First Blog

My goal was to start a blog when Hannah, our second daughter was born. I thought it would be fun to write more in depth about how our lives are with two, I must say, absolutely precious girls.

Life has certainly changed for Bo and I in the past two years. A little background: Bo and I met at Elon, where we went to college. We got married in June 2004 after I graduated, which was five and a half years ago. We knew we wanted a family and decided that if a baby were to come, then that would be great, and if it didn't then we had plenty of time. We ended up getting pregnant in December of 2004. We were extremely excited! It was such a fun Christmas telling everyone. Then, in the middle of January we had an ultra sound and things did not look good. There was a heartbeat, but it was not strong. A few days later I miscarried. I then understood what others had been through and felt the worst pain in my life. Unless you have been through this, it is very difficult to understand. I was beyond heartbroken.

We got the okay from the doctor three months later to try again. A year went by, no baby. Another year went by - nothing. So, we began fertility testing. There was never a targeted problem.

Bo and I then made a move back to my hometown in VA. We both got new jobs, a little apartment and basically started over a new life. We saw a doctor at the Jones Institute, a very well known fertility clinic in the state of Virginia. We went into more testing, more medicine, but never again had an indicated problem. So, we began IUI's. They were not successful. The doctor wanted us to have three IUI's before looking into InVitro. We had one IUI left, and it was December of 2007 - I did not want to go through with it. December had been so hard on me for various reasons and I did not want to waste my last IUI being so stressed out.

January 2008 came and so did a positive pregnancy test - without the IUI. We couldn't believe it. We had our baby girl, Emma on August 23rd, 2008. She was such a blessing. Bo and I had bought a house, jobs were good, we had our baby - life was great.

Then January 2009 came. Emma was 5 months old. We got another positive pregnancy test after noticing I had some symptoms of pregnancy. We couldn't beleive it. We struggled so long to get one baby and then both of our pregnancies just happened! Thus, Hannah was born October 3rd, 2009.

Life has changed dramatically. I never would have beleived I would be at this point in life if someone had told me this five years ago with all of the struggling. We are so thankful to have our two girls. I will never forget that first pregnancy or seeing that first baby on the ultra sound screen. He or she is still part of our lives and we remember that baby everyday. I want to dedicate part of me to understanding and learning about miscarriages and lost pregnancies. I sympathize with those who have gone through what I went through and those who have suffered far worst. It is my hope that my story will give someone hope and strength. You never know what is going to happen. I encourage women to not give up. I know the frustration of seeing other women with their babies at the mall, those who we feel do not deserve children, the stories on the news about what heartless people do to babies, etc. It is very difficult not being able to control something that you want so badly. My life has been changed by this event.

This blog I hope to continue will mark the funny, interesting, new, chaotic occurences happening in the Hamrick household. I am excited to share our stories!