Testimonies - Page 11 of 39 - Moms in the Making

My testimony comes from things that happened at our 2022 Moms in the Making conference.

First, I prepared to go to this conference. I knew God wanted me there and I fundraised for a long time to get there and God provided every step of the way. I kept the faith that He would do it and He did it and I had more left over!

Also, I prepared my heart and asked Him to change me and work on me at conference. I did the prayer guide that Moms in the Making provided on our app before the week of conference and I think all of that made a huge difference in my heart when I was there.

I felt FREE! Free to talk to ladies and be myself and to worship God wholeheartedly! I kept thinking back to my first conference I attended and how different my heart posture was and how anxious and scared I was! Praise God for working on me before, during, and now after conference! What a difference Jesus makes!

Also, Colby made a prophecy about having checks in our mailboxes when we came home and guess what? We had one! Some type of refund check, worth over $2K came to us a couple of days after I got home! Look at God! How amazing! It’s like He repaid me for going to conference twice over! He is amazing!
We lost three pregnancies between the ages of 37-39. At 39, we started IVF. I was hesitant, believing that I was trying to overrule God by making a baby happen. He reminded me through this journey that I don’t have that kind of power!

Right before our egg retrieval, we were advised that we only had 3 follicles ready, and one that might be ready by the next day. They liked to see 14-16 follicles. The nurse said we could assume that only half would give us a mature egg, then only half would fertilize, and then only half would make it to day 5. So with 3, maybe 4 follicles, we were looking a small chance we would get one viable embryo.

We didn’t have the money for another cycle and I cried. This was our only shot. My husband couldn’t shake the feeling that our baby would come from this cycle. We prayed. And I realized that the door was still open. Maybe cracked, but not closed. God wants us to keep going through his open doors. So we went to the retrieval.

The doctors ended up finding two additional mature follicles that were not seen by the first ultrasound. We got 6 eggs and 4 fertilized! Then 3 made it to day 5! When originally, only half were supposed to make it.

Then we learned that they all had chromosome abnormalities. The genetic counselor told us to discard the embryos but we knew we have a great big God who had already brought us this far. We transferred our first embryo and got a positive pregnancy test! On our first visit to the MFM, he could find no abnormality! On 9/10, our perfect boy was born healthy and continues to grow.

I hope our story shows those waiting in desperation and losing hope how God can and will overcome. I had to let go of anxiety and resentment and lay it all at His feet. It was the most difficult thing in my life to do. My anxiety and doubt creeped in so many times. And I had to turn around and give it up again. If you are still in the wait, please don’t lose hope!
I got diagnosed with a disease called neurofibromatosis 3 months before I got married. It’s a disease where tumors can grow on any nerve in your body. At the time, we didn’t know much about it and didn’t know it would effect our decision on having babies.

In 2017, I had 2 lbs of tumor removed from the nerves in my leg and off my sciatic. They still left a lot in my body because they were too intertwined in the nerve to be removed. I was advised by my OB and my neurologist not to have biological children because it’s a 50% chance of passing it on and a 1 in 3 chance of causing rapid tumor growth in my body. We also had not used birth control from 2017-2020 and never saw a positive test.

We prayed about and took the first steps of IVF because they could isolate the gene from finding it in my DNA and make sure our babies wouldn’t have it. As we took the first steps, we were still praying on if this was something we were okay with, and ultimately, it didn’t work because they couldn’t find the marker of the disease in my DNA. So we continued to pray about having a baby naturally.

We finally found peace in it and had our Shiloh (peace from God) on February 1, 2021. She has showed zero signs of the disease!!! I had a full body scan done September after she was born to see if I had any tumor growth and my doctor called to say, “This is unheard of, but you had zero tumor growth during your pregnancy”.

We recently found out in May about our little boy due on Christmas. He was a surprise, so we’re praying health and protection over him and me and trusting God will answer just as He did with me and Shiloh!
We started trying for our family in 2018. A year later, we were diagnosed with infertility and would need assistance with starting our family. We went through 5 IUIs before moving onto IVF.

In November of 2020, we did our retrieval and ended up with 3 beautiful embryos. We transferred our first embryo in May of 2021, which heartbreakingly ended in a miscarriage in July 2021. We were unsure of God’s plan for our lives when it came to having children, but we continued to trust Him and move forward with our hopes of having a baby.

On October 30th, 2021, we transferred our second embryo. 9 months later, on July 8, 2022, we had our son, Isaac. We held onto the story of Abraham and Sarah in the Bible during our years of waiting and how God promised them a child in their old age. We named him after their son, Isaac.

Moms in the Making has been a tremendous support during our years of waiting and I will always be grateful for this group. The amazing women I’ve met and my faithful and strong prayer partner have all played a huge part and I will forever be grateful. Thank you for continuing to spread the hope of Jesus through the stories and testimonies that are shared in this group. You have touched the lives of many! God is so good!!!
My husband and I began our journey 7 years ago. We were diagnosed with unexplained infertility and have had 3 unsuccessful treatments. We felt completely defeated and gutted each time. We felt it was time to change course.

A functional fertility doctor in Missouri was suggested to us and one day she posted about Moms in the Making. I did some research and joined a local group. This group saved my heart. I no longer felt alone, and it felt so amazing to be heard and understood. Then I decided to attend conference. I had no idea what to expect but God met me, the Holy Spirit wrecked me, my heart was transformed, and my hope was renewed.

One thing God showed me me at the Moms in the Making conference was that I needed to let go and just be with Him. I had been holding on so tightly to everything in the hopes that I could manipulate the situation to get our babies to us. It was time to release everything to God. He reminded me that he was shifting my perspective. This new perspective says even though we are still waiting, our lives have been so full of God’s grace and blessings, more than we could have ever asked or imagined.

Not only did my narrative began to change but so did my husband’s. God told me a long time ago that our infertility journey wasn’t about me, it was about my husband too. My heart, while broken, was ready for all the blessings God has for us but my husband, Adam, was not. I kept thinking that a baby would fix him, but I know now that was not the case. After our last treatment, Adam asked me why we didn’t ask God before we pursued IVF. My husband, who had been angry and bitter for so long, asked why we didn’t turn to God for guidance.

After 7 years, God fulfilled His promise that Adam would return to Him. We are now attending church together for the first time in over 7 years. Our journey isn’t always about the journey to parenthood, it’s about finding God, leaning into Him, and trusting Him with the promises He has for us.
I always wanted a big family, I just didn’t know 9 of my babies would be in heaven before I got to see them. I struggled with and am still working through countless rounds of IVF, surgeries, 9 embryo losses, 2 early miscarriages and I was doing it all alone. Until I came across my Moms in the Making leader Brooke in a Facebook infertility group. A group where not much positivity is shared but she posted about MITM and I knew that is where He wanted me to be.

I never could have imagined what I was going to walk through, and what I was going to learn and all the support I was going to receive that I didn’t even know I needed. My group prays for me, checks in on me, and God helped them to guide me to learn and read His promises in the Bible and help me allow the Father to heal the heartache inside me. I was broken and alone, and now I stand tall with still no miracle but more faith in God than I’ve ever had. I now know that He will keep his promise to me, even in the hurt, and disappointment in every failed cycle, every failed transfer, every miscarriage I know that God is the King, He is love, and His mercy endures forever. So I will praise him while I wait, and thank him for leading me to the God-fearing, God-loving group that is Moms in the Making. I knew my in person group was a blessing but after conference, I know the entire ministry is a blessing beyond measure.
God always provides! My husband was diagnosed with a balanced translocation in the fall of 2020. We were told by doctors and genetic counselors that getting pregnant and staying pregnant would be difficult for us. After grieving the news, we both came together and knew that God was greater. We decided to continue to try to get pregnant naturally and on March 29th, we received a positive pregnancy test.

We’re overjoyed with knowing that God provided this for us! He is so good! Baby Boy Castor is due to arrive in December.
At the end of 2021, I asked God if He had a word for us for the new year. He told me “jubilee.”

Naturally, I thought that had to do with fertility. This year, our seventh walking through infertility, turned out to be the hardest. We experienced our seventh loss. I didn’t understand how any of what we were going through related to “jubilee.”

But through the hardest time of our lives, God was doing so much healing in my heart. I grew up with a parent with mental illness in an environment of emotional and physical neglect and spiritual abuse. I was seeing a Christian counselor, but had been making little progress.

Through the last few months, Papa has been doing such a dramatic healing in me from the traumas I’ve experienced and breaking generational curses. I know that our children will be born free from the curses I was born under, with a mother that is capable of caring for them with Holy Spirit’s guidance. I was raised to think that I could not be vulnerable or ask for help. God has placed me in my Moms in the Making family, where I am safe to be vulnerable and am supported by my MITM sisters. I am overwhelmed by the support and love I’ve experienced through this group that has become my family.

When God gave me the word “jubilee,” I didn’t know that 2022 is a “shmita” year on the Hebrew calendar. It is the end of a seven year cycle, a year of jubilee. In this year, God has sent me free from the cycle of trauma in my family. I know He is continuing to work and bring healing to every area of my life, and He will do the same for you!
Our journey started as we approached our 2 year anniversary in Aug 2015. After several months of no positive tests we heard the news that no expectant couple wants to hear – due to male factor infertility conceiving naturally wasn’t in our favor & IVF was the best route to take.

We really felt that God lined everything up for us, emotionally and financially and felt at peace about it! Through the process we found out that I had lower egg count/quality and so there we were, our first failed round after 3 years in the wait, what’s next?

We hit rock bottom, decided to move cities and after more waiting and praying, we decided to head into round 2 in the fall of 2020. It ended with poor response that turned into an unsuccessful IUI. We were advised by that Dr. to basically stop as no treatment would work for us. At that moment, all our hopes and dreams were shattered but we knew God was far from done with our story.

After more waiting, praying and healing, we put it all in God’s hands to give it one last shot! In July/Aug 2021, we ended up with 2 miracle embabies. I did a laparoscopy soon after which confirmed I had some endo that was removed, went to conference & was prayed over for our embryo transfer on October 5, 2021. Following that we got the best news of our lives, “you’re pregnant!” News that we honestly doubted ever being able to have! Throughout our journey we would pray for double the blessing but with the obstacles we were facing accepted that probably wasn’t a possibility. At our 6 week appt, we miraculously got to see 2 heartbeats, identical twins! Our miracle baby boys were born May 28th, 2022.

During this time I discovered Moms in the Making and immediately reached out and got connected with a group that had just started…which has since forever changed my life & relationship with Jesus! Not only was I reminded the importance of having hope and joy despite the struggles, to fully trust God and to never give up, but the support, encouragement & friendships made are to last a lifetime! All the small details through our long wait revealed His goodness and perfect plan for our family. I am forever grateful and give God all the glory – He’ll do it again!
I’ve come a long way in my journey to have a baby. I used to keep it all to myself. But back in 2019, I made the step to join a Moms in the Making virtual group and never looked back. God worked on me and healed me in so many areas, including shame about my story.

I began to share publicly about what we were going through, what we had gone through, about our miracle son and about Moms in the Making. I shared on social media and in person and through messages. God led me to become a leader and I now lead the Portsmouth, VA group and the Moms Made virtual group #3!

I love getting to grow with these ladies and see God move and create miracles! But one of the coolest and least expected things that God has done is that He’s brought ladies out from my past who need to speak about their own fertility struggles. Ladies I went to high school or college with or met along my life at some point, done business with in the past, they are struggling and don’t feel free to share with the same freedom I do, but they know I’m a safe place to share with. It’s sad they’re going through hard things, but I’m blessed to pray for them, share MITM and any other resources they may need, but also point them back to Jesus.

I have faith He will always come through for them, for me, and for anyone reading this testimony! God has done it before and will do it again and again and again! Amen!