Our Infertility Background
Sooooo, how did we get here?
Mike and I have decided to share our journey and story of Infertility and treatment. If anyone is silently struggling or knows someone, I can only hope I can give some insight or they can relate. Before any assumptions are made, I am not looking for attention or sympathy, just possibly reach out to someone else and give them comfort. At the age of 26, and dealing with being labelled “infertile” I was literally living a double life. If I wasn’t talking about it to family and friends, then there must be others who aren’t talking about it.
I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) after a hospital visit in June 2011. I had a cyst rupture and cause an infection in my pelvic region. I was not on birth control for all of 2011, and only had a period 3 times. After being told I had PCOS, I was left on my own to research and discover how to manage. I had several symptoms of weight gain in the abdomen, acne, irregular periods, and most important- no ovulation.
Mike and I had only been together for a little over a year when this all happened. We didn’t know each other they way we do now, or know we wanted children with eachother. I recall the night of the hospital visit, I cried in bed and said to mike “I may never have children, may have troubles having them or may have no problems at all”. I recall saying I was an “infertile myrtle” as a joke, and he hugged me and said “well you’re my infertile myrtle, and I want you more, I will be with you no matter what the outcome”.
How cliche, but… that’s when I knew, it was important to me and that it was with mike.
We decided to start early incase it would take some time. We had talked about having kids many times but we weren't in the best place to do so. Once Mike had his job with the city, we actually made the decision to seriously consider this on a car ride home from Gananoque. Regardless of my current status, I asked him, do you want to get married or try for kids? What do you think he said? After HOURS of talking, including the 4 hour conversation to decide to make the appointment- I got a referral to the Ottawa Fertility Centre. When we finally had our first appointment, I really felt like we were in the right place. The centre is an incredible, ginormous facility with amazing staff and hundreds to thousands of couples. Mike makes it to almost all of my appointments to be able to hear first hand, and be a support for me. He has sat through a couple ultrasounds, waited while I did bloodwork and always comes to the appointments with our doctor. He has been so incredible during this entire process, and he really has been my biggest fan.
In our findings of many rounds of bloodwork, ultrasounds, one HSG exam we came to some conclusions. I have PCOS, I do not ovulate on my own, I have a thyroid disfunction and a blocked right fallopian tube. This is all female factor, as Mike had stellar blood work and “little dudes”. You do not know love till your boyfriend does a sample, at 7am, on a -40 december winter morning. True love guys. His results from his kruger test were: 50 million count, 70% motility & 2.5% morphology.
I have had several monitored cycles, daily charting, tracking, medication etc. The money is in the several hundreds to probably now over $1000 just for pregnancy tests, ovulation kits, herbs/teas, acupuncture, prescriptions etc. What’s not sexy about timed sex and writing it down on a calendar?
Going through this process tests yourself emotionally, physically and mentally. As a couple, it puts you through the ultimate challenge. The constant monitoring, the constant bad news from tests and the doctors, make you wonder- everyone else is having babies, why can’t we? It has really challenged both of us on a large scale. You know it's going to be hard, but you don't really know till you are there.
The side effects from synthroid, progesterone, clomid and femara are: bloating, insomnia, weight gain, mood swings, hot flashes, headaches, cramping and so on and on. The medications to induce ovulation makes you feel exactly like you’re going through menopause times a thousand. Half of the month I feel like total shit (to put it politely). When I start another round, it's like getting to the top of the roller coaster and the drop down lasts 3 weeks.
One thing I know is this is the right journey for us. Even if we didn't have problems conceiving we would be trying anyways. Healthy couples can try for up to an average of a year with a 25% chance every month of getting pregnant. Odds sound low considering it seems like everyone is pregnant the first try- which some are. I love Mike more than anything, and I know he will be the best dad. Most days I think even a better dad than I will be mom (if that's possible). We have been taking each day as it comes, staying hopeful and digesting the news with as much ease as possible. Everytime we see babies or toddlers when we are out, most of the time mike turns to me first and says "I want one", with a huge smile on his face.
We are just trying to get to step one. We have been working for the better part of a year to just get pregnant. We haven't even crossed the bridge yet of miscarriage, pregnancy problems, delivery, and having a newborn. We aren't naive- we are aware of the responsibility and change that will come, but step one is our current bridge to cross. We look forward to the challenges and rewards from building our own family.
(**update October 2017) Mike and I completed a cycle of IVF in November 2014. We spent over $10,000, and transferred one 3-day embryo and have one 5-day embryo frozen. We have a beautiful and healthy baby girl, born July 22nd 2015. We are in the process of transferring our frozen embryo.
Thank-you for taking the time to read.
Stay tuned!
Peace, Love & Baby Dust!
Alyson
I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) after a hospital visit in June 2011. I had a cyst rupture and cause an infection in my pelvic region. I was not on birth control for all of 2011, and only had a period 3 times. After being told I had PCOS, I was left on my own to research and discover how to manage. I had several symptoms of weight gain in the abdomen, acne, irregular periods, and most important- no ovulation.
Mike and I had only been together for a little over a year when this all happened. We didn’t know each other they way we do now, or know we wanted children with eachother. I recall the night of the hospital visit, I cried in bed and said to mike “I may never have children, may have troubles having them or may have no problems at all”. I recall saying I was an “infertile myrtle” as a joke, and he hugged me and said “well you’re my infertile myrtle, and I want you more, I will be with you no matter what the outcome”.
How cliche, but… that’s when I knew, it was important to me and that it was with mike.
We decided to start early incase it would take some time. We had talked about having kids many times but we weren't in the best place to do so. Once Mike had his job with the city, we actually made the decision to seriously consider this on a car ride home from Gananoque. Regardless of my current status, I asked him, do you want to get married or try for kids? What do you think he said? After HOURS of talking, including the 4 hour conversation to decide to make the appointment- I got a referral to the Ottawa Fertility Centre. When we finally had our first appointment, I really felt like we were in the right place. The centre is an incredible, ginormous facility with amazing staff and hundreds to thousands of couples. Mike makes it to almost all of my appointments to be able to hear first hand, and be a support for me. He has sat through a couple ultrasounds, waited while I did bloodwork and always comes to the appointments with our doctor. He has been so incredible during this entire process, and he really has been my biggest fan.
In our findings of many rounds of bloodwork, ultrasounds, one HSG exam we came to some conclusions. I have PCOS, I do not ovulate on my own, I have a thyroid disfunction and a blocked right fallopian tube. This is all female factor, as Mike had stellar blood work and “little dudes”. You do not know love till your boyfriend does a sample, at 7am, on a -40 december winter morning. True love guys. His results from his kruger test were: 50 million count, 70% motility & 2.5% morphology.
I have had several monitored cycles, daily charting, tracking, medication etc. The money is in the several hundreds to probably now over $1000 just for pregnancy tests, ovulation kits, herbs/teas, acupuncture, prescriptions etc. What’s not sexy about timed sex and writing it down on a calendar?
Going through this process tests yourself emotionally, physically and mentally. As a couple, it puts you through the ultimate challenge. The constant monitoring, the constant bad news from tests and the doctors, make you wonder- everyone else is having babies, why can’t we? It has really challenged both of us on a large scale. You know it's going to be hard, but you don't really know till you are there.
The side effects from synthroid, progesterone, clomid and femara are: bloating, insomnia, weight gain, mood swings, hot flashes, headaches, cramping and so on and on. The medications to induce ovulation makes you feel exactly like you’re going through menopause times a thousand. Half of the month I feel like total shit (to put it politely). When I start another round, it's like getting to the top of the roller coaster and the drop down lasts 3 weeks.
One thing I know is this is the right journey for us. Even if we didn't have problems conceiving we would be trying anyways. Healthy couples can try for up to an average of a year with a 25% chance every month of getting pregnant. Odds sound low considering it seems like everyone is pregnant the first try- which some are. I love Mike more than anything, and I know he will be the best dad. Most days I think even a better dad than I will be mom (if that's possible). We have been taking each day as it comes, staying hopeful and digesting the news with as much ease as possible. Everytime we see babies or toddlers when we are out, most of the time mike turns to me first and says "I want one", with a huge smile on his face.
We are just trying to get to step one. We have been working for the better part of a year to just get pregnant. We haven't even crossed the bridge yet of miscarriage, pregnancy problems, delivery, and having a newborn. We aren't naive- we are aware of the responsibility and change that will come, but step one is our current bridge to cross. We look forward to the challenges and rewards from building our own family.
(**update October 2017) Mike and I completed a cycle of IVF in November 2014. We spent over $10,000, and transferred one 3-day embryo and have one 5-day embryo frozen. We have a beautiful and healthy baby girl, born July 22nd 2015. We are in the process of transferring our frozen embryo.
Thank-you for taking the time to read.
Stay tuned!
Peace, Love & Baby Dust!
Alyson