Any infertility warriors out there?

Question

I'd love to hear from those women who finally have their miracle but who know the sadness and the pain and the pure hopelessness felt from infertility.
I'd love to hear your stories. I am struggling very bad with infertility wondering if it will ever be my turn, and I would just love to hear from you.

Answer

I am speechless! Bawling in my living room reading about each of your journeys. All I can say is thank you thank you THANK YOU for sharing. You have all affected me deeply in such a real way. I believe that you have overcome one of the toughest situations life can throw at you, and for that you have given me so much hope
💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

Answer

My story isn’t as dramatic as some, because we didn’t go super far into medical interventions, but here’s another take on infertility... We tried for a year, got pregnant and miscarried at 10 weeks. Tried for another year, no luck. Did two rounds of IUI and gave up. It just wasn’t for us. Spent a year becoming foster parents (not using any bc because why bother?), adopted our daughter 8 months later, and... got pregnant 2 weeks after adoption day. I’m now 25 weeks. We started trying in August 2015. But it doesn’t feel that long because we switched our focus to foster care. I wouldn’t have it any other way— I am so in love with my daughter and I get sad imagining not having had the chance to parent her if my first pregnancy had been viable or if I had gotten pregnant before we became foster parents.

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I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I had two missed miscarriages 6 months apart and didn’t realize but this is considered to be infertility. I went out to go to a fertility clinic and get all the testing. Nothing really showed up as being wrong so we went forward with IVF with PGS testing because the likely explanation for the miscarriages would be chromosomal abnormalities. Turns out that wasn’t it though. My lining was a little slow to grow and a bit thin so they did a test called an ERA. Turns out I had a different implantation window than 85% of people. Had one canceled transfer then a frozen transfer and it worked. I’m currently 23w1d. Really hoping this is my take home baby. From the time we started trying to getting pregnant for the third time with this baby it was a year and a half. So I know that isn’t super long, but the ups and downs of getting pregnant, losing pregnancies, and doing IVF made it feel like an eternity. Of course no one can predict your future or outcome but I would suggest if you haven’t seen a fertility specialist yet that you make an appointment and do that. They were so helpful and thorough for me. I imagine I would have had many more losses if I hadnt gone there.

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I am so sorry you are going through infertility, it is the hardest thing I ever had to do and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy! 
My husband and I went through it for 3 years before we got pregnant with our rainbow baby. I’m currently 36 weeks and 3 days. We are just waiting on him now to make his arrival. After everything we went through to get to this point, we have had a perfectly healthy pregnancy up until this point, and he is even measuring ahead. We are thankful for this baby and although we are almost on the other side, we will NEVER forget what we went through to get him.
Please don’t ever give up. I know that is way easier said than done, but just keep fighting for your little miracle. Your day will come, I know it. 
The night that we found out about this little guy was literally 12 hours before our consult for IVF. It was so amazing, and we are honestly thankful for the fight to get to him, even if it was full of heartbreak after heartbreak. ❤️ 🌈

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Our struggle hasn’t been for years or maybe it has we just weren’t trying yet but my husband and I tried getting pregnant for two years and no luck. I had discovered I was hyperthyroid but doctors wouldn’t do anything said it should be fine. Not according to my research. Finally gave up trying and ended up pregnant just to have 2 miscarriages that shattered us. Our first was early at 6-7 weeks but our 2nd the same year we made it 12 weeks and lost our little boy. It was devastating. I had a chemical the next year thinking we would probably never have a baby started to think maybe just back off for awhile. Maybe start thinking adoption (but didn’t want people to bring that up oddly), couldn’t go in public without being mad/upset seeing pregnant women everywhere. Deleted pregnant friends, unfollowed family that were pregnant on FB. After a year of that after our chemical I Finally brought up my thyroid dilemma at a checkup and was put on anti thyroid meds and have my 3 year old son now. Had thyroid ablation in Aug last year and now 26 weeks pregnant with another boy that we didn’t even try for. We were in shock. I know the feeling of thinking it will never happen but in my heart yearning to be a mommy more than anything. I am a teacher and it made these years worse because you see so many kids going home unloved or unwanted and that’s all I wanted was to have a child. I thank God it finally happened for me and pray for other women out there that want to be mommies.

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First of all, I want to give you a huge virtual hug. My husband and I tried for two years without a single BFP, and it was agony. It was the darkest period of my life so far. The hardest part was not knowing if it would ever happen...were we just trying in vain, should we just start figuring out our other options, or give up? I knew in my bones that I was meant to be a mom (I'm sure you know that feeling), but what if I wasn't? For the first year and a half, I tried every natural remedy I could get my hands on... I still have a huge bag of supplements that I accumulated over the years. I completely changed my diet for about a year - gave up gluten, dairy, refined sugar, alcohol. TBH, I really lost it trying to control the situation. Eventually I loosened up on the diet, which was causing more stress than good, and we scheduled an appt with a fertility clinic. We met with the doctor, and she said that when my period came she would run all the blood tests and do an HSG. The wait seemed like forever because I have irregular periods, but I track BBT/cervical mucus so I know when to expect my period once I ovulate. I ovulated, we timed sex as soon as I saw EWCM (I don't usually get it, but that cycle I did), and then we waited. I'm sure you've heard the dreaded "it will happen when you give up." I hated when people said that. There is no way my husband and I ever gave up, including this cycle. But I will say, having that appointment to look forward to if I got my period relaxed me A BIT. And...my period didn't come. I tested at 16dpo and got my very first positive. It still chokes me up to think about seeing that the first time, something I'd convinced myself I would never see. I just sobbed and couldn't stop until my husband asked what was wrong (thinking I got my period) and I told him and we both cried and laughed together like maniacs. I see this for you, infertility warrior. You KNOW you are meant to be a mom, so don't let the doubt take over. I'm not out of the woods yet (15w3d), but I'm slowly allowing myself to know that this baby is with me for the long haul. To be honest, I've known this baby has been with me since the beginning. So know that you are already with your baby now.  So much love and hope and strength 💕💕💕

Answer

My husband and I been together for 17 years, neither of us have any children. We got married after being together for 3 years. We didn't immediately start trying, but we didn't prevent it either. I was on birth control for the first few years off and on.  After more than 10 years of nothing happening-- my obsession just grew. I started to ramp up my charting, tracking, temping, prenatal pills, castor oil packs, fertility massages, ovulation tests, fertility teas, pills---- it was crazy!. My husband and I finally decided to just see a fertility specialist. The first test ran was an ultrasound. I found out I had a retroverted uterus, two cyst on both ovaries, left was 11cm right was 4cm. My RE than ran blood work and scheduled me for an HSG dye test. All this happened in a week! I of course, had to Google the procedure and just ended up scaring the daylights out of myself. The women spoke of the pain of the procedure due to their tubes being blocked or some other factors like pcos, endometriosis. I was frightened by the images of fallopian tubes filled with fluid/puss-- but I'd give my life to have a baby. My hsg came out great! No pain, no blocked tubes, no pcos, no endometriosis-- nothing that could prevent us from getting pregnant. I was ecstatic! I thought no more temping, fertility teas,ect. But nothing happened for another 3 years. Last year,  I finally just couldn't do it anymore, and stopped everything! Except the black seed oil capsules that wasn't really part of ttc but I feel it played a huge role. I was really getting obsessed. For My own sanity I had to stop. My husband was frightened of what would happen if we didn't have a baby? I would hurt myself. He actually tried to get me to accept we might not be parents. My husband and I decides ivf was our route. We actually had the hospital and Dr lined up. I felt relief when we came to this decision. One thing about ttc for over 10 years, you learn a lot about your body you become more in tune with your body. In April of this year I noticed my breasts were ridiculously sore/sensitive/tender  and both breast are heavy (which was new). I didn't think pregnancy as I have these exact symptoms when my cycle is due. This prompted me to look at my fertility/period apps. It was then I realized I was 4 days late. I didn't think nothing of it as, for the last 3 years my cycle has been doing whatever it wanted. Nothing helped. I've been 3 days late before, never 4 but I honestly thought I was going into menopause or my cycle was being a bitch again. When 4 days turned to 6 I had butterflies. I didn't dare think baby, I was afraid of getting our hopes up for nothing. On day 7 I bought the 1st response triple check test kit. When I saw the first line,  oh it's gonna be negative. Imagine the utter joy, shock, disbelief, confusion, TEARS! I was in. I had to do the last 2 test. My eyes were playing tricks on me. One of the test was a digital.Within 3 minutes I was weeping. I was weeping so hard I was shaking. I couldn't stop looking at the tests. All 3 were positive!!!!. It was 6 am and I wanted to call my husband who was out of town for work. I didn't care. I called him over and over and over until he answered. I just started crying and babbling, we did it ! We did it! We're pregnant! There's two lines!. I took a pic and sent it to him. He was now the one in utter shock.  He was just as happy as I am. He immediately called his sisters, cousins and a friend or two😂😂😂 even though we both agreed to tell 2 people each. I'm now 9 weeks 2 days and I'm still in shock. I went in for my ultrasound on May 20th and that's when I believed it. There was this little gummy bear ! When I heard the heartbeat the dam burst. I never thought I'd be blessed to hear that beautiful sound. I was so sad my hubby couldn't make it, but that sound was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. I went to bed that night hearing my baby heartbeat. I thanked God profusely! I love this little person as soon as that 2nd line showed itself. I'm scared, happy, emotional.. i think had we would've relaxed a long time ago we would've had our baby. My obgyn said I stressed my body out. All I know the only thing I was taking consistently for the past year and half was black seed oil. I took it with my prenatal. It's suppose to be good for hair and immune booster. In women I learned it's more like a birth control pill. Clearly it didn't work 😂😂 thank god! In men it's suppose to strengthen their boys. Oh yeah I had my hubby taking teas and pills and black seed oil too. He had just started on his black seed oil. I had been on the capsule for almost 2 years. I have no idea if black seed oil helped. All I know it was literally the only thing I continued with when I stopped ttc. When I had my confirmation appt I found out I'm missing a huge piece of cervix which can cause me not to be able to carry our baby to full term. My Dr wants to do a procedure but she wants to wait until I'm further along. I also have heart arrhythmias and she now wants to run another EKG and have me wear the mini EKG to bed. I literally die in my sleep every night. We found this out when I was 26. I am in the high risk category because of my age and health history. I'm frightened something will happen but I'm trying to stay positive.  My advice is to pray and relax

Answer

It took me and my hubby 5 years to convince our oldest and he was a twin and our second option we had come to the point of doing IVF but we couldnt afford $20,000.00 just to have a baby so i decided to try a new dr. From there it took us 6 cycles on a high does of femara 10mg to get pregnant with twins. We were shocked and happy but that didnt last long i started having issues around 9 weeks and lost one twin at 11 weeks. After that we found out our baby had growth restriction and was getting the nutrients he needed to served so at 27+5 weeks i had an emergency c-section he spent 84 days in the NICU. 
Once our oldest turned 1 we started trying again took is another 2 years to have our second son and he was born at 36 weeks and spent a week in the NICU which he didnt even need . I would love to have one baby my dest keeps saying he wants 2 babies lol. Going through infertility nearly destroyed my marriage it took its toll on us it took us years to get back to being happy again, bt we made and are doing fine as is our beautiful boys.
Its heartbreaking to have to go through infertility a lot of people dont understand it my own family didnt even understand how badly i wanted to be a mom they would just say your young you have time but in reality i didnt i watched my best friend have 3 kids before i had 1. And she would rub it in my face it took my till i had my son to realize she wasnt my friend. Once we started going though trying to have a bavy i lost a lot of friends because no one understood what i was going through and it hurt to know they didn't care enough to try an understand my feelings.

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All I can say is hang in there. Infertility sucks the joy out of things. But it isn't a death sentence.
I had 6 miscarriages and took nearly 7 years TTC to get my rainbow baby. We tried almost everything before getting pregnant. I was set to start our first round of IVF in January. My husband and I decided to take a break from everything and take a short vacation to Toronto over Christmas before we started this next portion of our TTC journey. I honestly wasn't expecting to conceive in December. We literally only had sex 2x that month, Christmas Eve and Christmas day. When we got back from vacation, I was honestly a little depressed about having to start IVF. I didn't have alot of hope for success at that point. It seemed like doors were shutting in my face at every turn we took.
When I went in for my initial appointment to go over the process, the nurse asked me to do a urine sample to verify negative pregnancy test. I was definitely a bit annoyed that I had to start off this next leg of our last resort to trying for a baby with what I was sure would be another negative test. My husband hadn't been able to get off of work for that initial visit, and I just couldn't deal with having to look at any more BFNs, especially not alone. So reluctantly I peed in the cup and returned it to the nurse who was waiting with the pregnancy test. She nonchalantly carried on your typical 'how's the weather outside' conversation and went through dipping the test strips for pregnancy, checking for proteins, etc. The lady is trying to be friendly, but my attention was just glued to that pregnancy test strip. Watching as the lines ever so slowly popped up, not 1 line. Nope. It was 2 glorious pink lines! I was beyond exstatic! We had a true Christmas miracle!
February would have made 7 years of TTC. But here I was finally holding a positive test! I barely managed to contain myself until I got back to the car. It was one of the best moments of my life! I wanted to surprise my husband with the amazing news. So I booked a reservation at his favorite Italian place for the following day, picked up a gift bag of goodies, and somehow managed to hold onto my wonderful secret until he got off shift the next day.
Those 2 pink lines turned into a healthy, perfect baby girl. She was born 6 weeks premature after a hellish struggle with severe pre-eclampsia, but she made it. My first rainbow! She is about to turn 2. We are actually expecting our second rainbow now. We lost 5 angel babies between our first before finally being blessed with this little one. Currently 26 weeks and just thankful for everyday baby is healthy and growing.

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