At the age of 18, I found myself pregnant and not sure if I was ready to have a child. I contemplated all of my options and in the end, made one of the best decisions of my life. My daughter Tori, is a wonderful 19-year-old girl who I thank God every day for.
I had never thought about NOT being able to become pregnant or the idea of never having children and being a mom, it was something I assumed was the natural progression of life. Since I was a child, I dreamt about my wedding dress, the house with the white picket fence, a husband I adored and our 2 1/2 kids. Having a baby so young flipped my dreams upside down and took me down a very different path than I saw myself on. I WAS very fortunate to have 3 children quite easily, but after my 2nd child was born I realized just how lucky I REALLY was.
When a close family friend could not conceive and then another and another, I began to do some research and according to a study conducted in 2002 by the CDC, over 7.3 million women between the ages of 15-44 suffer from some sort of infertility. This was the latest study I could find and that was almost 10 years ago! I am sure this number is much higher now.
This Thanksgiving one of the things I gave thanks for was my fertility and the gift of life. I will never take the precious life of a child for granted or the ability to become pregnant…. Thankfully amazing organizations like SAI provide surrogacy help and infertility solutions for those who are not blessed with fertility like I was.
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