Life Wide Open
One Girl’s Extraordinary Journey
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I hold the needle about five centimeters from my bare skin. My hand isn't shaking, but I am nervous. It's my first time and I don't know if I can do this or what it will feel like. Tears start to well in my eyes and my vision begins to blur. I move the needle away and look at my husband sitting next to me. 'You can do it,' Brad says. 'It won't hurt, you're brave.' I say, 'I'm not worried about the pain - this is just not how you're supposed to make babies.' It's 6:45 am, we've both stumbled out of bed, we're in our dressing gowns and sitting on the couch. I am about to inject myself in the stomach as we start the scary, emotional and unknown journey into the world of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment. The hopeful desired outcome? A baby or two. The procedure? Not how God originally intended babies to be conceived. I'm not feeling attractive or turned on, but I am hoping this still intimate moment will produce a child. It may in the long run, but I also know a lot of medication, stress, tears and people have to be involved in the process yet. Our infertility journey began seven years before this day.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
I hold the needle about five centimeters from my bare skin. My hand isn’t shaking, but I am nervous. It’s my first time, and I don’t know if I can do this or what it will feel like. Tears start to well in my eyes, and my vision begins to blur. I move the needle away and look at my husband sitting next to me.
“You can do it,” Brad says. “It won’t hurt, you’re brave.”
Book Reviews:
“I’ve never wanted to be a police officer, I didn’t meet my husband the first day on the job, I’ve never faced down infertility, I wouldn’t know the first thing about my ‘style personality’, and I’ve never had to bury guinea pigs. Yet I met myself again and again in Sheryn’s wonderful story. In this Facebook world of carefully curated selfies and posts, here is a woman who totally tells it like it is. Life Wide Open, indeed!”
(Christina Tyson, editor)
“Sheryn is a marvellous writer—totally honest and candid yet discreet and a natural storyteller. And so funny! Delightful, moving, thought-provoking stuff.”
(Roger Steele, publisher)
“This book offers a buffet of emotions: joy, grief, regret, laughter, conviction, hope, and blessing—all presented in one powerful experience. Sheryn’s style is conversational and the vulnerability she displays gives me permission to be vulnerable as a reader.”
(Shar Davis, Salvation Army)
About the Author
Sheryn was born to parents who were full-time Christian ministers in The Salvation Army. This meant relocating around New Zealand every few years.
At nineteen, she trained and became a New Zealand police officer, serving for twelve years. In 1993, she married fellow police officer Bradley Adamson. The couple battled infertility before finally conceiving their two daughters through IVF. Dark and challenging times tested Sheryn’s faith in God, but she testifies to his miraculous and powerful love as a good father to a child.
Sheryn now runs her own Image Consulting business, contracts to the New Zealand Police College, and spends as much time as possible with her husband and two daughters.