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I had first gotten my period when I was 11, and ever since then, I started having struggles with my weight increasing rapidly and uncontrollable acne. I was told that going through puberty was just hitting me very hard and I was unfortunate enough to have the increased weight and acne. But deep down I knew something was not right because my peers were not as unfortunate as I was with being overweight and having the kind of acne that I did. Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here
By the time I was in my later teens, my periods never regulated as at that point my cycles should have been regular.
And the idea of not being able to have kids, even before I was ready to have kids scared me. I was not certain that I would be fertile because my cycles never regulated. Maybe 2 or 3 cycles a year were under 35 days. But there were more times than not that I would skip months.
Whenever I had my checkups, my hormonal levels were always measured as normal. And in my early 20’s I became friendly with a woman who was quite obese, and said she only got 2 or 3 periods a year and also mentioned that she had to go for electrolysis once a week because of hair growth on her face. She told me that her condition was polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS.
She had PCOS and she and her husband had been trying for a baby for years, without any success.
A part of me wondered when she told me that about herself and her experience if I had a similar condition, even though I was never as overweight as she is, nor did I ever have facial hair other than a few strands growing on my chin every now and then (which I was told was normal for women). And my cycles were more frequent than her. Then again, I did wonder if I had the same condition but on the milder end? That is something that I thought about since meeting this woman.
Before I had gotten married, I went for a check up and asked my doctor at the time if there was a chance that I had PCOS. She insisted because my hormonal levels were always normal and I did not exhibit signs of PCOS, other than not having periods every month, that it was unlikely. I just had odd cycles, like many other women.
But I just knew she was wrong. I knew something was not right.
After I had gotten married, my husband and I started trying for a baby about 6 months after our wedding. While we were trying, I knew to take folic acid because that is what I had read on websites about trying to conceive at the time, but I didn’t reduce my weight which was still too high. I also did not go see my doctor before trying which is something that every couple needs to do before they attempt creating a baby.
However, a year had passed and no conception happened. It was time for both my husband and myself to get checked. My doctor told me to chart my cycles and told me to buy a basal body thermometer. I was instructed to take my temperature every morning before getting out of bed right after waking up, and to keep the thermometer by my side on the nightstand so I would only move minimally. I was also told that when there was a rise in temperature, that was due to me ovulating.
So I figured it was possible that the timing had been off and that is why a pregnancy never happened.
However, within the same week of being instructed to start charting my cycles, my husband got the call from his doctor and was told to his dismay that he had a sperm count of less than 2 million, whereas the normal count is 20 million.
Both of us were quite devastated and neither of us wanted to adopt. We wanted our own biological kids.
As a result, both of us were referred to a fertility specialist that would be able to help us. Within 2 months we were seen, and my husband was examined. The cause of his low count had nothing to do with hormonal imbalance. When he was a teenager, he had water in the skin on the scrotum, which had been removed. The specialist believed that the scarring is what got into the way of proper sperm production.
The plan was to go right to intrauterine insemination (IUI), and in the meantime I would be monitored by the clinic in conjunction with myself monitoring my cycle with the thermometer.
I took my temperature each morning, and I also went to the clinic very early for blood work and ultrasound to measure my hormones. After being monitored for 2 months, there was no sign that I was ovulating and therefore the IUI procedure could not be done at the time. During my ultrasound sessions, I was also told that small cysts were found in my ovaries.
One morning the specialist took me aside and asked me if my doctor had ever diagnosed me with polycystic ovarian syndrome. I even told him that I had asked my doctor if there was a possibility that I had the condition, and that she said “no.”
The specialist said based on the cysts and my irregular cycles, I do indeed have PCOS.
I told the specialist that I knew a woman who has it but is a lot worse off than I am, and she told me the condition can be severe or mild. Because my symptoms were never as pronounced as that old friend of mine, being on the milder end, I never knew even though it still had a negative impact on the fact that I failed to ovulate on my own.
The specialist was going to start me on 50mg of Clomid, but before starting the drug, I had to have a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) to have my tubes checked, and that couldn’t be arranged for another month. I was getting tired of waiting however, after having that painful test done, my tubes were wide open.
Therefore, I was prescribed Clomid and was going to start taking it during my following cycle.
Since I was also overweight, I decided to start going to a dietician to eat foods that would be good for weight loss, and to help increase my fertility. I was still taking the folic acid which I was going to continue to do.
After I had gotten my period, I started taking Clomid from day 5-9 and I did have mood swings and hot flashes. It isn’t called Clo-moody for nothing! However I was told I would have those kinds of side effects, and was not surprised.
Unfortunately, 50mg was not high enough to work and I did not ovulate.
The following month, the specialist put me on 100mg of Clomid, and because my follicle was growing, the specialist said I was likely going to ovulate. I was also instructed to inject myself with a human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) shot when my luteinizing hormone (LH) went up to further assist with the ovulation and to keep progesterone levels up.
I did ovulate, but the day prior to ovulation, my LH did not surge. Because I had already ovulated, my husband stayed behind so the insemination could be done. However, unfortunately, I got my period 14 days later since the timing was wrong.
By this point, even though it was great that I was given something to finally help me ovulate, I was disappointed.
My husband and I struggled with fertility for over a year, more like a year and a half by the time I had started to ovulate. Seeing pregnant women, and women with babies was difficult for me. I was really wondering if the only baby I was meant to have was my dog.
But since I did finally ovulate on 100mg of Clomid, I could not give up.
I was ready to start taking the next dosage of Clomid from day 5-9 again.
Something very strange occurred during that next cycle. I had a dream that I was all of a sudden in a mansion with red cherry oak floors and furniture. The walls were dark green and the carpeted areas of the mansion were green and purple. I walked into the office that had a red cherry desk and chair that was turned towards the back, with someone sitting in it. The person in the chair turned around, and lo and behold, it was my deceased grandmother who looked at me, smiled and winked. I woke up after and could not forget that dream.
Later that day, my husband and I looked in the coupon booklet to find a restaurant to try out that we never have been to in the past. We decided to try out one that was on the other end of the city because the entrees that were advertised looked good. As soon as we entered the restaurant, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The restaurant looked exactly like the mansion in my dream. Same red oak furniture. Same dark green walls and identical looking floors. I knew that there was some kind of message being conveyed to me and I was scared to get my hopes up but the experience was too eerie to ignore.
Things got even more interesting as the cycle progressed. Not only did I have one follicle that was growing well, but I had two! One follicle was growing quicker than the other, and all of a sudden the smaller follicle had been released even before an LH surge came. The specialist told me to not leave as of yet because of it, and my husband was already at work when I was told this. However, the other follicle that did not release was extremely healthy looking and may have released within 12 hours. The insemination had to be done that day.
I called my husband at the office and told him that he had to come in because of what happened. He did, but he was so shocked by what happened since I was not expected to ovulate for several days, that he came into the clinic in a rush. He ended up giving a very poor sample of less than 1 million sperm, which technically was too little to work with. However, the specialist washed the sperm and did the procedure anyway. I was also given the human chorionic gonadotropin shot at the clinic to help the ovulation go smoothly and to help keep progesterone levels up.
Then 14 days later, I was expecting to get my period because I was so used to being disappointed.
I knew I would get my period in a timely manner considering I knew when I did ovulate. But, even though I had mild cramping and even though my breasts became even more rock hard, I still did not get a period. I was however producing a lot of cervical mucus.
Then came 2 days later, Sunday, and I still did not have my period. I knew I had to see my doctor the next day since it was still the weekend. There was a wedding I had attended that night, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up still, but refused to drink any champagne. I remember as well that evening I went to the bathroom several times just to see if there was any bleeding because I could not believe that I could be pregnant.
Especially after all of the disappointment my husband and I experienced over the past year and a half. However, I did not bleed at all.
The next day I went to my doctor, had a blood test done, and the day after that the pregnancy was confirmed!! I was on cloud nine the rest of the day but scared to death of a miscarriage or something going wrong because of the fact that getting pregnant had been such a struggle.
However, other than some morning sickness and fatigue, the pregnancy went well. I worked with my dietician to make sure that I gained a healthy amount of weight since I was still overweight but not as much as I was before working with the dietician. I had no complications and I delivered my very smart and healthy daughter after being in 6 hours of active labor on April 8.
When my daughter was 15 months, I unexpectedly conceived my son on my own. It was a complete shock because I did not think I ovulated on my own and as my husband has a very low count, I never thought we could do it without help. But it did happen, but unfortunately my son was born with autism.
He did lose oxygen at birth due to complications but I do wonder about his autism because I did eat sushi, had a glass of wine, did not take folic acid because I had no idea that I was or even could be pregnant. I had no symptoms other than having no period but since I did not have a period for 3 months, I had to get it checked and was incredibly shocked to find out that I was pregnant.
In other words, pregnancy is most definitely possible with PCOS.
I needed assistance with ovulation, and the right dosage of Clomid did the trick. However, the fact that I conceived my son out of nowhere is a sure indicator even with PCOS, conceiving naturally can happen. Good luck to all you ladies out there trying!
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