My Infertility Testimony...understanding the process

I wanted to write this post in hopes to inspire other women as well as my friends who are on this journey. One thing that helped me keep going month after month was the friends who shared with me stories of their own struggles with infertility.

                  6.5 years ago Andrew and I were so excited about starting a family. Little did we know it wouldn't happen the way we had planned. Every month I charted my temperature, timed everything right and nothing. I would go from being hopeful to being very disappointed. Each month it got harder and harder. So after 12 months and a what seemed like a million negative pregnancy tests we finally saw my OBGYN. She ran tests on both Andrew and I only to find nothing wrong with either of us. I was relieved but also disappointed because we still didn't know why this was happening to us. So she decided to treat me with Clomid (aka-Crazy medicine) as some of you know first hand the medicine turned me into a monster. We tried that for 2 months and nothing. We were so disappointed. The next step in the testing process was a laperoscopy to test for endometriosis. By that time I had read every book, learned everything you needed to know about making babies, charted my temperature, stood on my head, had sex more than most couples who were married 50 years. So when the doctor said surgery I said "sure why not"! I was willing to do anything at that point. So a week before my surgery things were different so on my lunch break I ran to the store, bought a pregnancy test, went home, took the test, went on fixing my lunch because after a million negative tests I wasn't anticipating it to be, but when I went back to the test it had TWO lines!! Finally positive!! I began to cry and thanking God. So 9 months later I was blessed with a precious baby boy. I was on cloud nine. My dreams of a year and a half were finally made true. I was finally a mom.
                   Unfortunately my journey of infertility didn't end there. Right before my pregnancy with Jase I had met with Dr. Gehlbach , a Reproductive Endocrinologist, he ran some different blood tests than what my OB had done and the week after I found out I was pregnant he called to tell me my FSH level was really high. At that time I didn't care what that was and what it meant. So after Jase was a year old we thought we better start trying again since it took so long before. 6 months went by and nothing happened. Tried the Clomid with IUI's and nothing. SO I went back to Dr. Gehlbach only to be told the worse news ever. The high level of FSH meant that I only had a 5% chance of conceiving a baby on my own. High FSH is found in women who are in menopause and that my eggs were depleting. WHAT???? I was only 24 when I was tested how in the world did I have this issue. I remember sitting there wishing Andrew had gone with me because I was trying so hard to be strong and not start bawling in front of this doctor as he was explaining what this meant for me. After hours of crying and being angry that God would make me go through this. I did what I do when I am in a horrible situation; reminding myself God is good and there is a reason, a lesson I am suppose to learn. So I stayed positive and began treatment. He decided to try me on Femara, a drug like Clomid but with out the crazy side effects. We had done 2 rounds of that with no success. So after taking some time off and being referred by a friend I saw a different Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Rodney Lyles. He wanted to be a little more aggressive because of my condition so his treatment was not pills this time but SHOTS! Andrew loved it cause he was the one giving me the shots. (I'm glad he found humor in it cause i hated it) Well after 4 months NOTHING I began researching on the Internet on how to get pregnant with HIGH FSH. I found TONS of research that acupuncture can cure HIGH FSH and the great testimonies on how these women got pregnant after being treated. So I found an acupuncturist started going every week and after 3 months I was still not pregnant. Then I met a naturpathic doctor, Dr. Alicia Johnson, she began researching further as to why I had this issue. OK, so was not a holistic person so when she began to look at my tongue and feel my pulse I was a little skeptical, but I was hopeful so I continued my visits with her. She revamped my diet, NO YEAST! What?? This meant no bread, no cake, nothing made with yeast, no PASTA!! Crazy,I know but apparently I had whats called a Candida overgrowth in my body (aka yeast) so I did what she told me, took some awful drinks of Wheatgrass, as well as Chinese medicine, and treatments with acupuncture. After 3 months of treatment and totally changing my lifestyle as well as my belief in Chinese medicine I became pregnant. After 2 years of trying I was FINALLY pregnant. But.....I didn't feel right. I was terrified I would miscarry. I thought at one point I was having an ectopic pregnancy but only to confirm I was wrong after seeing this little pea on the sonogram. A week later which I was 7 weeks pregnant at the time we had heard the heartbeat so I felt okay about the pregnancy. But.....only to find out a week later the baby no longer had a heartbeat.Well.....a month after I miscarried I started seeing Dr. Johnson again and added aspirin along with her treatment plan. A month after restarting her treatment plan I started feeling tired and very nauseous. Andrew had said" you only get like this when you re pregnant" I thought "no way, I cant be, I just had a miscarriage" but still went to the pharmacy and bought a pregnancy test and OMG I was!! I was so excited but nervous.I remember having the feeling that everything was going to be fine. Sure enough 9 months later I had another precious baby boy. I have to admit before seeing Dr. Johnson I had a little doubt because I was new to the Naturopathic treatments, but after 2 years of trying to get pregnant using Reproductive endocrinologists, it only took 3 months with her treatment plan. I was and am now a true believer, in fact I look to her for other medical advice. She’s amazing. My only regret is that I hadn’t seen her sooner. It would have saved so much of my time as well as my money. I can’t tell Dr. Johnson thank you enough for what she did for me. If you are struggling with infertility and have tried everything I HIGHLY recommend seeing Dr. Johnson.  (I have posted her website link on this blog.) If I had gone to her before going to the reproductive endocrinologists as well as the other acupuncturists I would have saved years of frustration as well as thousands of dollars.  I calculated that I would have saved over $4000. Dr. Johnson is a one of a kind doctor. She treated me completely different than any doctor I had been to in the past. She really cared and wanted to help me conceive a baby. She answered emails and phone calls personally which helped make the process so much easier. She has a compassion that I had not experienced with other doctors before.

 (Dr. Johnson is not paying me to write this nor do I get anything out of writing about her this is me having compassion for other women struggling with infertility.)

Intertility 101..(Content Warning)

Through the years of struggling with infertility I have came across several great doctors, wonderful research, and learned the basics of infertility as well as the advanced knowledge of conceiving. So I'm going to start at the beginning....

The basics of babymaking...(Content Warning)
A couple is not considered infertile until after one year of "trying" to conceive or 6 months if >35. What to do in that first year....if you are serious here are a few suggestions...

1. Timing Ovulation...ovulation takes place around day 14 of your cycle. For me it was day 11 so make sure you know when that is. The best thing to do is to buy a ovulation predictor test available where the pregnancy tests are found. Ovulation occurs for 24 hours so its best to have sex two days before and every day till ovulation. (FYI...they do have a fertility monitor but they can be pricey...I have one only because after years of "trying" it was cheaper to buy the monitor vs buying the predictors)

2. SEX....yes there are better positions that make it easier to get pregnant. Mary Zhang, the first acupuncturist I saw told me that "doggy style" was the best for conceiving and to have sex first thing in the morning. Holding your legs in the air for a few minutes after sex allowing the sperm not to leak out ... (a pillow under your hips really does the trick).

3. BBT....Another thing that will help conceive is tracking your BBT (basic body temperature). So this means you take your temperature every morning before you get out of bed. I loved Fertility Friend..it helped me track and pinpoint when my ovulation was. See when you ovulate your temp increases a notable difference and this website tracks that. You can even track it from your phone now which is pretty useful.