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Tracey Gets Pregnant
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Jason and I were madly in love when we married at the age of 28. After honeymooning for 3 months, we were ready to start our family.
One month came and went, the next one flew by, and then a third month, but nothing. I had planned on having a kid within a year, so things needed to start happening fast! Time was running out – the end of the year was just 9 months away!
For some reason, I was just not having a regular menstrual cycle. I mentioned this to my doctor, but she wasn’t concerned. She assured me it was quite normal to take time to get pregnant. And that worried me even more.
May came, and then June. By July, I was getting worried.
In August, I had made an appointment with another doctor, telling him what was happening, or rather, not happening. He gave me a list of things that could prevent conception.
So we started weeding through the possibilities one-by-one:
Tubal Blockage
First I had a “hysterosalpingogram” (HSG) to make sure my tubes were open. This very painful procedure is where they shoot dye through your fallopian tubes to make sure they are open. That hurt a lot.
All turned out fine there.
Irregular Periods
Most women have a monthly cycle, but mine was a quarterly. The doctor prescribes me fertility pills, and some other hormone pills.
I would take the hormone pills to make me have a period, and then a few days later, I’d take the fertility pills to make me ovulate. It was not fun to have to circle my “fertile days” on the calendar so my husband would know what to do.
A change of scenery
Around this time, I was laid off of my job and lost my insurance benefits. Fertility pills were expensive, but not nearly as expensive as having multiples without insurance!
Despair
By October, I had almost given up on conventional medicine. We had been trying unsuccessfully for one full year.
A few months later, my menstrual cycles were getting worse, so I made another appointment with my doctor.
More Tests
My doctor said she was concerned about the irregular periods, so she ordered some blood work.
The thyroid was fine, the estrogen was normal, the progesterone was normal, everything was normal.
All the tests said I was normal, but I felt so abnormal!
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
In July of 2001, our doctor sent me for an ultrasound to make sure my ovaries were normal, without cysts. These tests also showed up completely normal!
This would have been wonderful news to most people. But when you desperately want a child, yet can’t conceive and there is no reason why, it gets frustrating to hear that everything is normal.
If something is abnormal, you can fix it. But, as long as everything is normal, there is nothing to fix.
In November, we were coming up to our 2nd anniversary of being infertile. It had been 8 months since my last menstrual cycle. But I wasn’t pregnant.
Prolactin levels
Finally in August 2002, 2 1/2 years into my battle with infertility, I had one more test done on my prolactin levels. A high prolactin can cause infertility & irregular cycles, but this test also came back normal.
Unexplained infertility
The doctor finally diagnosed me with unexplained infertility, which is doctor-speak for “I don’t know”.
I finally gave up on conventional medicine.
For the next few months, I tried anything that someone suggested – lying in this position, or that position, drinking this concoction, or taking that herb. As long as it didn’t involve doctors, I tried it. Acupuncture, massage, exercise, homeopathy, naturopathy. Still nothing.
Pregnancy Miracle
Finally, after 5 years of trying everything I could think of, I discovered a book called Pregnancy Miracle, by Lisa Olson.
Lisa also struggled for many years with infertility. She researched and experimented on herself for 14 years to cure her infertility. Finally at the age of 43, she gave birth to her two children. She put all her findings into her book, Pregnancy Miracle.
Her story is truly inspirational, and a summary would not do it justice.
Lisa wanted to share her findings with the world, so she put all her findings into a book and you can get it here.
When Jason and I read her book, we found out exactly what we’d been doing wrong all this time! It was not obvious, and I realize now why my doctor didn’t see it.
We implemented the treatments that Lisa recommends, and before we knew it…
We Got Pregnant
Finally after 5 years of struggling with infertility, we were pregnant. The book not only told us how to get pregnant. It also told us how to stay pregnant! We followed Lisa’s instructions to the letter and finally after almost 6 years of struggling…
We had a baby!
On Jan. 9, 2006 we had a baby girl! Chloe Dawn has taken over our lives!
I want to publicly thank Lisa Olson for giving us back our hope, and helping us have our child. Her book contains a huge amount of information, covering all areas of infertility, including so-called unexplained infertility.
If you have been struggling to get pregnant, then I highly recommend you read her book.
Tracey
(information from fertility Success Stories - http://www.fertilitystory.com/)
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