My name is Wendy. Myself and my husband, Richard, have been married for 7.5 years and I have been off contraception for 5.5 of those years. I only went to the doctor in October 2010, as I was not quite ready to face up to potential problems, and we weren’t financially ready for a child. I also told myself that we had not actively been trying (e.g. taking ovulation tests) and therefore perhaps it wasn’t an issue that I had not yet fallen pregnant.
The news came back from the doctor that I had polycystic ovaries. This is something not curable, but manageable. There are medications that I can take to try and boost ovulation. Also, losing weight is supposed to help with the symptoms. It’s a bit of a vicious circle, though, as having this condition makes it much harder to lose the weight!
The news hit me fairly hard even though I had been expecting it and had already researched the symptoms (an irregular cycle being the biggest indicator). There’s a big part of me that really wants to become a mommy and have Richard’s child, but there’s another part of me that’s not sure, because it is REALLY hard work and at that point in time it felt like this was never going to happen for me, for us. Anyway, we prayed with some family members and I felt God’s presence touch my heart. I walked away feeling a renewed confidence in God, after previously feeling very negative.
The following Saturday night we had an Encountering God worship evening at church with people prophesying over, and praying for, one another. Even though I was feeling full of faith, I was still hoping someone would have a word for me. A lady behind me (whom I’ve never met and who knows nothing about me) told me that God had a very special gift for me. She didn’t want to say what it was, in case she was wrong. I told her it was a baby and she immediately confirmed that was the word she had, and that it would be soon. She prayed for me and all of a sudden I found myself in tears (I tend to be emotional when I feel the presence of God).
I left the meeting feeling even more confident and excited at what God was going to do in our lives! The very next day my sister-in-law also had something to share. She gave me the verses Luke 1:36 and 45 “you are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said”.
Richard and I both never felt such confidence in anything before. It is wonderful to know that God clearly has a plan and purpose for our child if He has spoken through various people (including a dream a friend had). I’ve also felt very encouraged by so many dreams God has given me over the last couple of years about being pregnant or having a baby (usually it’s a girl). I’ve found out that by opening up about our journey, others have shared their struggles to conceive their children.
Several months passed and it took a while to get my mind in the right place, but for the past 8 months I have been doing what I can to prepare my body – I have started running again and we have both been eating healthily and lost a lot of weight.
My 3-year old niece was praying for us too (so cute!) and she told her mom that she thinks we have a baby now so she has decided to stop praying. Child-like faith is amazing! Just to trust in God as a little child trusts their father. Our faith in Him is something that we hold onto when doubts sometimes come to mind. We have watched the Joyce Meyer DVD “Battlefield of the Mind” and found it helpful to implement some of those teachings in our lives. Also, at homegroup recently we’ve been focussing on living on the right hand side of the comma of the verse John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”. Our spiritual lives have grown tremendously over the last year. We don’t always get things right, but we are moving forward.
We have been working through a Christian book about blessings and curses and the power that words have. We prayed against any curses that may have been over us and repented of sin in our lives. Since that very prayer was spoken, my monthly cycles (and I’ve had 3 now) have returned to the normal length. They used to be all over the place, anything from 3 to 6 weeks long! We are praising God for this.
I’ve read up about the possibility of IVF treatment but I don’t think we would pursue this option. It is a costly and traumatic ordeal. There are also the moral issues to consider, such as whether or not to freeze embryos (as a large number of them don’t make it) and not letting any of them get wasted, because we believe that life begins at conception. Besides, as God said in Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son”. We are standing in faith and know that the time will come soon when I can say the words I’ve been wanting to say for so long: “I’m pregnant”!
I hope that our story and faith may bring encouragement to anyone reading this who is going through any kind of fertility struggle.
praise god for your faith i have pcos also i have gotten pregnant 2 but lost the first through miscarriage and the second through etopic i am starting my 7th month of clomid myself and my husband really want to have children so please keep us in your prayers .
[…] you are not alone. there is a light. and there are many people who have walked this road and are walking it and will offer you support where you are on it. to read Wendy and Richard’s story, click here […]
Hiya!
I want to encourage you to keep believing. My husband and I went through an uncanny similar experience as yourselves… the ‘trying for a baby’ circumstances, the finances, the IVF dilemma, we even looked into adoption and foster care but realised the emotional implications would be extraordinary and challenging (especially seeing as we have many friends who have done IVF, AVF, foster care and adoption- all with mixed results). I was also diagnosed with PCOS nearly a decade ago, but had shown symptoms since my early teens.
We gave up trying after several years and decided that if it was just to be us then we are blessed to have each other- though my heart and mind were broken, my spirit (if that makes sense) kept on knowing God’s promise and guess what!?… we now have a 5 month old daughter who has become such a joy (and often a challenge) in our lives.
I BELIEVE with you (and Abbie) for these precious promise to be!
Thank you for sharing your story, especially when you are believing and speaking things as though they are already! That takes FAITH!
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your story, what an encouragement – God is good! It is also uncanny in that the phrase you used “speaking things as though they are already” is almost word-for-word a phrase that comes up alot in our home group! Are you living in the UK? If you’re on Facebook, I’d love to have you as a contact, I am on Fish’s friend list.
That’s pretty neat. I’m not in the Uk (though one day we hope to at least visit). Am on Facebook, but pretty private about it… only on there so I can see pictures of my nieces easily. My blog is also under a psuedonym as I write a lot about my family and don’t want a couple of them to know I have a blog (long story there). Sorry I’m slightly elusive. It’s a pity there’s no option to have private message on WordPress or I’d give you my email. :/