I’m Heidi, a 25 year old stay at home mom (finally!). My husband is in the Air Force, and is a United States Air Force Ceremonial Guardsman. He is a Pallbearer for the USAF Honor Guard here in Washington DC. I think that it gives him peace of mind to know that he is laying people to their final resting place.
We tried for over six years to achieve my dream of being a Mommy. It wouldnt have happened with out the Air Force. While undergoing test after test, procedure after procedure, swallowing pill after pill, Kevin stayed strong for me. He assured me that we would someday have our child. Even though the stress and the condition I was finally diagnosed with (polycystic ovarian syndrom – aka PCOS) caused me to gain weight and be very unhappy with myself, Kevin never waivered. He managed to service his country honorably, taking care of nuclear ballistic missiles and then taking care of his new wife. He juggled leave time, taking off of working their 4 day shifts every week to be at doctors appointments and to be present for procedures that he was, shall we say ‘necessary’ for.
Kevin being ‘deployed to the field’ four days out of the week, every single week, put a lot of stress on our marriage. We still werent pregnant and had been married for 2.5 years. (We were trying before we got married, obviously). Kevin applied to come here to DC to be apart of the Honor Guard. We took a long break from trying to conceive and just concentrated on us. When we were finally ready again, we went back to the doctor. After being referred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, we found out that several of the treatments we had been paying out of pocket for were available for much smaller costs. The doctor tweaked the regiment that we were doing before hand by just adding ultrasound monitoring of my follicles and ‘triggering’ me to ovulate (I had to let my husband give me a shot!!), with an IUI (intrauterine insemination), we were finally pregnant!
Our beautiful baby boy was born on April 28, 2008 – six years after we decided to start a family.
The stress of unpredictable schedules, (which vary from day to day here at the Honor Guard), trying to conceive for so long and the hopelessness, plus the PCOS and then finally the successful pregnancy have all taken a toll on my body. While I am no longer the thin girl I was, I realize now that my body has produced a miracle (and hopefully many more!), and will never be the same. My husband loves the me that I am, and I want to show him that I can love me too!
While he is away for 5 months this winter, I believe that he would LOVE to have a wonderful album of photos to…ahem, enjoy. I want to show that I have the confidence to pull this off, many sizes and stretchmarks later. I would love to prove to myself that I am STILL beautiful!
