Our Return

First of all, I cannot express to you how nice it is to be back in the blogging community (once again)! I have enjoyed waking up in the morning and catching up on what so many of you have been up to over the past couple of months! I am just as excited to share what we have been doing (or not doing) as well and hope to have lots of pictures from our trip to Europe up soon.

I wish I could say I am returning to blogging on the best of terms (with Baby Hill on the way), but sadly that is not the case. Husband and I have been doing great the past couple of months- taking time to travel, spending lots of time with family and friends, and focusing on our careers and other goals. I have been wanting to blog these past couple of months, but I honestly have not had the time- and I worried what I would even blog about: we are no longer seeking fertility treatments, we have put a hold on in-vitro, and for a while I even had to stop thinking of babies all together to just enjoy our summer.

But a lot of that changed recently when Husband and I were faced with our greatest test yet: a VERY close family member is expecting a baby. Out of respect to our family, I will be keeping the name, relationship, details, etc out of my posts- BUT since this a blog I created to express our frustrations and difficulty while trying to conceive I think its only fair for me to be able to express my frustrations here (if I cant do it here, where can I??) Husband and I were completely shocked when we learned the news and it is still very new and hurtful to us. We are very grateful for this new life in our family, but have no idea how we will handle all the excitement and happiness that will be around us. What will this upcoming holiday season be like? How will we attend family functions with a smile on our face? Is it wrong for us to ask for space from our family members while we process the news? How do we ask for sensitivity from our family members during this difficult time?

I quickly realized how much I cherish the relationships I have made with so many of you through blogging and how helpful it is to have the support of others around you. Husband and I feel like at this time we are unable to talk to any of our family about our feelings so we have been forced to turn to friends and peers for advice. I know we are not the first infertile couple to struggle with this type of situation and I would love advice from any of you who have been through similar experiences. What worked for you and how did you overcome any feelings of anger, hurt, frustration?

As always, thank you to all of you who have expressed support and encouragement to both Husband and I. We have learned to take these difficult situations 1 step at a time and know that during these hard times our relationships with others and with each other grow stronger.

Tears and Hope

For those of you who are still struggling (or have struggled), I recently found this video that has helped me through some hard times:

Tears and Hope- Empty Arms

The video is a bit slow but it puts into words how so many people feel. Its always nice to know you are not alone :)

**More to come on my return to blogging--thank you so much for all the recent emails, they really helped push me to return! :)