Infertility – My Journey
Infertility – the journey I’ve taken. I think, though the hardships of infertility often outweigh the good, it has become such an incredible blessing in my life to be able to relate to so many around me and be a shoulder to lean on and a listening ear. I’ve had so many women confide in me and ask information about my journey with infertility, and I feel blessed to know their stories. Sometimes they are looking for advice, other times all they need is someone to hear them.
Hearing so many different stories also attests to the fact that there are SO many different types of infertility. No ones’ infertility journey is the same, but they are all hard none the less. Whether it takes two years, ten years, ovulation medication, needles to the belly, infertility specialists, etc., infertility is hard and should be acknowledged as such.
If you are going through any type of infertility or desire to grow your family, I am hear for you. I will help you the best that I can with all the knowledge I have obtained, be sad with you, and hold you. I will listen. And for those needing something to relate to or give you hope, read on:
Our Story
Mitch and I did not have an incredibly long journey, but it was dark and hard all the same. I started a shot that put me through early menopause the beginning of 2015. My doctor hoped that if the pain I was in subsided, it would confirm that I had endometriosis. They then hoped to avoid surgery. If anything, the shot made it worse. I insisted on going through with surgery the beginning of May. I did indeed have endometriosis. It was stage 4, it was aggressive, and it was everywhere.
I continued on the Depot Lupron shot for six more months, in hopes that shutting down all my systems would keep the endometriosis from growing back. In January 2016, my body still hadn’t regulated on it’s own. I started a medication to induce a period and a medication to help me ovulate correctly. I was started on Chlomid to make sure I had a good ovulation. After three months with no success, I was taken off and referred to an Specialist. **Important: A woman’s body can get too use to fertility medications, hence the reasoning behind taking me off Chlomid. Doctors want your body to have a break between every two to three months of rounds.
The specialist did a handful of tests on both Mitch and me. Mitch was unable to go to the second meeting where we found out my results. It was both scary and lonely. I sat across from the specialist alone as he told me that I had PCOM, on top of stage 4 aggressive endometriosis. He told me that I was apart of a very small group of 2% of woman in the world that had both. He told me I only had a one in every ten years chance of conceiving on my own.
Those words and that conversation will forever be burned into my heart and mind. He then told me that they were about to conduct a study that would allow us to do a free round of IVF. I went through different testing for that and was told suddenly, on the day that I went in for the final examination, that I did not qualify, because my endometriosis was stage 4 and too aggressive. I was heartbroken from the feeling of rejection.
Our Miracles
We prepared to start IVF, and we did more testing. We waited for my period to come to go pick up the many shots to inject into my body. My period never came. I was pregnant. On my body’s “bounce back” from Chlomid, my levels were high enough that I miraculously became pregnant. I was not keeping track of anything that month, thinking that we were about to start IVF. What a miracle.
With our second miracle baby, we had decided to only stay on birth control until our baby girl was six months. We were unsure if we would be blessed with another baby, but we wanted to take our chances. I was off of birth control for nine months and taking my first round of Femara (similar to Chlomid, but didn’t give me such strange side effects) when we got pregnant.
I’m grateful beyond words for our miracle babies and my wonderful, supportive husband.
If at any time need someone to listen, please reach out to me. You can email me or Contact me here. For an overload of photos of my two miracle babies, follow my Instagram.
