I’M EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE HUBBY AND I ARE EXPECTING A BABYCAKES THIS WINTER!
EXPECTING A BABY!
Three generations now become four. Just like my family recipes, the legacy of raising daughters is being passed down too! I’m so grateful for the strong women that surround me and will surround my baby girl coming soon!
THANK GOD FOR THIS PREGNANCY
BEING READY TO BE A PARENT
For the longest time, part of the problem was me. I will be real. Mentally, I just didn’t feel ready. I kept feeling like there was more I needed to do. I needed to be more stable as an entrepreneur. I needed to feel more accomplished. I knew that when I stopped to have a baby, I didn’t want to regret a thing. 
When I turned 35 last year, something magical happened. I’m not sure if it was a hormonal change or the clock finally started ticking but I wanted a baby. The craving was real, and I couldn’t deny it.
FERTILITY ISSUES
We tried and tried month after month. I bought the ovulation kits and all that jazz but I started to feel nervous because I have a history with endometriosis, which started when I was a teenager. I had the most severe cramps and menstrual cycles that sometimes required me to be hospitalized. After a laparoscopy surgery in my mid-20s to remove ovarian cysts and continuous birth control pills since that time, I wondered if my eggs were any good. In fact, I had a doctor test them when I turned 32. The results at the time stated that my egg quantity and quality were that of a woman in her 40s. Talk about a downer. But I refused to believe that. I knew I was going to be a mom one day.
FERTILITY DOCTOR: LET THE TESTING BEGIN
When we didn’t get pregnant by the end of last year, I started looking up fertility doctors since being pregnant was a major goal for me in early 2017. That’s how I work. I figure out what I want and then I go get it, even my BabyCakes. We found a clinic in downtown Chicago with a doctor that had amazing credentials. My doctor, Dr. Cohen, sat with Frederick and I for a consultation back in January and explained the pros and cons of everything. I felt so comfortable as soon as I met him and knew we were in good hands. The first thing we would do is start a ton of testing, and I mean a ton. He was initially alarmed by the test scores I presented him from the previous doctor so testing started with me three days after I received my cycle.
FERTILITY TEST RESULTS
Welp turns out doctors and tests can be wrong y’all. God is the only one that has the answer. It turned out that I had a plethora of eggs in there. They did a few tests such as an amh which for my age group they wanted to be over a 1.00. Mine turned out to be over a 3.16. Then they did an ultrasound to count the number of resting follicles I had. The resting follicles helped them determine how many eggs they could possibly stimulate during IUI or IVF. Well I had a bunch of eggs on each of my ovaries. Seriously they counted something like 30 total. It was such a magical moment to experience knowing that the previous assessment was all the way wrong.
MALE FERTILITY ISSUES
Next it was time for Frederick to test and that was where we ran into a few issues. As I’ve mentioned before on the blog, my husband had a kidney transplant several years ago that didn’t help with his testing if ya know what I mean. His daily medications had a cumulative effect which made the doctor say we need to skip IUI altogether and go straight to IVF.
IVF requires a great deal of patience, testing, blood draws, hormone shots and emotions over the course of several months. It’s definitely no joke so I plan to share the nitty gritty of it all in the next post! Stay tuned!
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May GOD continually bless you and your family!
Thank you so so much!!
Congratulations on your blessing from God.
Thank you so much Marion!
Congratulations you both. A blessing and a TRUE gift from God. He does everything in His own time.
He certainly does, and we are so so grateful!
Congratulations, such a wonderful blessing.
Thank you so much Connie!
Congratulations! I’m super excited for Frederick and you! I can’t wait to see pictures of your journey into motherhood. Blessings to you and your family!
Aww thank you so much Patricia! We are super excited.
Congratulations my dear! Thank you for sharing with us…looking forward to reading more of your wonderful blog!
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Thank you so much Rachel! It is my pleasure to share!
Congratulations to you, your husband and the rest of your family. May God continue to bless you all.
I am so proud of you and all your accomplishments. I also love to bake and cook and was very glad to see an African American sister reach success in this field. I will continue to support you.
Love,
Dawn
Thank you so so much Dawn for your sweet comment. I am continuing to strive to reach new heights. I hope I continue to make you proud.
Hello Ms. Joycelyn,
God is good. I am so glad you decided to share this information. I have a niece, she’s 27 now, had fibroids when she was 18 and had them removed. She has a lot of scare tissue and more fibroids and continuous blood flow. She is on meds to stop the flow. She has used bc pills, the depo shots and is now on meds that hasn’t stopped the flow as the Dr. stated. She wants to have a baby someday but has given up on that. I am going to share your story with her so that she doesn’t give up because we know that God can do all things but fail. I feel so bad for her. She’s so tired of the blood flow that she wants to take other measure to stop it. Thank you, Thank you. Be Blessed and much success to you and your family.
Oh thank you so much Amanda for sharing this. Please tell Amanda that she doesn’t have to give up her dream of a baby one day. I truly believe she can have one! I hope the rest of my story will provide hope!
Congratulations! God is good!
So good Sharon!!! Thank you so much!
Congratulations to you and your family, Jocelyn, on this wonderful blessing – as well as the manifestation of this leg of your Faith race/journey!!! Your “BabyCakes” is going to be one beloved child, I know!!! Your story is sure to give alot of women and men hope, in many areas of life, that even though “man” might say ‘no’, GOD still has the final Word!!! God bless your every endeavor, both in life and business!!!
Absolutely Kenya! My faith is so so strong. I know my BabyCakes is a gift from God and a manifestation of that faith. I am so grateful I get to share my story and hope it will help.