Building a Bethards

Here is a fact about us that very few people know: We became foster parents in October of 2013 in an attempt to foster and eventually adopt a sweet little baby with chronic medical needs. Obviously it did not work out as we had planned. I first met this sweet baby girl while I was working at the local children's hospital. I immediately fell in love with her. She was only a couple of months old and she already had a sweet little personality and beautiful eyes. To protect her identity I'll call her Grace. Grace was born with a chronic condition called CCHS--Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome. Oddly enough she was not the first baby I had met that was diagnosed with this condition, so I already knew almost everything I needed to know about what her care would entail. Grace was flown to the children's hospital from a neighboring state because ours was closer than the closest hospital in her state. Almost immediately she had an open DHS case due to other family iss...

One of the hardest things for someone struggling with infertility, other than their own negative pregnancy tests, is the pregnancy announcement from anyone in their social circle. Especially when it is an unplanned and/or unwanted pregnancy. Every time I see a friend post a pregnancy announcement photo on Facebook or Instagram my heart breaks just a little more. I am, of course, over the moon excited for my friends. I think creating and carrying a baby is one of the most exciting things a woman can do. It's an incredible gift from God to be able to conceive and carry a child. It is difficult, though, to be able to completely share in their joy because of the pain of infertility in my own life. The blog I referenced in my first post puts it perfectly: You don't really need to say anything.... Just support us, pray for us, and be there when we might call upon you. And share your babies with us, because it helps us while we wait. :) Oh, and thanks for being patient wit...

No one ever talks about how hard getting pregnant can be. There is never "the talk" in middle school about difficulty conceiving a child, it is only about how sex makes babies and that's not good until you're ready. When Drew and I began talking about when we wanted to start a family we never imagined that it would take longer to get pregnant than a pregnancy actually lasts. But here we are. 10 months into our journey and on our first medicated cycle. Infertility is something that no one really talks about or understand unless they've gone through it. Its hard. Very hard, even. The beginning stages of trying to have a baby are so fun and blissful, and yeah, it's sad those first few cycles you get a negative pregnancy test, but nothing like the heartache of seeing them month after month for almost a year, for some even longer. It's only a few months into it that you start joining "trying-to-conceive" forums and groups and talk to wome...