Texas Woman Posts Photo Of 452 IVF Needles To Celebrate Long-Awaited Pregnancy
It took more than 450 IVF needles, but Texas woman Lauren Walker is finally pregnant. And a Facebook post she shared to announce her pregnancy has since gone viral, with more than 3,000 reactions and almost 600 shares over the past nine days. And it’s not any ordinary post, as it shows off all the in vitro fertilization needles used as she and her husband Garyt tried to conceive, together with onesies showing the words “Worth the wait… and wait and wait and wait.” Better yet, the Walkers are expecting twins after the long pregnancy struggle.
Although it was only late this week that news outlets picked up on Garyt and Lauren Walker’s story, 28-year-old Lauren had made the pregnancy announcement last Friday, February 10. In a Facebook post, the Texas woman documented the struggles she and her husband had experienced, and how the couple’s patience has finally paid off.
“We prayed for 953 days…
452 (IVF) Needles
1000’s of tears
1 corrective surgery
4 clomid/letrozole attempts
2 IVF rounds
3 failed transfers
& 1 Amazing GOD.
We are overwhelmed with joy to finally announce that we are expecting boy/girl TWINS!!”
In an interview with ABC News, Lauren Walker related how she and Garyt, her high school sweetheart, had been trying to conceive since 2014. As she had been “having issues” conceiving as early as then, she had gone to the Houston Fertility Institute to receive in vitro fertilization treatments. While the Walkers were hopeful that the treatments would work, Lauren had miscarried two embryos in September 2014, and miscarried another two just a few days before Christmas 2014.
Couple reveals #pregnancy in amazing viral photo with 452 IVF needles https://t.co/YpANHA5D8o from @abc13houston pic.twitter.com/9Xo2WUbGYM
— NewsON (@WatchNewsON) February 19, 2017
“It’s every mother’s job to be able to protect their children and keep them safe. And every time they kept putting them inside me I couldn’t do it.”
It isn’t unusual for couples having trouble getting pregnant to get fractured as they repeatedly fail to conceive. But Lauren told ABC News that she and Garyt were determined to stay together, despite the rising cost of IVF needle treatments and repeated miscarriages. She also credited their mutual faith in God in helping them get through the challenges.
“We have heard stories of how going through infertility can really cause wear and tear in a marriage. (We decided) we come first. We need to make sure we are always taking care of each other first and foremost.”
By May 2016, Garyt and Lauren Walker were almost a year and a half removed from their last failed attempt to have a child and had moved from Houston to The Woodlands, Texas. But it would be five months later, in October, when the IVF treatments resumed, with more needles and more tense moments as the couple hoped to conceive. Given their previous failures, they chose to keep this attempt private, and not let friends and family know about their plans.
In a reversal of fortune from the heartbreak of Christmas 2014, the Walkers had nothing but good news for their family about a week before Christmas 2016, as they announced Lauren’s pregnancy with twins by “handing them the pregnancy test wrapped in a bow,” wrote ABC News.
Photo of 452 IVF needles celebrates pregnancy https://t.co/2686Wk2DWA pic.twitter.com/5UdRob59qT
— Yahoo (@Yahoo) February 19, 2017
Lauren Walker is expected to give birth in August, and as early as now, she has chosen names for her baby boy and girl – Duke and Diana Walker. And while it was a long and hard wait fraught with numerous challenges, she told ABC News that it was definitely worth it.
“Life happens the way that it’s supposed to happen. 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.
“The reason why we were waiting so long is that we were waiting for them.”
[Featured Image by Elena Yakusheva/Shutterstock]