When 2009 began, Noah and I had been married for a year and a half and were living in the same great two bedroom apartment in Mountain Brook, AL. Noah was working as a full-time Spanish teacher at Highland’s Day School and I was working as a Children’s Music Leader at Baptist Church of the Covenant and was also a graduate student at Samford University.
In January of 2009, we had been trying for a baby for eight months, and I went to the doctor for the second time. I was told that eight months was nothing to be concerned about and that I would not be considered infertile until after a year of trying which would occur in May. Nonetheless, the doctor ordered several blood tests for this month. I had my follicle stimulating hormone and my thyroid hormone checked at the beginning of the month. Both tests came back completely normal. I also had a progesterone test near the end of the month, and this test too came back normal. I once again did extensive research to understand what these tests meant. Noah also underwent testing and all of his tests came back completely normal. Feeling optimistic by all of our positive results, I once again expected that we would be pregnant any month now. Knowing that our next step would be to go back to the doctor in May for an HSG we continued to wait.
That spring, my career as a harpist fared very well. Noah and I did a good deal of traveling for harp gigs. My graduate harp recital went well in April and in May I graduated with a Masters of Music in Music Education with a certificate in Harp Performance. Noah finished up his first year as a teacher successfully and we foolishly decided to move back to Huntsville now that we were both done with school.
In May of 2009 our lives exploded into complete unrest and uncertainty. We packed up our great apartment and put all of our belongings in a storage facility in Huntsville and moved in with Noah’s mother in Huntsville. Noah left his great job at Highland’s in search of a job in Huntsville. He had one really great interview but did not get the job. During all the unrest of moving and searching for work, I did not go back to the doctor as planned in May for an HSG.
Over the summer I continued with my continuing education by obtaining my Orff Level 1 certification. During this two-week process, I learned that the state board of education had rejected the application for a teaching certificate from all Samford music education graduates. I had to re-enroll in school to take an additional three classes that summer. It was a hard battle we fought to ensure that all of our needs were met and the classes we needed were offered.
Noah applied for many, many jobs that summer and took his resume and portfolio to all reaches of the county and even to Cullman but nothing worked out for various reasons. I did not actively seek a full time teaching position because I wanted part time work to better adapt to the life a being a mother. Still convinced that I was destined to be a mother, I did not want to begin as a first year teacher because I knew how stressful and how hard being a first year teacher would be and I did not want to go through that if I was just going to quit the next semester or year to be a full time mother. As the summer drew to a close, it became apparent that Noah was probably not going to find a full time teaching position this year and because of this, I should also seek a full-time position.
In July of 2009, I received an email and an answer to prayer though not the prayer I was praying. The choir teacher at Sparkman High School (who worked with my mother in the Huntsville Community Children’s Chorus) needed a maternity substitute for the spring semester. Up until this point I had wanted to work with preschool children in a part time capacity, but fortunately I was not foolish enough to brush aside this opportunity for a great career and financial boost.
Noah and I changed our plan of action from seeking teaching positions to seeking substitute opportunities. We applied to be substitute teachers at Randolph, Madison County, Madison City, and Huntsville City. We did pretty well that fall semester as substitutes. I subbed for several music teachers that I knew around the county and Noah took his substitute resume to every high school in Huntsville City, Madison County, and Madison City. Once again we were blessed. The Spanish teachers at Bob Jones were very good about asking Noah to sub for them and one of the teachers found out she too would need a maternity sub for the end of the spring semester next year and Noah gladly accepted the offer.
We never actively stopped our pursuit of a baby, but unfortunately it was put on the back burner until we could find stability in our lives. I almost went back to the doctor in November for the HSG I should have had the previous May, but I never scheduled the appointment. Though it was never completely out of my mind, it was no longer my foremost thought; our search for work would drive our lives for the next year.
In December of 2009, I began my job as a full-time maternity substitute at Sparkman High School and Noah continued substitute teaching at various schools throughout the county. We then celebrated our second Christmas as TTC.
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