After my husband, Dillon, and I were married in 2015 we knew we wanted to have a baby but didn’t want to aggressively try. ‘It will happen organically when it’s meant to be,’ we thought. We traveled a ton, had a blast, and lived our lives. But it didn’t happen.

Throughout this time, I would have excruciatingly painful ovarian cysts that would occasionally burst and land me in the ER. Deep down I had an intuitive feeling that something might be wrong with my body, but even deeper down I knew that my purpose in life was to be a mother. It’s what I wanted more than anything. I knew I would have a baby. I knew it with every fiber of my being. 

On a whim, we moved from my hometown of Los Angeles to Charleston, South Carolina at the end of 2016. One year later my doctor told me I should see a gynecological oncologist to rule out something that looked potentially cancerous. That oncologist told me he wanted to do an exploratory surgery because he had a hunch it may be endometriosis. (No other doctor had ever mentioned that this may be a possibility.)

I underwent surgery and we waited for results. The day I was diagnosed with stage 3 endometriosis (‘endo’ for short) was a very dark day. Dillon was out of town in France while I was told by the blank-faced doctor that there was nothing he could do to remove the endo and that I would need to go to a fertility clinic to discuss children... and may not be able to have children at all. I was devastated to receive this news, but in my gut I just didn’t feel like it could be true. 

That night I was invited to an event for the clean beauty company, True Botanicals. I decided that even though I was feeling down and wouldn't know anyone I would go because there would probably be a great swag bag (there was). And thank god I did!

I started talking to a girl and told her the reason I was down. She told me that she had stage 4 endo and that her doctor in New York was the best in his field. “Order his book and make an appointment with him immediately,” she said... and I did. They had a cancellation the following week so we flew to NY and met the man that would change our lives forever.

Dr. Tamer Seckin, a warm, feisty man who told me I actually had stage 4 endo and scheduled me for surgery the following month, November 2017. The surgery took 5 hours and ended up removing most of my endo (including 2 cysts and a fibroid) and repositioned my ovaries.

Dr. Seckin told us there was a good chance I would get pregnant in 1-3 months. I got pregnant the first time we tried, one month later. I was in utter shock and disbelief... I hadn’t wanted to get my hopes up and certainly didn’t expect to get pregnant on the first try! When I took the pregnancy test (and another just to be sure) I cried tears of happiness.

9 months and 70 pounds later, our baby boy, Fox Tilton Bryan, arrived, healthy and perfect. To say I’m grateful would be the world’s biggest understatement. I now believe in the power of divine intervention. The road to becoming a mother for me may not have been the easiest one but it made me appreciate my baby even more. Fox is my greatest accomplishment and the light of my life, and I feel beyond lucky to be his mother.

So in conclusion... the real moral of the story here is, always say yes to that party invite.