Some may know this but others may not...it is such an awesome thing that I have to share.
Last year my doctors diagnosed that it would be difficult for me to conceive without the assistance of fertility drugs/treatments due to a hormone deficiency. They offered to prescribe fertility drugs for me with the warning that "there is a high risk of conceiving multiples" if I were to take the drugs they wanted to give me. Heh....not quite our ideal...but we gave it some thought.
Then I was reading Hebrews 11 and this verse knocked me off my feet:
"By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he [ Or By faith even Sarah, who was past age, was enabled to bear children because she] considered him faithful who had made the promise."
My immediate thought was...who am I to say that God can't do this? Do I not think that God is faithful? I'm so young...a lot crazier things have happened! I knew that the fact that I was so young and already having issues didn't give me much hope for the future being any better but I was so willing to give it a shot.
We said no to the fertility drugs and yes to having faith and knowing that whatever happened...it would be in God's perfect timing.
This was painful because all I have ever wanted is to be a mommy. So not knowing if that would be a possibility was hard. During this time period...the verse that got us through it was this:
Hebrews 11:1-"Now faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see." We got such great comfort and joy from this verse...saying to ourselves over and over..."it's not up to us."
Then we got the joyous surprise in January that I was pregnant!!! Followed by complete disbelief of course. I called the doctor, they did tests, and it was true!! What was even more humorous is that after the tests were done we figured out that when I had met with the infertility specialist who prescribed the fertility treatments...I was already pregnant! How's that for God's great sense of humor!?
It was even more real today when we went to get our 3rd sonogram...this time with the anticipation of finding out the gender of this little Fantasma. After doing all of the measurements and seeing it move around and cover its little face with it's hands the technician said she was going to check if she could see the gender of the baby. At this point, I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room held their breath. After some searching around she said...."this looks pretty girly". After another couple of looks she confirmed...we've got a baby girl!!
Most say that it is pretty early yet for the name for our baby girl to be set in stone...but it is.
Her name will be Elliana Joy Fantasma.
Why are we so certain? It's easy. The name Elliana means "the Lord has answered my prayer". How perfect is that!? That's exactly how we feel!! Baby Ellie is our answer to prayer - our smile from God saying I know the deepest desires of your heart and will not keep them from you - our miracle. As cheesy as all of that is, it brings a tear to my eye...that may be crazy pregnant woman hormones...but I would like to think of it being truly that moving :P
Brian and I are so excited and so thankful for our friends and family who have given us such great support and heartfelt congratulations...not to mention proud of ourselves for not allowing a fear of the unknown or lack of faith get in the way of God responding with joy to give us our little answer to prayer.
Last year my doctors diagnosed that it would be difficult for me to conceive without the assistance of fertility drugs/treatments due to a hormone deficiency. They offered to prescribe fertility drugs for me with the warning that "there is a high risk of conceiving multiples" if I were to take the drugs they wanted to give me. Heh....not quite our ideal...but we gave it some thought.
Then I was reading Hebrews 11 and this verse knocked me off my feet:
"By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he [ Or By faith even Sarah, who was past age, was enabled to bear children because she] considered him faithful who had made the promise."
My immediate thought was...who am I to say that God can't do this? Do I not think that God is faithful? I'm so young...a lot crazier things have happened! I knew that the fact that I was so young and already having issues didn't give me much hope for the future being any better but I was so willing to give it a shot.
We said no to the fertility drugs and yes to having faith and knowing that whatever happened...it would be in God's perfect timing.
This was painful because all I have ever wanted is to be a mommy. So not knowing if that would be a possibility was hard. During this time period...the verse that got us through it was this:
Hebrews 11:1-"Now faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see." We got such great comfort and joy from this verse...saying to ourselves over and over..."it's not up to us."
Then we got the joyous surprise in January that I was pregnant!!! Followed by complete disbelief of course. I called the doctor, they did tests, and it was true!! What was even more humorous is that after the tests were done we figured out that when I had met with the infertility specialist who prescribed the fertility treatments...I was already pregnant! How's that for God's great sense of humor!?
It was even more real today when we went to get our 3rd sonogram...this time with the anticipation of finding out the gender of this little Fantasma. After doing all of the measurements and seeing it move around and cover its little face with it's hands the technician said she was going to check if she could see the gender of the baby. At this point, I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room held their breath. After some searching around she said...."this looks pretty girly". After another couple of looks she confirmed...we've got a baby girl!!
Most say that it is pretty early yet for the name for our baby girl to be set in stone...but it is.
Her name will be Elliana Joy Fantasma.
Why are we so certain? It's easy. The name Elliana means "the Lord has answered my prayer". How perfect is that!? That's exactly how we feel!! Baby Ellie is our answer to prayer - our smile from God saying I know the deepest desires of your heart and will not keep them from you - our miracle. As cheesy as all of that is, it brings a tear to my eye...that may be crazy pregnant woman hormones...but I would like to think of it being truly that moving :P
Brian and I are so excited and so thankful for our friends and family who have given us such great support and heartfelt congratulations...not to mention proud of ourselves for not allowing a fear of the unknown or lack of faith get in the way of God responding with joy to give us our little answer to prayer.
