Getting Started

I guess this since this is my ttc blog, I might as well get you caught up to speed as of late. My husband Nick and I married in 2006, shortly before the birth of our daughter Hailey. She was conceived New Year's Eve of 2005 and born October 2nd, 2006. We weren't trying at the time, but we also were not preventing. We had not been using protection on and off for the prior four years before I got pregnant. I'll explain why.

When I was 15, I had messed up cycles, I would skip a month or two so my mom took me to the doctor. I was told that I was not skipping months, my cycle was merely 50+ days. They put me on ortho-tri-cyclene to regulate and soon I was at 28 days. Shortly after that I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome and was told I would never have kids. Needless to say telling a 16 year old who wanted nothing more to be a mom, that she would never have kids was devastating.

Several blood tests, workups later they told me I wasn't ovulating and suggested I go through a course of biposies. They started with the ovaries, uterus and cervix and the cells were all non-cancerous. Satisfied with the PCOS diagnosis, they put me on mediciation to shrink the cysts, with instruction to come back in six months for an ultrasound to check their size.

Due to change in my mom's insurance I saw someone else for that ultrasound and had my files sent over. Needless to say I was shocked when the ultrasound showed no cysts at all, or any sign of ever having them. They told me I had been misdiagnosed, took me off the medication, had me continue the birth control and it seemed that ovulation was hit or miss for me.

Fast forward years later, still no answers, still not knowing if I could have kids or not I had just come home from a check-up. I noticed something odd, everytime I had bloodwork done, they would casually mention oh your iron looks a little low. I did some research and figured it could be causing the extreme fatigue I had been feeling. All the research said that you lose large amounts of iron during your period, due to the loss of blood, so I started taking iron supplements.

I stopped taking the pill, and while still taking the iron, was still at approximately a 28 day cycle. Two months later I couldn't believe it when I was holding a positive pregnancy test in my hand. It was the worst timing, sure I was full time in a manager position at Jewel, but Nick was working part time and going to school full time. We had a one bedroom apartment and not a lot too our name, but I didn't have it in me to get upset. I was elated.

That pregnancy had it's shares of ups and downs (mostly downs) and because of them (I will explain in later posts) it will most likely end up in a 36 week c-section. Fast forward to August 2008. I want another baby and I knew that if it didn't happen before Hailey was out of diapers, that I would never go back. Hence that month we started trying. No luck until September, 58 days came and went with no + hpt. A few days later I started bleeding heavily, and when I went to the doctor I was told I was miscarrying, my hcg level was hovering around 4 and would most likely be to zero by the time I got home. It was a chemical pregnancy, meaning the sperm and egg joined, but nothing ever formed.

This happened the day before Hailey's 2nd birthday party, so as you can imagine I tried to look as happy as I could while still in pain despite the medication my doctor prescribed. I also had another chemical pregnancy earlier that year, in April, which the doctor did not see me for. She also prescribed meds for pain, and said she didn't need to see me unless the bleeding didn't stop after 3 days or I passed any abnormal looking clots.

I started using OPKs (ovulation predictor kits) in September, and they have been proving helpful, but so far we have been unsuccessful. This month (just three days ago in fact) I started temping and charting in addition to the opks. So every day I will post the cycle day, my temp and the opk results, as I know several of my friend/family who are currently trying to concieve or have recently conceieved after having a tough time.

January 15, 2009
Temp: 97.05
Opk: -

If I can find a way, I will also try to post a link to my chart on Fertility Friend.

<3Sara