The Juice is Worth the Squeeze.

By Israel Walls

As a husband and/or a father, we want to provide for our families. Regardless of what it is, it is in our nature to want to give our wives or our children what they need, and sometimes even what they desire. For those of us with fertility challenges, this innate drive can be difficult to fulfill at times.

I remember finding out that it was going to be difficult, or worse, to conceive a child and I couldn’t resist the feelings of failure and of being let down. After lots of soul searching and research, we started our conception journey with IUI and it miraculously worked on the second try! Shortly after that, we were able to meet our first daughter and I have been putty since that day 🙂

As she grew up, her mom and I could clearly see that she wanted a sibling and would make an amazing big sister! As time went on, I could also tell how much my wife also wanted another child to round out our family. We went back to the well, trying IUI over and over and over again, to the point that our Dr.’s office almost named a room after us. To no avail, and after losing count of how many attempts, we shut the door on that being an avenue for us moving forward.

I will admit to my hesitation to take that next step, working through most of the excuses and reasons I could come up with. However, after many days and nights of discussion, frustration, deliberation, and even some tears – that drive to provide the things that are important to my family superseded all of my reservations. Any effort, risk, or cost was worth the outcome. The juice was worth the squeeze.

For us, like most parents in this situation, the ‘juice’ equaled one of two outcomes. Either we would be parents again or we would know that we gave every effort to do so. We decided we could be content with either. The ‘squeeze’ was just the process, and we could certainly handle that after everything we had been through.

Thankfully, we found Dr. Conway and Utah Fertility Center through a referral from a friend. They could not have been more gracious and helpful to us working through that process, and as I sit here today with another amazingly beautiful 8-month-old baby girl who adores her mom almost as much as she does her big sister, I can truly attest that the juice is definitely worth the squeeze!