I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it is for me to be writing this post today. You see? I’m not your average dad. By average I mean your typical guy who eventually winds up settling down, having kids, and doing the work thing. Nope, not me. Ever since I was very young I dreamed of having children. I grew up babysitting neighborhood kids and was a camp counselor for a period of time as well. I’ve always love children. I think mostly because I always felt like a child myself. It was actually more than that. Making people laugh has always been the most important thing I do every day. Who better to make laugh than children, right? Plus, they’ll laugh at just about anything you say and do so what an easy audience. It was more than that though still. I always wanted to help guide, shape, and educate a child. Taking their hand and walking them down the road of life.
I had it all planned out. I’d be married and having my first child when I was twenty seven. I figured I’d be forty eight when they were hitting the bars. Old enough to be able to give them the proper direction but not too old to get a drink with them. If this sounds weird to you, just go with it…it’s my story! Sheesh!
Okay, where were we? Oh right my story…So, twenty seven came and went. I was still convincing my then girlfriend that the last eight years of me bugging the crap out of her to marry me were worth it. She finally broke down realizing I wouldn’t stop pestering her to marry me and caved. We were married but wouldn’t have our first child until I was almost thirty four years old.
There was a reason though that I missed my mark. It wasn’t just that my wife and I were in a relationship for a long time before marriage either. We like so many other people figured we’d stop using protection and presto bango! I mean how many times have you had those condomless moments where you were praying to God that nothing would happen?? Well guess what? All those time completely wasted! Wasted!! Why? Well, as it turns out it would take us four years to have our first child. We weren’t as fertile as we thought. At least my wife wasn’t. After trying for six or so months we thought we’d see her Gynecologist who “specialized” in infertility treatment. We went through the motions, we went through four failed IUI’s (intrauterine insemination) and one miscarriage before we realized this wasn’t working out. We wound up taking one small blood test. This test taken just four years prior would have given us the answer we were looking for. We were having trouble because my wife was diagnosed with Decreased Ovarian Reserve. Essentially her quality and quantity of eggs were lower than most women her age. Basically the treatments we were going through would’ve never worked as a result of the diagnosis. So four years of trying down the drain. Why the Dr. didn’t prescribe us this test in the beginning I have no idea. Could it be that each round of IUI was over $1,000? I don’t know and I never will.
We found ourselves in one of the best Fertility Centers in the country. There we were told we had less than 10% chance of ever having children WITH IVF!! Needless to say our hopes were very deflated. Those dreams I had as a young boy and young man were diminishing. Could we adopt? Sure, but the idea that I would never have a baby that looked like me or sneezed like me (I sneeze pretty loud) hit me pretty hard. And my wife? She wanted to experience pregnancy so badly.
We went through one round of IVF which included my wife giving herself shots in the stomach twice a day for two weeks straight! It was very emotional for us. The whole process was very hard. We had to drive sometimes three hours one way just to get to the office! Sometimes our appointments were only twenty minutes long! So we’d drive five to six hours round trip for a twenty minute appointment.
Was it worth it? Well looking at Olivia right now at twenty months would yield an absolute, Yes! What’s more? Our son Jake was born sixteen months later completely Oh Naturale!!
So for me, being able to write a blog at www.DadStreet.com about my babies? It’s the most amazing honor and gift I could ever have after actually having them (well my wife had them not me but you get the idea). Now, all my dreams are realized because the two things I wanted in life after marriage are finally here and their names are Olivia and Jake.
Life doesn’t always turn out the way you thought it would but sometimes? It’s actually better. I proudly call myself a Daddy Blogger because just a few years ago I would have given anything in the world just to be one.
The Dad Revolution is made up of many Dad’s. Some share similar stories to mine and some are completely different. The one thing we all share in common is an unrelenting love, commitment, and devotion to our children. After all, we’re the other half of the Parenting Equation!