Testimonies - Page 15 of 40 - Moms in the Making

I suffer from PCOS. My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for 13 years now. In 2014 we were able to conceive with the help of Clomid, however, at 9 weeks we miscarried. We found out in 2015 we were pregnant again with our daughter. My blood pressure was out of control the entire pregnancy. At 21 weeks, my water broke at the hospital. When they stood me up to put me in a bed to take me to labor and delivery my placenta ripped away from my uterus causing me to hemorrhage and suffocate our daughter. I relived that day over and over and still struggle with it.

We tried 5 more rounds of Clomid with no success. We couldn’t afford any other treatments and I felt like our journey was over. I prayed daily for God to allow me to conceive and have at least one child of our own. In August 2021 I found out I was pregnant. We conceived on our own! This had never happened and I knew this was all God’s work. They placed a cervical cerclage at 12 weeks and we had a few scares with some heavy bleeding the first 2 trimesters, but the baby was doing great. Our son was born March 18, 2022!!! God answered my prayer in His timing and I could not be more grateful.
Two years ago we began the journey of trying to conceive our first baby and a year ago a shift in me began happening.

8 months ago I found Moms in the Making and I cannot tell you what this amazing ministry has done for not only me, but also my marriage. I was at a place where I was miserable, trying to control the world around me, and everything in it. Through the women I have gotten to meet, the testimonies I have heard, and the life that has been spoken over me, I have found a renewed hope. I had the privilege of attending the leaders retreat earlier this month and wow, another life shift. I can feel a difference since being home, Holy Spirit is present and I can feel him there.

Through this I have also seen a change in my husband and his faith growing in ways I’ve never imagined and I know we are only just beginning on our faith journey’s. Infertility isn’t anything I would ever wish on anyone, but I am grateful for it, it has given me purpose, true closeness with the Father, and a stronger relationship with my husband. Thank you Moms in the Making for being such a light of the Lord.

Kaitlan Merz – Ohio
It’s me! I am “that” one who has said, “Obviously God does not want us to have children.” It is a lie! I have repented and I am moving forward. Am I a mom yet? No! But in Jesus’ name! I am patiently waiting in hope as my faith continues to grow.

The Moms in the Making small group has fed my soul in ways that no group has. Thank you leaders of MITM for being obedient and teaching us to trust in the One who has created us and who will create in us!

I have had such an incredible heart change on this journey! From divorcing to reconciliation and from victim to victor! I know that I know that God is not done with us!
The song Wait on You by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music has really spoken to me in my wait to become a mom… “But I’ve got a promise I can hold / In the middle of the struggle / God, if You said it, You’ll perform it / May not be how I want You to / But here’s what I’ll do / I’m gonna wait on You.”

April 24, 2013, I had my first positive pregnancy test. My dream of becoming a mom was finally coming true. It ended rather quickly though when I had my first OB appointment and was told it was a molar pregnancy. Over the next 8 years, I had 6 miscarriages with “no explanation” as to why I miscarried.

In 2018 at the Moms in the Making conference, the Lord clearly told me to stop trying to get pregnant and to WAIT on Him and His timing. For almost three years, He continued to tell me to wait on His timing. In early 2019, my husband and I felt led to pursue Foster Care. On July 15, 2019, we were placed with a 10 month old boy and a 2.5 year old girl. Foster Care has a lot of ups and downs but we continued to WAIT on the Lord.

After two and a half years in foster care, we were finally told that our children were able to be adopted….about 6 weeks after finding out that I was pregnant for the 8th time. January 5th, 2022, we adopted our children, Elianna and James, now ages 5 and 3. Then on February 5th, 2022, we welcomed our son Caleb via emergency c-section. After 18 days in the NICU, we finally brought home our promise. All three of our children were worth the wait. Our story does not look the way it would have if we had written it. But to see His goodness and His promises come true? That was absolutely worth the wait.

Amber Strealy
I took my first positive pregnancy test in January 2020. We weren’t trying to get pregnant so it caught me completely by surprise. I got excited and very quickly made a baby registry on Amazon & ordered a pregnancy announcement through Etsy. We went in for that first checkup & the sonogram tech was silent. That made me nervous. Everyone kept asking if I was sure about the start date of my last period. Then my doctor told us those bone chilling words, “there’s no heartbeat.”

After mourning the loss of that baby and moving forward we decided to go ahead with our original plan to try again in August. I tracked my cycle to know when I was ovulating and we got pregnant again. I thought “this one will work, God wouldn’t put us through that horror twice.” Only to hear the same phrase “there’s no heartbeat.”

My OB referred us to a specialist because she didn’t have the heart to put me through a 3rd miscarriage. I’m geriatric so they ran some tests & put me on some thyroid medicine to adjust my thyroid level. All other tests came back normal and there was no medical explanation why a pregnancy wouldn’t last longer than 8 weeks. We got pregnant again in December 2020 and I thought “we’ve seen the specialist I know this time is the one” and they monitored me closely from the start and ended with the same thing.. no heartbeat.

I asked God why, what have I done wrong that I’m being punished for? Why won’t my body do the one thing it’s supposed to do? And we prayed. We planned to try again in June 2021 for a March baby. That wasn’t the Lord’s plan. I found out I was pregnant and due in February. I had so much anxiety for the first 20 weeks. But at the Moms in the Making conference I felt my baby move for the first time during a worship song & felt God whisper “I’ve got this.”

My sweet boy was born a month early because I got preeclampsia & I had an unplanned c-section. He was less than 5 pounds & had to spend a week in the NICU. Nothing went according to my plan, but it was all perfectly aligned with God’s plan! Praise His name!
I first heard about Moms in the Making from Brooke Simkins, a friend and fellow improviser. When I heard about it, I had her on my podcast to talk about it. In hearing the change, the power of the Holy Spirit in her, I knew this organization was truly a God-led ministry and I wanted my wife, Bobbie, to be involved. We’ve been on our journey to parenthood a lot longer than we’d like, and I knew having the support of Moms in the Making would be helpful…I just didn’t know how much!

Additionally, my bride and I came from Illinois to the 2021 conference last fall. The conference was amazing and Bobbie, myself, and our marriage was so blessed by the worship, outpouring, support, and encouragement this weekend brought. It was an honor and a blessing to serve behind the scenes; one I would love to see more of the husbands afford themselves and their marriages. In this spiritual and physical battle, I know it was a great investment in our marriage for me to “have skin in the game” and support this amazing weekend.

To this day, we don’t have our miracle baby…YET…but this group has birthed something else. Our marriage is stronger, more full of love and grace and mercy than it ever has. We are growing our family in love and the things of God as we wait for God to bless us with a new generation. Our marriage is more complete now than ever, and we know that God has us. Moms in the Making has made a wonderful impact on our relationship and I am forever grateful.

I can’t wait to share a new testimony when that new generation arrives!!!
I was diagnosed with PCOS and Hashimotos in 2018 which has made trying to conceive a little more complicated. I was also under an immense amount of stress and anxiety during that time. Circumstances eventually brought everything to a halt and I took a year off from trying to have a baby. Fast forward to 2022 and my husband and I have been able to begin trying under an entirely different viewpoint where God is truly at the center. I had the same tests completed to see where my levels were at with my diagnoses now and learned that they have significantly decreased!

I also recently had the opportunity to be a part of a Moms in the Making Leadership Intercessory Prayer night where the words, “Right Alignment,” were prayed over me. I’m fully believing in healing of mind, body, and spirit as I look to God’s Word for the truth instead of following the lies I had been telling myself.

I’m still in the trenches with my health. This week has knocked me down with a terrible UTI but for the first time I don’t feel defeated by this. I still believe deep within my heart that my diagnoses aren’t what God has for me. I’ll face trouble in this broken world, but I know that He has already overcome the world and I know that through Him I can be victorious as well! My babies will be coming soon!

Emily Kinserlow – Houston, Missouri
In August 2019, I found out I was pregnant and had my first ultrasound the following day. That night I woke up to unbearable pain and we went to the hospital. It was confirmed I was miscarrying our baby who was 7 weeks. We were devastated.

On October 6, 2020 I found out I was pregnant again but it was shortly confirmed that I was miscarrying again. We were in disbelief. The miscarriage led to me having a D&C surgery a week before Thanksgiving. I was so angry at God and didn’t understand. I apologized through prayer for being angry at Him. At that time I didn’t know how much more my heart could take.

Days later, my husband went to the doctor for a suspicious lump on his body. He had surgery three days after Christmas and was then diagnosed with testicular cancer. We both had so much sadness and continued to lean on each other and God during this time. We praised the Lord for his wonderful blood work coming back great after surgery. In March, he did treatment. His doctor told us in July it would take a year to get pregnant. We left the appointment upset on how long it could take to continue growing our family.

But, two weeks later, I took a test and it was positive. With God ANYTHING is possible. I am currently 33 weeks pregnant with our miracle baby boy due in April 2022. God has continued to show up in our life and my husband and I continue to have faith and hope through all of our heartache. We thank God for healing our hearts and for our health.

As I have navigated this journey, I have been so blessed for the supportive community of women I have found through Moms in the Making. I love connecting with the Lord through my virtual group and seeing Him perform many miracles through prayer.
We tried and prayed for 12 years to start a family. I have PCOS so the doctor put me on 2500 mg of metformin and lots of other medicine (22 pills total a day for 3 years). We also had 6 IUI’s done.

After 3 years I looked at my husband and told him I can’t do it anymore. I had gotten to a point where I couldn’t swallow another pill.

In March 2019, I went to the altar and left everything with God. For the first time I had the biggest peace. Well 13 days later we got a letter from a lady who was 14 weeks along wanting us to adopt her unborn child. We went through the pregnancy with her and the baby was born September 2019. We were at the hospital (I was in the room when she was born) and she came home from the hospital to our house. On March 16,2020 (3:16) the adoption was finalized.

I had a lot of people ask me how I was not stressed throughout my journey and my answer every time was “God’s got this.” About half way through the 12 year journey I did get jealous and angry with God but I realized He was teaching me something and I just had to step back and learn and grow closer to Him. I can honestly say I learned a lot from it and I’m closer to Him because of the wait.
I found In Due Time blog way before I knew we would struggle to conceive. When we got our final diagnosis I felt really lonely; nobody could understand the pain that I was confronting and the faith that I needed in that moment of life. But it was in that moment that I remembered In Due Time blog and started looking for it on the web to discover that Caroline led a fertility ministry.

I began following MITM in 2017 and had this desire to go to conference. In 2019 I was in a bittersweet place and my husband told me it was a good idea for me to go to the conference. So I planned my trip by myself, without knowing anyone. When I was flying all these thoughts came to my mind questioning what I was doing there. I already know Jesus, what can I learn in this place?

When I arrived at the conference really hesitant of my decision, but God placed the most wonderful girls around me. It felt as if I knew them for years. We shared a room and they make me feel like a longtime friend. Once I was in the conference I began asking God why we didn’t had this in Spanish, it would be so great for the Hispanic community to have this support. Suddenly I heard the Holy Spirit telling me, “It’s going to be you in this ministry.”

After this we had a special moment of worship and a girl came to me and told me God would make me a mother of many spiritual daughters. Of course I didn’t like the idea. I didn’t feel qualified to do this great task, but as time went during the conference God started repeating to me to start this in Spanish so I obeyed and went to the leader interest meeting. Two years after that conference I had the opportunity to go again but I wasn’t by myself. I went with my girls, those girls that God had for the Spanish group, the spiritual daughters He had told me. Through this group God had shown me his mercy, his faithfulness, He had given me great friends and sisters in Christ. God can do wonderful things with our life. He only wants our best yes!