Thank you for your Prayers

We found out on August 23rd 2007 that our son, Joshua Hugh Martin, no longer had a heartbeat. He was born on August 24th 2007 at 12:24pm. He weighed 1 pound and was a beautiful baby boy.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah1:5

Thank you to all who have prayed for us and our son!

Our Baby Boy, Joshua Hugh Martin

We were given two weeks by the doctor. Our son lasted 11 days before he gave up the fight. On August 24, 2007 our son, Joshua Hugh Martin, was stillborn after being diagnosed with Hydrops. It looked like he was fighting hard to stay with his Mommy and Daddy. He would kick and move for us, letting us know that he was there and we gave him encouraging words to hang in there.

The amount of fluid was too much and Joshua couldn't take it any longer. We were still trying to find out what was wrong with our son and what caused this to happen. The night before, I was sick with a sinus block on my right side and didn't get much sleep. Julianne was restless, as well, and had some back pain during the night, waking her up. It was the night before the amniocentesis. We hoped this test would let us know what is wrong and how we might be able to treat it.

It seems like the normal times are when the worst things happen. It was the specialist that found the Hydrops during a scheduled ultrasound. The scan was to see the baby and to make sure everything was developing right. It was at the same office that we went for the amniocentesis. It was there during the scan, before the procedure, that the tech looked at us and said that there was no heartbeat.

I think God gave us the 11 days to share with our child how much we love him and how much our friends and family care. It was during this time that all our friends, family and neighbors all came to us to give us hope and prayers. God lifted us up and took our pain away. While we tried to research everything about Hydrops and what could be the issue with our son we also spent more time talking to him and loving on him.

It isn't our place to wonder why He took our child. Everything that happens in this world happens for a reason and that reason may or may not benefit us. What comforts me is to know that there will be a time that my spirit will join again with my family. I will see my triplets, and my baby boy, Joshua. God is with us, carrying us during our hardships.

My personal loss in the last year or so has taught me one thing...Life is precious. It is a gift from God that we get to share with others but can be sent back to Him at any time. I have lost my oldest Uncle a few years ago and a little over a year ago I lost my last Uncle. Within the last year, we have lost triplets in our first pregnancy. My remaining Grandmother passed away and my Aunt died so unexpectedly in a very traumatic and tense way.

Now, I have lost my son Joshua.

My son, who I am so proud, of since he alone touched so many lives to pray to God to help him. Some for the first time praying to a God they are just starting to build a relationship with. I say to all, thank you and God did not fail us. He answered our prayers. Our son is in a better place with no pain or troubles. Waiting for Mommy and Daddy to come home.

Bad News Told

Monday August 13th 2007 was supposed to be a great day in the life of the Martins. This was going to be the day that we see our little child and find out if it is a He or a She. Notice the word that I used, "supposed". Just from that word you can guess that the day didn't go as we expected.

We showed up at the doctor's office and had our ultrasound. The technician that was doing the ultrasound didn't say much and said that the doctor would be in a few minutes to look over things. RED FLAG!!! OK what is going to happen? Now if you have read the past post about the first time we got pregnant, it was during an ultrasound that we found out that we were going to have a miscarriage.

The doctor came into the office and looked over all the scans. Next thing we knew we were being told that our child would not survive two weeks. TWO WEEKS! What in the world has happened? After getting off the floor when I passed out (ok, I didn't really pass out but I did feel like I did).

The doctor said that he had Hydrops Fetalis non-immune. They weren't sure what the cause was but that it could be Chromosomal or Viral. There was fluid around the heart, lungs and the back of the neck. Down syndrome is one of the most probable reasons for this the Hydrops. It could be other Chromosomal things like Trisomy 13 or 18 which are fatal to the child and most do not live long if ever born.

Talk about a big shock to us. We contacted everybody we knew that would pray for us. We continue to need prayers until all of this is over. We hope and pray that all will turn out OK. We know GOD has the power of Miracles and we are praying that our little child will receive a Miracle from God.

For those of you who are curious we did find out the sex. Let's just say it was a BLUE day. Yes you guessed it, it's a BOY!

We are Pregnant

It was December 2006, we had just found out that we were pregnant. It was an exciting time for us since we have been trying to get pregnant for three years. We tried all the NORMAL ways of conceiving a child but they just wasn't working for us. We were feeling like it never would happen. We worked with our doctors using clomid. They, for the most part, gave up. To them we have used our lifetime supply of clomid and it would never work for us.

That is when we turned to Reproductive Biology Associates (RBA) of Atlanta. They had other options for us and other things to look at to help us conceive. We started to use injections and after the second attempt we got some results. It appeared as through it worked. We had to do Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and in the end we had three sacs.

It was great! Well, we thought this would be great. If all three sacs make it we would have all the kids we wanted. We were told that one was very strong and would make it but the other two would probably not make it. As long as the one would, we were ok with it.

Unfortunately there is a risk using the medications that were used to conceive. One of these is hyperstimulation. If you haven't figured out yet, we found out in December that Julianne had hyperstimulation. Four days in the hospital, surgery to remove the fluid on her stomach and a few weeks of recuperation we find ourselves at a routine ultra sound.

It stopped being a routine ultra sound after they told us that the sacs were all gone. They could not find them. Few days later we find that the pregnancy was terminated on its own. It was a sad time for us but we knew that we can get pregnant. We were sad for the lost of what could have been our babies.

Months later we start to try on our own. The cost of the first try, since insurance doesn't cover it, we too much to do it again so soon. We hoped that with the first pregnancy it would help us the second time. We monitored the cycles again and when the time hit we went for it. It was a long shot but we felt that we had to try something. We needed this to help recover from the previous loss.

It worked! We couldn't believe it but all the hard work appears to have paid off. We conceived and this time it was all us. No medicine which was a big relief for us. We felt that this time we wouldn't be in the hospital due to complications with the medicine. We are so happy and excited. Our dreams appear to have come true. We even keep the pregnancy test on the commode just to show to ourselves that it really happened.