"A Candle Carol": The Sequel

A few weeks before Christmas 2009, I was contemplating where I would spend the holidays. In making the decision, I relayed on this blog my experience of visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City - and how it affected my decision. The result was a post I titled, "A Candle Carol."

A friend read that post, and emailed me her response. It was such a touching response, that I asked her if I could post her commentary on my blog. She agreed. As a result, below is "A Candle Carol: The Sequel" - in her own words. And for your convenience and clarity, following my friend's story, you will find the original "Candle Carol."

En-Joy...

HJ

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"A Candle Carol": The Sequel (by my friend who I will call "Julie")


I love your story...

I have to share ours about St. Patrick's cathedral in NYC (as yours reminds me of ours).

As you may or may not know, Tom and I started seeing a doctor in Manhattan to try and conceive a baby about two years ago (this was after spending two years at Strong Fertility in Rochester).

Each time we went into the city, we made a stop into St. Patrick's to say a prayer that one day we would have a baby.

One day I remember walking down the streets of NYC and Tom found a $20 bill (can you imagine...a $20 bill laying on the streets of NYC that no one had picked up?).

We were headed to St. Patrick's. We picked up the money and I said to him that it wasn't ours...but instead we should give it back to the church and light the candles with it as a donation. We did just that.

On one of our later visits to NYC, we had my surgery to retrieve what appeared to be my last eggs to try and have a baby. The retrieval is all about "when your baby is ready and the eggs are most fertile."

Amazingly enough, my body was not ready until St. Patrick's day. (My doctor's office is on 5th Avenue. You can only imagine how hard it was to get there and get out of the city in the midst of a large parade. The surgery was that day.)

I woke up from the surgery and my doctor patted me on the leg and said, "It might be time for an egg donor. We only got 3 eggs out. Only one of those 3 eggs fertilized."

Amazingly enough, that is the embryo that is back in my now and I am 8 months pregnant.

I am most certain that our prayers we said at St. Patrick's each and every visit were answered. I truly believe the candles are magical there.