions were still so raw. I was clinging to this verse:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

There wasn't much that I knew for sure, but I knew that God wanted me to use my pain to reach out to others. He wanted me to use these difficulties to become a stronger and better person. He wanted me to draw closer to Him in a way I had never been able to before. I had learned that something good can come from something bad. God showed me that in letting me experience this hurt, He was allowing me to comfort others in the same way He has been able to comfort me so many times before. I was learning to shift from an inward focus on my pain to an outward focus on others and an upward focus on God. It was a blessing I didn’t expect.

A few months after we had decided to take a break from trying to conceive, I felt that it was time to get things settled once and for all. I needed to see a specialist and find out how realistic it was to hope for another baby. God led me to a wonderful doctor through a friend of mine who had been through her own journey of infertility and loss. He looked at every aspect of my fertility (the first doctor to do so) and discovered that not only did I have problems with my fallopian tubes, but I also had very tiny ovaries and poor ovarian reserve. Basically, although I was just thirty-one years old, my ovaries were acting more like those of a woman in her forties. Time was running out. My biological clock was ticking faster than I had known. The doctor was shocked that I had even managed to become pregnant as many times as I had. He said that considering my history and fertility issues, my chances of conceiving without intervention were less than 10% and that if I were to conceive again, there would be a 50% chance that it would be ectopic. He told me that IVF would be my best chance for a healthy pregnancy and even told me that I couldn’t wait very long to do that since my follicle count was so low. If I wanted another baby, I needed intervention and I needed it soon.

My husband and I talked about IVF. We prayed about it. Neither of us felt peace about it at that time. We decided to leave it in God’s hands. If we were meant to have another child, God would make it happen or He would direct us toward IVF. If we were not meant to have another child, we would trust the plans God had for our family of three. Either way, I wanted to start living instead of just waiting. I had wasted enough time waiting for the next child. I needed to enjoy my family as it was, without anticipating what would come next.

I feel like I’m supposed to say that I was surprised when I found out I was pregnant just weeks after being told it was nearly impossible, but I wasn’t. I was terrified. For me, it was the moment of truth. If I lost this baby, I knew I wouldn’t want to try again. When I was finally able to see my doctor for an ultrasound, I got bad news. It was another ectopic pregnancy, my third ectopic pregnancy. Furthermore, it was in my only remaining fallopian tube and would probably end my chances for ever conceiving again without intervention. I was numb. The doctor suggested methotrexate, the same drug I had used with my second ectopic pregnancy. But then he decided that he wanted to wait a couple of days to administer the drug. He told me that he wanted to give me a few days to feel comfortable with the decision and he knew that I would want some time to pray for a miracle. As far as I know, my doctor is not a born-again believer, so it was surprising to hear him say something like that. Three days later, I saw the doctor again. This time he saw a sac in the uterus! But he also still saw something in my tube. He now diagnosed me with a heterotopic pregnancy - one baby in the tube and one in the uterus. I would have to have surgery to remove the one in the tube, and the one in the uterus would have a good chance at staying healthy. Again, he wanted to wait a few days and be certain before scheduling the surgery.

I think you can guess where this is going. About two weeks after seeing those two pink lines, after multiple ultrasounds and plenty of scary news, the doctor was finally able to tell me that I had one healthy baby growing inside of my uterus and nothing in my fallopian tube. Despite everything he had seen during those ultrasounds, I did not actually have an ectopic pregnancy this time, nor did I miscarry. God protected this sweet little baby and allowed her to grow and be healthy! She was our miracle!

 

Our miracle baby arrived at the end of 2013. As I close my eyes I can again feel that first moment when she was finally in my arms and the tears are flowing now just as they did then. I can honestly say that I am thankful for the difficult journey that led to her arrival. I know how to appreciate her in a way I didn’t know before. I know how to savor the moments with both of my children in a way I probably never would have had I not gone through the waiting and the loss. I have connected with people because of my journey. I am a very different person now than I was then. I am a better person, a stronger person, because of what I have been though. And not just because of what I have been through, but because of the way I was able to draw near to God during my journey.  And I am able to rejoice in a miracle, a true miracle from God!

I suppose the most important thing I have learned during these last few years is that I can’t predict my future. Nor do I want to. If I were to plan out my own life, it would be easy, smooth, and comfortable. But if that were the case, I would never change or grow. God has a way of using the hard and messy times in my life to mold and shape me into something more beautiful. He is directing the steps of my path and He always has a better blessing in store for me than anything that I could plan for myself.

I love telling this story to my girls. I want them to always remember that our God is great and mighty! I want them to know that He cares for every single one of His children. I want them to know that even though trusting Him is not always easy, it’s always right. I want them to know that God placed them here on this earth and even in our family for a reason. And my prayer is that they will “live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way” (Colossians 1:10) and that I will too!

Here is a quick view of our journey in trying to conceive. Click the links if you would like to read more about each story.


January 2009 - Began trying to conceive

October 5, 2009 - Ectopic pregnancy, emergency surgery.
Lost baby #1 at 7 ½ weeks - Ezra Grey

November 26, 2009 - Positive pregnancy test

August 4, 2010 - Healthy baby #2! - Penelope Lorraine - Now my sweet, bright, adorable 3-year-old

May 2011 - Began trying to conceive again

December 2011 - Breakthrough bleeding, appointment with doctor, concerns but no action

May 2012 - HSG dye test for blocked fallopian tube, right tube is declared 100% blocked

June 2012 - first round of Clomid, a fertility drug

July 26, 2012 - Positive pregnancy test after second round of Clomid

August 17, 2012 - Diagnosed with second ectopic pregnancy, treated with methotrexate shot

August 25, 2012 - Right Salpingectomy (surgery to remove right fallopian tube), methotrexate had not worked properly
Lost baby #3 at 8 ½ weeks - Leilani Rose
(Reached hCG levels above 7,000)

October 3, 2012 - Positive pregnancy test just six weeks after surgery

October 20, 2012 - Miscarried baby #4 at 6 ½ weeks - Nathaniel Ellis
(Reached hCG level 1,965)

November 20, 2012 - Finally named my three sweet babies in heaven

December 14, 2012 - Positive pregnancy test (three consecutive pregnancies in six months after dealing with secondary infertility - go figure) On progesterone almost immediately to try to prevent another miscarriage.

December 30, 2012 - Miscarried baby #5 at 6 weeks - Jude Michael
(reached hCG level 212)

March 5, 2013 - A week previous I finally met with a fertility specialist. After tests and ultrasounds we discovered on this day that I have poor ovarian reserve and I was also told that if I do get pregnant the odds that it would be another ectopic pregnancy are 50%. I am running out of eggs, racing the clock, and battling the odds.

April 6, 2013 - Positive pregnancy test!
I was initially diagnosed with another ectopic pregnancy, then discovered it was a heterotopic pregnancy (one in the tube, one in the uterus), and finally received the great news that it was, in fact, one healthy baby in the uterus. On April 18th we heard the heartbeat - a milestone I have only reached with my living daughter. And at that point, the doctor started to relax and congratulate me on this pregnancy! What a dream come true!

December 1, 2013 - Ariani Celeste is born - our miracle baby!


We now have six children, one amazing little 7-year-old daughter here on earth, four sweet little ones in heaven, and our youngest, who is 3 years old. I am so grateful for the little family God has blessed me with!


As I have journeyed through life I have learned something not so terribly profound. Life can be hard. No one lives the perfect life and no one escapes the pain of this fallen world.  But I have also learned this - that God intends all of it to be used for good. We were never meant to simply wallow in our suffering; we were meant to use it. After all, it takes rain to make the flowers grow. And it takes the blackest night to see the stars in all their glory. The trials are what make us strong and ultimately bring beauty into our lives. When God allows us to go through something difficult it is because He has a better blessing in store for us than what we had imagined for ourselves. In bringing our sorrows to Him we allow Him the chance to change us and mold us and use us. Our suffering is meant to bring Him glory.

And so, the reason for this blog is simple. I want to share my heart with you. I want to share my story of loss and also of hope. And my prayer is that others who have experienced their own sorrows might be encouraged by the work that God is doing in my life and heart through the times of grief as well as the times of rejoicing.

Are you using your suffering? Or are you wasting it? My prayer is that this blog will be an encouragement to others both in times of joy and celebration and also in times of suffering and hardship. No matter what the circumstance of life let’s allow God to bring us a better blessing than we could ever dream of.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28