After two years of struggling with infertility, one Texas couple is finally expecting twins. Of course, their newfound joy didn't come without difficulty, and Lauren Walker, one half of the couple, shared their story in a now-viral Facebook post.
"We prayed for 953 days, 452 needles, 1000's of tears, 1 corrective surgery, 4 clomid/letrozole attempts, 2 IVF rounds, 3 failed transfers & 1 Amazing GOD," she wrote on a post of a photo of her two onesies, one that says "Worth the wait" and the other saying, "... and wait and wait and wait."
Now, she's pregnant with twins, Duke and Diana, who are due in August 2017.
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Walker and her high school sweetheart, Garyt, had been trying to have children since 2014, she told ABC.
"There was a lot of pain, hope, and fear behind each of these needles," she wrote in the post. "Each one represents a different day, a different path, a different emotion. It's a lot to take in. After a good cry, the more I looked at it, the more the needles started to blur together. Now all I see are these tiny onesies that so perfectly sum up our journey: Worth the wait. And wait, and wait, and wait."
Walker wrote that as grueling as IVF was, it wasn't the hardest part of the journey — that was going through multiple miscarriages.
"My darkest hour was going through an entire cycle and losing embryo after embryo; 5," she wrote. "Coming so far only to miscarry. Getting to where all the hope, the money, all of what could have been your children were gone. The End."
Walker told ABC that she and her husband found out early on that they were struggling with fertility, and decided to try for IVF off the bat. By the end of 2014, she said, the couple had spent $30,000 in fertility treatments, and decided to give it "one more shot" with a final embryo, but found out just before Christmas that it didn't take.
"He went into the bedroom to take the call. He came out and just looked at me and he started to tear up [and said,] 'I'm so sorry, sweetie,'" she said. "We just held each other and I let out this blood curdling scream. I was completely broken."
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After taking out a $14,000 loan, the couple decided to try again in October 2016 without telling anyone, and were finally able to surprise their family with the good news.
"Life happens the way that it's supposed to happen," she told ABC. "Had this all happened the way I wanted to back in 2014, we would have different children and we would have a different life, and I know that these babies right now are meant to be here."
"Duke & Diana, you are already so loved," she wrote in her Facebook post. "Mommy and Daddy cannot wait to hold you in our arms, for we have carried you in our hearts for a lifetime."