My Infertility Story

It's National Infertility Awareness Week #NIAW this week. And I've been thinking a lot this week about sharing my story, not only to have it out there but to raise awareness that this can happen to anyone. If you are someone who is struggling with infertility, know that you are not alone.

First I wanted to start with some facts about infertility. Infertility is the inability to conceive after 1 year of unprotected sex. 1 in 8 couples (or 12% of married women) have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. That comes out to be 7,300,000 Americans. Approximately one-third of infertility is attributed to the female partner, one-third attributed to the male partner and one-third is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or, is unexplained. 85% of infertility cases are resolved with basic treatments, this means you do have to take the step to see a doctor though. These treatments often involve medications for various things.

Onto my story...

First off in college I was a Biology major and had taken physiology classes and even took an embryology class. Needless to say I knew more about the reproductive system than the average Jane. And before I went on the pill I was as regular as could be and never thought that would change, as you'll find out I was DEAD wrong on that one. At my yearly OB/GYN appointment in 2012 I asked my doctor what I should do when I was ready to have a child. Dr Steele gave me some great advice on how to start things off. He recommend that when I stopped the pill to take 60 days and use another form of contraception so that my body would have time to get back to normal and that I should at that point take a pre-natal vitamin. Great advice, so I stuck it in my back of my brain and waited for the time to be right. In January 2013 my birth control prices went up because I didn't have my own insurance anymore since I was between jobs and my parent's insurance that I was still covered under didn't cover it at all. We decided to get our last pack and ask God if it was the right time for us to start trying to have a baby. We had been through a lot as a couple (the threat of divorce, virtual infidelity, loss of trust) and we were finally strong as a couple and Jared was getting ready to start his career, it seemed like this made sense. With the go ahead from the man upstairs, we followed my doctors advice and pushed onward. On May 29th 2013 we were officially trying to have a child. It was about this time that my body decided to not be regular. I started to have cycles that lasted anywhere from 36 to 96 days. In a years time I had 5 cycles instead of 12. During this time I could feel myself starting to have issues with depression. I was a Biology graduate and was unable to get pregnant and knew the MANY possible reasons why. In early 2014 I made my yearly appointment with Dr Steele and we started working on getting my cycles to be regular. We moved to Montezuma Creek and had to stop seeing Dr Steele because driving 6 hours to see him just didn't make sense. By July 2014 my cycles we starting to be more regular and I no longer needed medication to help me to ovulate and be regular. During all that time we continued to use apps to help us gauge when my fertile window was and for a time even took my basal body temperature to help chart things. There were many tears and MANY negative pregnancy tests. About August 2014 we finally bought a home fertility test, which allowed us to do some preliminary testing for both myself and Jared. My test which tested my FSH levels came back positive. Jared's test tested sperm count and it however did NOT come back positive. We had spent the last year focusing on my end that we hadn't even thought about getting Jared tested. Not long after these tests we (ok I) decided that the focus would go to our overall health and my weight loss. Jared started taking Fertility Blend for Men because we had read that it would help with some of the issues we suspected were on his end. I started eating better and trying to exercise more (my exercise levels increased greatly once I got my Jazzercise membership). I was also trying to do a Candida cleanse using DoTERRA products, though I wasn't as vigilant about doing it. More tears and more negative pregnancy tests. As of today it's been 1 year 10 months 3 weeks and 3 days and 16 cycles since we started trying to conceive. We are now working on finding doctors closer to us so we can find out why we have been unable to conceive and get on a path that will hopefully lead us to our baby.

Infertility is a bitch! It doesn't care who you are, how old you are, if you are in the right position to have a child, or how long you've been trying. I've learned a lot through this struggle. I've learned how strong my marriage really is, that you can't do everything by yourself, and that I am not alone. Also that you should not wait to get the help to make your dream a reality.

It was not easy to write my story, but if it helps 1 couple who is also struggling to have a baby then it will be worth it.