by Melissa Willets posted in Pregnancy

Throughout my IVF journey, I assumed once I got a positive pregnancy test result, a huge weight would be lifted off my shoulders. A sense of peace would come over me, and I'd know deep inside that all the pain and worry I'd endured was worth it.
To a certain extent, those assumptions were true. But the day I found out my IVF cycle was successful, was hardly the end of my journey. In some ways, it was only the beginning.
Now, I faced a new set of doubts and fears. This probably had a lot to do with having recently lost a pregnancy late in my second trimester, after traumatic and shocking events I still struggle to accept.
But anyone who has endured IVF, did so because being pregnant, or trying to get pregnant, produced intense suffering. Bottom line: the road to baby hasn't been easy if you are willing to inject yourself with hormones for months, without a guaranteed outcome. I have to believe those of us who are lucky enough to get pregnant have those fears about another loss of some kind in common. Meanwhile, I required hormone injections for another month after my successful transfer cycle. I understood my growing baby needed that progesterone, but let me tell you, facing huge needles every night was still no picnic.

To help me get through the shots, I'd clutch a onesie we purchased for our baby the day we got our good news. Other nights I looked at an ultrasound picture, as I braced my body for that all-too-familiar pinch.
I...