NIAW- What's your story?

Question

I'm playing off of what Resolve is doing this week and figured we could share something daily. I've seen so many of the stories on IG, sharing my own as well. 
All of these stories simply validate that we are amazing and resilient. We're resourceful, driven, ambitious, and so many other wonderful things. While I'm not happy that we are in this club, nor would I wish it on anyone, I am happy to have met some beautiful, amazing, and kick ass women along the way. 
So, my fellow warriors, what's your story?

Answer

Even though the reason for being in this club sucks! It’s so nice to have other people in it with you and to get support. So grateful for everyone here. 
My story:
We started TTC in 2016. A few months into it I went to my yearly gyno appt and I told her we were ttc. She asked how many months it was 4 or so. She said based on my age I was 32 at the time, that I should go see a fertility specialist at 6 months and she will write me up a referral right away. 
I was so taken aback I was under 35 we were only trying for 4 months. I got kind of mad and she could tell so she shared her story. She conceived all her children through IVF. She was younger than 35 when she did it and she wishes someone sent her sooner to a RE because so much time was wasted until the year passed. I mulled it over for a few months and we went to the RE at the 6 month mark. 
They ran all the tests. We were diagnosed with MFI and everything looked good on my end. IUIs were covered from our insurance and IVF wasn’t. After that appointment we decided we would do IUIs but no way are we doing IVF. 
After 3 failed IUIs we decided to move onto IVF but switched to a different clinic where it was more affordable as we were paying out of pocket. That dr insisted we do IUIs before moving to IVF. So we did 1 IUI bfn he wanted to do a second, so we started the second round and the dr completely missed ovulation!  I’m so thankful he did because it made us leave him and realize we should pay extra for better care. How can you miss ovulation by 2 days!!!  
Back to the original clinic, we did retrieval, got 25 eggs, 15 mature, 10 fertilized with ICSI, and 4 made it to day 5. I got switched from a fresh transfer to frozen due to moderate OHSS and I was devastated about another set back. 
We did our first FET feb 2019 BFN, second FET April 2019 BFN. My RE decided we should do an ERA before the next transfer to find out why they aren’t sticking. We decided we need a break!
In December of 2019 we decided to start up again. Called the RE, my dr had left the practice so I set up an appointment with the head RE that owns the clinic. He didnt think we should do a ERA. He wanted to do a lap instead, he suspected I had silent endo which was causing a failure to implant. 
Jan 2020 I had my lap & hystoscopy, they found stage 3 endo,  it was on a few organs plus the chocolate cysts on my ovaries, fibroids in my uterus, a small septum eat the top of my uterus too. He removed it all. 
April 17 2020 after just squeezing into the guidelines that allowed be to continue with my transfer I had my third FET. 
Today April 21, got my first ever BFP!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Answer

My husband has begged me to try for a baby for about 5 years now. Even before we were married. He comes from a big Italian immigrant family and they wanted grandbabies. We are the oldest married on both sides so we presumed we would be first to have them! 
We started trying Christmas 2017. I was so sure it would happen right away! We bought Nonno and Nonna gifts for his parents and everything. 6 months, 10 months... nothing. Meanwhile his cousin and brother have babies. Still nothing. 
My doctor said I was young and be patient. Sent me to an OB who didn’t even test my AMH! She said you’re fine it’s gotta be your husband because you definitely ovulate. Put him on some vitamins and you’ll be pregnant. You’re only 30 don’t worry. 
Well this went on and on and on... my husbands Nonno wanted us to have a baby more than anyone. He passed last summer and I was devastated I never got to give him the good news. 
Finally I saw a different OB who tested my AMH and said I needed IVF (it was almost 2 years just to find out the problem)!!! So many doctors brushed me off as young and impatient and wasted valuable time. 
February of this year I met our RE and we decided we needed to proceed ASAP. She diagnosed me with DOR (AMH 0.9; FSH 13; AFC 7). My numbers aren’t abysmal, but she said we need to start immediately and be aggressive. I was about to start estrogen priming when I was cancelled for Covid. 
Now almost 2 weeks ago the doctor called and said based on my numbers I am considered and urgent case, so they will do my retrieval but only freeze for now. 
I’m just so thrilled to finally start after being jerked around by doctors for two years only to be cancelled! 
I’m taking 2mg estradiol 2x a day until my period comes. Then I’ll start stims probably next week.
I love this group so much. So much positivity and support. Every successful retrieval and transfer just brings light to my day and makes this all feel a little more doable. So thank you. ❤️❤️

Answer

A small back story. This is both mine and my husbands second marriage. I tried for 5 years will my ex husband. He and his ex wife tried for many years as well. They have an angel daughter that was born sleeping. He and I have been TTC for 3 years now. 
I'm 27 (soon to be 28) and my husband is 37 (soon to be 38). Husband is A-OK. I suffered many PCOS symptoms in my life but was not formally diagnosed until late 2017/early 2018. My endometriosis went undiagnosed until 2018 as well. After my very first period was 2 years long (yes, 2) my initial OBGYN just shoved BCP in my face and sent me on my way. After over 10 years with her, I finally decided to switch to a new OBGYN/FACOG. He was AMAZING! I walked in his office for a consult and routine pap and walked out with blood work orders and a game plan. Less than 2 weeks later we started Clomid. I did 3 months of stairstepped Clomid cycles, all anovulatory, before trying Femara. We stairstepped Femara as well- same outcome; no ovulation. I then three choices: try Femara again, injections, or ovarian drilling. My AMH was over 12 so I figured what could it hurt; I chose surgery. In that surgery we confirmed tubal function (HSG), diagnosed and excised endo, cleaned me out with a D&C, and removed my appendix. I still have endometriosis on my bowel. 
Elated I finally had some answers, I was so excited to move forward. We started femara 3 weeks post surgery (and i had my VERY FIRST 31 DAY CYCLE WITH NO SPOTTING). I was so stressed out walking in to that monitoring appointment. Wouldn't you know, a MATURE follicle. I cried. I also got my first trigger shot that day, too. I had 2 cycles after that, no pregnancy. We took a break, bought a house, I switched jobs, and moved to a new city. 
About 5 months later (only 2 of those I ovulated on my own even with that surgery) i found my RE in early 2018. She took me with no referral and started testing right away. All clear, we started medicated IUIs a few weeks later. 3 failed IUI and 1 failed TI cycle, we decided to move onto IVF. August 2018, I had my retrieval: 10 eggs, 9 mature, 4 blasts. We did a fresh transfer that took, though I miscarried just 3 days shy of 7 weeks. Since, we've done 1 FET and are currently on hold. We have 2 frozen embabies left waiting. ❄❄❤

Answer

Agreed, being in this “club” sucks less because of all of you!! 
We started trying in April 2018. We were gonna wait until at least June because we traveled to Mexico for a wedding in Nov. 2017 and Zika was a big concern! We pulled plans ahead after I went to the ER for an ovarian cyst that March - it just hit me that I didn’t want anything to hurt my fertility!
We got pregnant that first month and it didn’t really feel real. We took it seriously but also very lightly at the same time. We had a vacay planned for Disney/Universal in May and we were both kinda bummed I wouldn’t be able to “drink around the world” at Epcot or go on rides. Looking back, we so badly regret our mentality. I saw the baby in mid May while my husband was on business and everything looked good! HB was a little slower than they preferred so I went back that next week (8w) and my world was shattered when we couldn’t find the heartbeat. Tried to induce the miscarriage that night and nothing happened, waited a week to miscarry naturally and nothing happened. I was grieving the loss of the baby but also the fact that my body wouldn’t catch on to the loss occurring inside. I had my first D&C in late May and my body returned to normal in July. Figured it would be quick and easy again! For someone who is naturally horrifically anxious, I caused my period/ovulation schedule to go out of wack by September because of stress. I went to our first RE in November because f*ck the 1 year rule! 
If I had gotten on Zoloft by that point, it’s possible that 1 of our 4 Femara schedules could’ve worked. By May, I was medicated on my antidepressant and started IVF! From 11 day 5 embryos, we had 6 PGS normal babies! Our first one took and looked more and more perfect every week. At our first OB appt, we learned her perfect heartbeat had somehow stopped. We went into shock. I still can’t really talk about that day/week. It’s really difficult. 
So many tests/exams followed and the only thing we found was a heterozygous MTHFR mutation which unlikely caused a blood clot. Changed up meds and protocol for the second FET..figured we had it in the bag! Then it failed.
Changed clinics in late February (because our previous clinic had 7 week FET protocols and we couldn’t work on their time anymore). Between then and now, I’ve had an ERA (24 hrs pre-receptive) and my 3rd FET! So far, this baby is sticking with us 👏🏼🌈  every day we talk to the little one, begging that she stays strong so we can meet her in December! 
Andddd that’s my novel 😂

Answer

My story:
With my first baby we ttc for 10 months and decided to talk to my OB about fertility treatment at that time because I was already 32 and my husband was 42 and we knew we wanted a big family so we didn’t want to waste any more time. We had all of the tests done and everything was perfect. Hormone levels great, HSG clear tubes, good antral follicle count, great sperm count, good genetic screening for both of us, etc. After 2 months of tests we were finally ready to regroup. Since it was just before the holidays and we were going to visit our family in another state we decided to try Clomid with an unmonitored cycle. After 2 pills I stopped the clomid because it was making me feel funny and I was nervous about releasing more than 1 egg. I tracked my ovulation, but each time we had sex I ran to the bathroom immediately to shower and wash the sperm out because I was extremely paranoid about twins. Two weeks later I missed my period I got my first bfp. I was completely shocked and terrified that it was twins, but now I have a healthy 2yo boy, no twins.
With my son I had a healthy pregnancy that made it to 39+5, but I developed severe Preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome while I was in labor so I required an emergency c-section. Because of my c-section I was told to wait a year before trying to conceive again. We ended up waiting 9 months to ttc because we figured it would take a while and we were right. After ttc for a little less than year we went back to my OB for a referral to a fertility clinic again. We decided to go to a different clinic than the first one because the other one was too far for us to drive and I wasn’t a fan of a few other things. Anyway at my new clinic we ran all of the tests again and this time my HSG showed a bit of inflammation around my uterus, indicating possible adenomyosis or endometriosis. Because of this my dr suggested that I do a Receptiva test to make sure it’s actually endometriosis and move straight to IVF. We decided to try IUI instead. 
After 1 failed IUI we realized we should probably listen to our dr and move on to IVF. Unfortunately, I had a cyst on one of my ovaries so we couldn’t move forward with IVF. We had to monitor my cyst for 2 months before it started shrinking. Finally, in March, the cyst was gone so 
I started my meds. Three days after starting my meds the shelter in place order took effect, but my dr said she would proceed with my retrieval. I ended up getting 16 eggs, 9 fertilized, 4 tested PGS normal. We did the Receptiva biopsy 7 days after my retrieval and it came back positive for one of the markers for endometriosis. Now I’m waiting to hear back from my clinic so I can start Lupron for 2 months to calm the inflammation in my uterus to make it more hospitable for implantation. If my first two transfers fail we will do another egg retrieval. I will say that I never imagined that IVF was such a long process, but I hope that we get another healthy baby, hopefully a girl, out of all of this 🙏💔

NIAW- What's your story?

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