The Small Things
One of the first things I remember learning when we started considering IVF was to keep your schedule and your mind flexible about your cycle dates. IVF is so dependent on your body and how it reacts to the medications that it is good to keep your plans to a minimum and expect things to get rescheduled. So what did I do when I found out our IVF start date? I wrote it in ink on my calendar!
A few days later my IVF nurse emailed me to let me know that the doctor wanted to push our cycle back. Even after I tried to prepare myself for this sort of thing, I still ended up being frustrated and bummed that we were having to change our dates. I tried really hard to be totally go with the flow...for about 30 minutes. Thankfully I am in a wonderful online Bible study group right now and posted my prayer of frustration to a group of infertility sisters. By giving it to the Lord, I slowly started to feel better.
The next morning, I called the nurse to go over a few questions I had about our cycle changes, and I asked her if there was a medical reason that we needed to push back our cycle. She told me that she thought our doctor was trying to get us to a particular point in my cycle before we started birth control to suppress my ovaries. We talked for a bit, and I mentioned that if possible we were hoping to begin on our original stimulation start date as long as the doctor didn't think it would impact our chance of conception. She told me she would talk to our doctor and see what she if she was ok with us moving forward with our original stimulation start date. Let me just pause to say that my IVF nurse is spectacular. She is incredibly sweet and cares about the patients. A few hours later, she emailed me to let me know that our doctor was completely fine with us starting stimulation as planned!
All this to say, if you are currently going through a waiting season, the Lord cares about the small things. He knows what you need before you need it, He knows your heart's desires, and He knows why starting your IVF cycle on a specific day is important to you. Trust that whether or not He answers this prayer like you hope, He has good plans for you. So I encourage you to speak this truth over yourself daily, "My God is good, and He can be trusted".
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:11-13
With Love & Ever Expecting,
Ashton
