From Infertility to Pregnancy

March 2010 Andrew and I started trying to have a baby. We were unsuccessful for a few months when I decided to go ahead and start getting some testing done to see if there were any issues that were preventing us from having a baby.  My gynecologist was reluctant because she advised we try for a year and then start the testing process. I was not in agreement with her advice because I  had previous problems with my reproductive organs since I was 15 and didn’t want to try a year and then find out there was an issue and we could have fixed it by then or found out a lot sooner if I wasn’t able to conceive. So the infertility testing began… and for anyone who has had these tests know that you do one at a time and it takes about a week or so for the results and then you have another a few weeks later and so on. It’s a very long drawn out process that took us 5 months to finally find out what the issue was. I had a hormonal imbalance where my progesterone levels were that of a pre menopausal woman. At 20 years old and hearing that I was basically becoming menopausal was very scary. I was thankful that we finally figured out what was wrong but knowing that conceiving a child may not happen for us was depressing.

If anyone has ever had a hormonal imbalance especially with progesterone knows what I went thru. I had spells of depression, I gained 30 pounds in a year and a half, I was lethargic and didn’t have the endurance that a 20 year old should have. And finally! I found out what the deal was and was happy! But also sad with the news of maybe never being to conceive a child. Andrew and I had to have many talks of if we would adopt, or if we would just be those people that didn’t have children and have to deal with the millions of questions of why we didn’t have any children. We never really decided on if we would adopt or not because I had hope that I could fix the imbalance and be able to one day conceive. I asked my doctor what my options were and she said if I lost 15-20 pounds, changed my diet and starting using a progesterone cream that my body could start making more progesterone again but the chances were slim since mine were so low for so long now. I decided I didn’t want to try the cream and I would try some natural alternatives. This was in July of 2010 when I became the heaviest I had ever been and I decided to go on a strict diet of lean meat, veggies and fruits only. I started a mild exercise plan that I was dedicated to every single day and  I also started taking a all natural supplement called Zija that we had been introduced to that had many testimonials of women being cured of hormonal imbalances. Fast forward to February 2011 it was time for my monthly weigh in and I had lost 20 whole pounds! I was thrilled that I was able to be dedicated with my diet and exercise to have that kind of achievement. That week we went to church and I had many people tell me how I was glowing and asked if we were expecting. (Btw no one really knew how bad my imbalance was, some family members knew but didn’t know the severity of it) I laughed it off and said no we weren’t pregnant. It’d been almost a year of us trying and I just figured it wouldn’t happen. The Tuesday after everyone made those comments I was cleaning out our linen closet and saw that I had 1 pregnancy test left over from the many I had taken months before. With those comments still rolling in my head I thought “hey! Ya never know misewell just try and take the test.” I took the test and laid it down on my counter and walked away from it for a good 10 minutes having the thought of its probably negative. I came back and to my surprise I saw a faint line….. There was a pink thick line and right next to it was a faint pink line. I studied that bad boy for a good 30 seconds and then started yelling for Andrew. THERES A SECOND LINE!!!!!!! Thrilled! We decided to go buy a few more tests; we got one with lines and then one that had the words Pregnant or Not Pregnant. I don’t know what it is but there is something about the test with words that makes it so definite! So I took the line test first and there still was just that faint line. I then took the words test and it came back….. PREGNANT!!!!!!! Andrew and I looked at each other with so much excitement we didn’t know what to do with ourselves!

Connors pregnancy went very well, other than one scare at 12 weeks. I started bleeding bright red blood and went to the ER thinking this was it, I was miscarrying. With several tests and an ultrasound we found out that my placenta was detached at 70% and I had to go on a strict bed rest for 2 weeks. After that I had another ultrasound showing that the placenta had attached back at 100% and I would be just fine just have to have routine ultrasounds to check on it. If anyone doesn’t know the risks of a detached placenta, they are pretty significant,  if it were to detach fully and come out along with the baby resulting in a miscarriage.   Other than that my pregnancy was smooth sailing with my Connor man. I had 2 weeks of morning sickness, but that was it. I felt great for the most part.