With a little bit of luck...
First off, a little backstory.

My cousin is one of the strongest people I know. Brought up in a military family, she spent her younger childhood moving around the world every couple of years, and as happens with military children she was sent to boarding school with her elder sister, where they had horsehair mattresses and were bullied a lot by the other girls.

She met her first husband at uni, and they were together for four or five years before they got married. He was a wonderful guy, and we were all elated for her. A few months after the wedding, he contracted terminal cancer - he had Crohn's disease, and apparently there's an associated cancer that occurs in a very tiny percentage of Crohn's sufferers that is incredibly hard to treat.

He died about a year after they were married, and it devastated my cousin. She was widowed in her very early thirties.

After a few years, she started dating again, and found a lovely new guy. If I remember rightly, he proposed after about a year, and they had a really pretty ceremony, with her two little nieces running around with some of her friends' kids.

Not long after, they started trying to have kids, to no avail. It turns out that in an operation my cousin had when she was very young to remove an appendix about to burst, one of her ovaries was removed at the same time, and this left it very very difficult for her to conceive. They started on IVF, hoping it would help, but the drugs made her extremely ill, though we didn't know it at the time. It was later told to us that at any point during the treatment she could have become extremely ill and needed urgent admittal to hospital. It was unsuccessful, so she had a second round, but using embryos from the first round that had been frozen. Again, it didn't take.

Hence the third round. All the frozen embryos had been used, so she needed the drugs so they could harvest more eggs. She stayed in hospital during that, and became violently ill following implantation. She was in hospital for two or three weeks, unable to move or walk, on what pain meds they could give her taking into account the fact that she may be pregnant, though that barely scratched the surface. She's home now, and has been for a week, and is starting to be able to walk again.

Just before she left hospital, she had her first scan, and two embryos had taken.

Her next scan is today. If we're extremely lucky, there will be a heartbeat on the monitor. Maybe even two. And if there is, I think she will be the happiest she's ever been, and rightly so. That would be a truly beautiful moment.




UPDATE: Two heartbeats. Mum and I were in tears of joy reading the message. Champagne time. ^______^
(epinephrine, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 11:13, 7 replies)

Fingers crossed!

(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 11:34, closed)

Hope this comes true!

( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 11:35, closed)

I don't even like kids.
Stop making me pray that this goes well! :P

Seriously, fingers crossed.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 11:40, closed)

It will happen
Trust me it really will. How do I know this? My sister will be making me an Aunty in march.
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 11:51, closed)

that's wonderful news!
my sister had an ovary removed nearly 4 years ago after an ectopic pregnancy. she was told the chances of conceiving again were slim to none. my twin nephews were 2 last month :)
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 19:08, closed)

I have never met you or your cousin but with the power of mere words you have made me care insanely about your collective happiness - those final words in your update "Two heartbeats" made me very happy.

The very best of luck to all of your family - you sound like you've all had far worse luck than you deserve and it can only get better from here.

Moments like this remind me that humanity isn't all that bad :)
(Hammer Time, Sat 7 Aug 2010, 0:24, closed)

W00t!
I'm so thrilled for her! Tell her myriad unknown people are rooting for her.


NB: Can I say 'rooting'? That's not some rude slangy Britishcism, right? I was going to say "pulling for her" but thought maybe that doesn't mean the same as here in America, either.
(TDub Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides on, Sat 7 Aug 2010, 22:14, closed)