News 9's Amanda Taylor Shares Struggle To Conceive

There's no question; I'm very much pregnant and due in just one week.

But as you may, or may not know, getting to this point hasn't been easy.

But what helped me get through it is others sharing their story, knowing I wasn't the only one.

Which is why, I'm sharing my back story.

It's one of heartache, needles, and a lot of hope.

You could say the road to my baby bump has been a bumpy one. Especially when you consider to get to this point, I had to give myself shots of fertility drugs every day, sometimes three times a day.

Like most women hoping to start a family, I never thought it would come to this

For two years, we tried EVERYTHING to have a baby, even some out there things.

And I started keeping a journal. At one point I wrote:

They told me to eat sweet potatoes, so I ate sweet potatoes. Sweet potato fries, sweet potato chips, sweet potato pancakes. They told me to eat full-fat milk products, so out with one percent, in with full-fat ice cream. They told me don't eat anything cold, a warm uterus is better, so out with the ice cream, in with the warm tea. Acupuncture, herbs, cough medicine, morning temperature taking. If they - and I mean anyone - suggested it, I did it. And I've eaten a lot of sweet potatoes in the last year!

But ultimately it was a lot of prayers and the help of one doctor that made my dream of becoming a mom a reality.

That doctor was Dr. Eli Reshef, the medical director of the Bennett Fertility Institute.

"The more you know about my specialty, the more you wonder why so many people get pregnant when there are so many complications," Dr. Reshef said.

He said in nature, in the best case scenarios, women only have a 20 to 25 percent chance of getting pregnant each month.

For those of us under 35, he said we should seek treatment after a year of trying.

Over the age of 35, after six months. And even then, it can be a lengthy process to the positive pregnancy test.

"It's very difficult to tell a patient who sees everybody else get pregnant and a baby it's difficult to tell them patience, patience, patience."

After experiencing the roller coaster of monthly emotions and trying all sorts of other fertility treatments, we turned to In vitro Fertilization (IVF), which consisted of painful shots, and being put under to remove eggs.

The doctor told us IVF success rates have improved over the years and we would now have about a 50 percent chance of it working.

"In many cases we might not know why a person is infertile, but we can bypass that by putting the sperm and egg in a dish in a lab and hopefully result in a smiling baby."

And this was the start of ours; an embryo, which two weeks later we would learn would become our baby.

"To look at people's faces when we tell them they have a positive pregnancy test," said Dr. Reshef. "To look at an ultrasound of a heartbeat and baby moving, I'm humbled that I can help people in that endeavor. It's very humbling. I'm one of the luckiest physicians in the world."

My hope is that if you or someone you know is struggling, realize you're not alone and there are options.

I put my journal while I was going through fertility treatments online at news9.com/amandasbaby.