If you’ve followed our journey over the last year or so, you’ll know about our years-long struggle with infertility.

A year after we were married, Angie and I began trying for children. Months soon turned into years, and we were both shocked and grieved that, no matter how many conception strategies we tried, nothing seemed to work.

Our decision to pursue adoption was not an alternative to conception. Whether or not we would eventually have biological children, we felt called to adopt. Welcoming Squish into our was our first big miracle.

But now we have a second miracle to report. Three years and three months after we began trying, Angie is finally pregnant! Squish is going to be an older sister. We couldn’t be more overjoyed.

In recounting our miracle story, I want to be sensitive to those still dealing with infertility. We know what it’s like to read the success stories of others, but still experience no breakthrough personally. Angie and I empathise with you, and we recognise that no amount of advice and no “happily ever after” tales from other people can take away the pain and grief of infertility.

Even so, I want to share what made a difference for us in hopes to bring encouragement or perhaps an insight or two that might prove helpful.

Working with Nature

There are no silver bullets when it comes to addressing unexplained infertility. Cumulative efforts and strategies can ultimately pay off, but even then, there are no guarantees.

We tried a lot of things before Angie fell pregnant. Most methods made no discernible difference. In the end, three things stand out to us as being very helpful in our particular situation.

The first was understanding the role of the hormone progesterone in preparing a woman’s body to conceive, and then using essential oil drops to boost Angie’s progesterone levels.

As we think back on Angie’s monthly symptoms over the three-plus years we were trying, it is now very clear to us that her body was not producing enough progesterone naturally. Within months of addressing this problem, she fell pregnant. Make of that what you will.

The second was tracking Angie’s cycle much more closely using the Creighton Model — specifically understanding the role that cervical mucus plays in fertility, and the importance of timing your baby-making accordingly.

The Creighton Model requires a lot of focus and diligence. It’s not for the faint-hearted. Due to our last few months of chaotic travel — in addition to Angie falling pregnant — we did not stick with the program as long as is normally recommended. Even so, the insights we gained from it were extremely beneficial. I believe they played an important role in Angie’s pregnancy.

(As Christians, we also highly recommend the Creighton Model as an alternative to IVF and other fertility methods that involve questionable ethics).

Deliverance

Finally — and this one might sound strange to some readers — we sought out deliverance ministry.

“Deliverance ministry” is a catch-all term for prayer that involves more than just your usual requests to God. It is a recognition that sinister spiritual forces are at work in our world and can be contributing in unseen ways to problems we normally think of as being purely rational or scientific. Ask around enough and you will hear many people share stories of breakthrough — pregnancy being a common example — as a result of deliverance ministry.

In our case, we reached out to a trusted friend who had previously shared spiritual insights with us that had turned out to be extremely accurate. When we asked him if he’d pray for us, he was delighted, and told us that quite a number of couples had conceived after seeking him for deliverance ministry.

During this ministry, we prayed in Jesus’ name to break off curses from our respective family lines. While we didn’t notice anything immediately, our friend felt confident there had been a spiritual shift and said he believed a pregnancy was “imminent”.

Two months later, we were pregnant. Again, make of this what you will. It certainly seems like more than a coincidence to me. And it’s not the first time we have experienced such a miracle when praying in Jesus’ name. (Read about Angie’s miraculous healing here).

In the end, Angie and I cannot take credit for this miracle of pregnancy. There are no silver bullets, but there were three things that seem to have made a big difference in our case.

Every infertility journey is unique. Wherever you are on the journey, I hope you’ll be encouraged by our story.

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Image courtesy of Unsplash.