And then...

We've been married for just over three years, and we probably would have tried to conceive pretty early in our marriage, but life intervened. 

First, his dad had a stroke. 

Then, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

A couple of months later, I lost my job (and our health insurance). 

We applied for, and got, independent health insurance, but in Georgia, there is a one-year waiting period for maternity coverage. So even if we thought we could mentally or emotionally prepare for a baby in the midst of all of the family tumult, Blue Cross/Blue Shield wouldn't cover it. 

Then, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. 

Then, I lost another job.

Finally (FINALLY), September of 2009 rolled around.  Everyone was healthy.  We were both employed, although neither with an entity which provided benefits, so we continued to pay upwards of $450/month for maternity coverage we still couldn't *technically* use yet.  Regardless, we started trying to conceive.  I had a very regular, 26-day cycle.  Based on everything I had read, I figured that I ovulated on or around the 13th day, so that's when we went at it.

Fast forward approximately 11 months, to August 2010.  I had just started a brand new job which reimbursed me for 75% of my health insurance premium, a HUGE relief.  However, it felt like everyone on Earth was pregnant.  Every other post in my Facebook news feed referenced pregnancy, birth, gender announcements, or baby pictures.  Two of my best friends had recently given birth, and a third was due in November.   My menstrual cycle had gone a bit haywire around the first of the year, but I still had a period every month.  I went to my ob/gyn for my annual appointment, and I ended up in tears on the exam table.  She didn't think there was anything "wrong" with me, and she insisted that I would be pregnant soon.  "A year isn't really all that long to try," she told me. 

My tears must have had some effect, though, because she told me to make an appointment to come in for bloodwork between days 2-5 of my next cycle.  It took a week to get the results back from the labs, and I really never thought they would indicate anything except normal.   I've always been normal, if not above average. 

This time, however, I found myself standing outside the Normal Store, nose pressed to the glass, leaving smudgy fingerprints, wishing more than anything that I could be inside too.

When?

I'm Jenn.  My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for about a year and a half now, and for reasons I will get into in future posts, we have been unsuccessful.  

So the big question, which happens to rhyme with Jenn, is when?