Monday, March 7, 2016

The Elephant in the Room


When Todd and I decided we were ready to start our family in the summer of 2014, I ordered a little stuffed elephant on a whim. I placed it on a shelf in our living room, where it became a symbol of hope for our future child.

As the months passed, we continued to wait, our disappointment and frustration growing. Eventually, our elephant in the room came to represent something else entirely: Our failure to be able to do something that seems so simple for so many people, and our fear that, no matter how hard we tried, it may never happen for us.

It was two days before Christmas when we got the gift we'd been waiting so long for: a positive pregnancy test. Sitting in front of the Christmas tree, we watched in disbelief as the double lines appeared, and there were a few minutes when all we could do was stare as the wonderful reality sank in.

I took a test every day over the course of the next week, and placed them all — each one progressively darker — in the elephant's tiny arms.

Today, the elephant sits in its rightful place in our baby boy's nursery, waiting for his arrival. We still have a lot to do to prepare over the next six months, but baby's first toy will be more than ready to welcome him to the world.


P.S. I shared a bit more about our infertility journey with The Washington Post. Check it out here.

3 comments:

  1. That is the sweetest thing I have ever read. I am so incredibly happy for you. June

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  2. Happy for you and Todd. A lot to look forward to.

    ReplyDelete