Tuesday, June 7, 2011

From Love to Fertility

My Infertility problems started at about the age of 18, when it was discovered that I suffer from severe endometriosis and ovarian cysts. Over the next few years I was on a hormonal/emotional roller coaster. I was on some pretty intense medications. My Dr put my body through a state of menopause for over a year and a half I had to surgeries done all to prepare my body for motherhood. I am still surprised to this day that John stuck around long enough, I went through some pretty hard ups and downs. He was there by my side through everything, he still wanted to spend his life with me and take this journey together. If that is not true love then I don’t know what is. He is an amazing man and my best friend.

I have been seeing a fertility specialist since the beginning and I feel very fortunate to have such a great Dr. I don’t think we would have been able to get pregnant with Karsyn if he hadn’t been so proactive and supportive.

I got married in March of 2006, I was a month shy of turning 21 and John was about to be 26. We had very little time to for the carefree honeymoon stage. A few months before our wedding Dr Johnson asked if he could meet with both John and I to discuss the future. He was very upfront and honest about our situation and pretty much just said the longer you wait to have a baby the less of a chance you will have. We both decided it was something we really wanted and beginning in April of 2006 we started on the fertility treatments. Not even sure where to begin on process of our baby making life. It took about 9 months to get pregnant with our baby girl Karsyn. During those long 9 months I was going to the Dr 3-4 times a month for shots, ultra sounds and blood work. I was taking maximum dose of the fertility drug Clomid (we refer to them as my crazy pills). I also was given this weird estrogen gel that I was supposed to rub on my thighs every night before going to bed. How’s that for romantic! We were on a pretty strict sex schedule, I don’t think John really minded too much. We had several months of a crazy baby-making routine, and countless nights holding my legs up in the air as I tried to fall asleep just to keep everything in there. I was willing to try anything, and think I just about did. I went to the hospital and had my tubes cleaned out, And it was one of the worst experiences thus far… OUCH! We finally decided that what we were doing just wasn’t working. So my Dr decided we were ready to try IUI (Artificial Insemination).The first attempt failed and I felt pretty hopeless. It was starting to sink in that this just may not be an option for our future. I was pretty determined and didn’t want to give up but I was starting to feel pretty discourage and emotionally exhausted. Not to mention the stress it put on us as a newly married couple, this was the time when we were supposed to me carefree and enjoying life.

So I know people love to tell their story of the night they conceived but how many know the exact day and time when it actually happened? I do and unfortunately for John, I love to share our story. So we decided to give IUI another try, I was convinced that this was THE TIME. I followed the normal routine, truck full of pills and then My Dr does an ultra sound and can predict how many eggs I will release and the exact day it should happen. He said that he believed our best shot was to come in that upcoming Sunday. So he gave me my monthly shot in the butt and told John and I to come back Sunday morning. The office is usually closed on Sunday, But my Dr being as amazing as he is came in that day just for us. We pull up to a very vacant parking lot and went through the side doors. The entire Tanner Clinic was closed and all the lights were off. (it was kind of creepy)So we went to my Dr’s Office, up on the third floor and there he was waiting for us along with his son who had to have been maybe 15 at the time. (Weird?) So for those of you who are not familiar with the procedure we had to collect a sample from John and then Dr J inserts it into my uterus with what I like to call “the turkey baster”. Dr. Johnson hands John his cup and sends us to a room to do our thing. Normally couples do something romantic and there is actual love making involved when they get pregnant. Well not us, here we are in this empty Doctors office just staring at each other. It was incredibly awkward and we couldn’t help but think of what was riding on this little cup of sperm. For Johns sake I am going to skip the intimate details (but there were some good laughs). After, we made the very uncomfortable walk down the hall back to Dr J’s office where he and his son were filing paper work. I don’t think John looked him or his son in the eyes once LOL. We proceeded with the second IUI with all our hopes and prayers and 10months later I gave birth to our beautiful 6 lb 3 oz baby girl. I had a great pregnancy and an ok delivery, just a few minor issues. But the moment she was born all that hard work and stress was behind me. She was worth every tear and every penny spent. Our life, our sweet little family of 3 was perfect!

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