Anyways....this is my story, if you don't feel comfortable with the details, don't read it.
My husband, Cal, and I met at a youth event when I was 15 years old. We began dating shortly after I turned 16 and after dating for three years he proposed. We decided to get married in the fall of 2004. I was 19 at the time, and he was 21. We enjoyed young married life, but in a few years I began dreaming of children. Unfortunately for me Cal was not ready for kids yet, so we waited.
I was anxious to start trying to conceive because before I began taking birth control I had an irregular menstrual cycle. For instance, I would sometimes go four to six months without having a period. I knew something was wrong, but found that my doctor was not willing to look into this type of issue unless we were actually trying to have kids. After five years Cal finally got on the baby bandwagon. I was elated; I would finally get to have the beautiful babies I had imagined.
I stopped taking birth control pills in June of 2009 and we proceeded to try to conceive. We waited eight months for my body to regulate itself, but I never had a period. I made an appointment and went to see my family doctor. After two sets of blood tests he was unable to figure out my issues. Next he sent me to a fertility specialist.
The fertility specialist asked many questions about my body and my cycle, and then sent me for more blood tests and an ultrasound. He also gave me prescriptions for two medications. The first medication, medroxyprogesterone acetate (Brand name: Provera), he prescribed because it forces the body to menstruate by balancing and restoring the natural hormones. I nicknamed it the evil cleanse of death. The second medication, clomiphene citrate (Brand name: Clomid), he prescribed to force me to ovulate.
My doctor taught me how to chart my temperature daily using a basal body temperature (BBT) thermometer. He told me that the most accurate way would be to pee into a Styrofoam cup, and then to take the temperature of the urine. As gross and weird as it was, I was willing to do ANYTHING. I charted my pee temperature religiously.
Doctors in small towns like the one I live in are notoriously busy. Because of this I did not want to pester him with a ton of charting questions. I went back to work and talked to a friend who had similar issues. She recommended http://www.fertilityfriend.com/ the self proclaimed “Leading Destination for Women Trying To Conceive”.
This website was a godsend. The site includes a charting system and answers to tons of questions about fertility. It also includes ovulation, menstruation and fertile day predictors, as well as community boards where women can talk about their issues. For the ladies that are lucky enough to conceive the site also has a pregnancy monitoring system.
Fertility Friend was a lifesaver for me, and it taught me a lot. I learned about the phases of a menstruation cycle, and how to actually determine the fertile days in that cycle. Predicting ovulation while charting is difficult at first, because it does depend on an individuals past history. This is especially difficult for people like me who have never had a ‘normal’ cycle.
My newfound knowledge was helpful, but it still didn't help to regulate my cycle. A normal chart will show low temperatures prior to ovulation and then the temperature will spike. This spike indicates the day after ovulation. My first three months of charting produced wild and crazy temperatures. The completed charts looked like a child’s connect the dot picture of mountains.
I returned to my fertility specialist and received the results of my test back. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition affects a woman’s (duh) ovaries. It causes a woman to have anovulatory cycles (meaning no period), as well as can cause acne, increased hair growth on face and body, infertility, and miscarriages. Increased hormones cause most of the issues. Super fun!
During the fourth month, and the third prescribed increase to my dose of Clomid, I finally achieved ovulation. I showed my new, more promising chart to my doctor. He was so excited he actually did a happy dance. Unfortunately I did not become pregnant.
The “trying to conceive” journey is a roller coaster of emotion. For example, the first month when ovulation occurred but pregnancy did not was a hard one. During the month I was excited to see, for the first time ever, the shift in temperature that indicated that I had ovulated. I then proceeded to get my hopes up about possible pregnancy. I worked myself into believing I was pregnant. It was emotionally draining when I got a visit from "aunt flo". I tried to convince myself it was implantation. (Implantation is when the egg implants in the uterus, this can cause a bit of bleeding.) I researched far and wide on the Internet looking for any explanation for the increasing flow. I finally gave in to the gnawing voice in the back of my head that was telling me "you are NOT pregnant dummy". I broke down that night and cried for hours. Cal didn't understand my devastation...he figured it was a good sign that everything was beginning to work right. It took me three weeks to pull myself out of the sadness that I was wallowing in. My husband had to deal with a hormonal mess. I still feel bad.
The next month was a much different story. While I tried not to get my hopes up I watched my temperature chart become a textbook-like example of a possible pregnancy. As soon as enough time passed I took a pregnancy test. I was sorely disappointed with a negative result. The next day I tested again (us crazy trying-to-conceivers will do that) and was rewarded with the faintest line imaginable...but a line none the less! I was through the roof happy. I waved my wonderful home pee test in front of my husband's face. He was happy too. I went in the following day for a blood test to confirm the result. When the office called me to tell me the results I was stoked. I followed up by making an appointment with my fertility specialist - I walked through the door with a grin on my face and he said he could tell the result of the test by the look on my face. From there on I began the pregnancy journey....a much happier journey than the one I'd just completed!
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