Each week I interview someone who has experienced infertility firsthand. This week, I’m chatting with Dana from Journey Through Infertility. Dana conceived her son via IUI with injectables. I hope her story inspires you and gives you hope!
Q. Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m 29 years old, I’ve been married to my incredible husband for almost 6 years, and we live just outside of Nashville. I’m finally a SAHM with a miracle 7 month old boy. Cows are my favorite animal, purple is my favorite color, and Iove all things sparkly! Jesus is my favorite person EVER :). I have PCOS and am going for an endo consult very soon.
Q. How long did you TTC and what issues were you facing?
My husband and I unsuspectingly began this battle in December 2010. He had just graduated from college and we were ready to begin our family. I finished my last cycle of birth control that November and figured I’d be pregnant within a few months after.
My cycle was a little off after the birth control, becoming later and later (obviously causing a major increase in spending on pregnancy tests and lots of false hope), and finally it just stopped. In February 2011, I went to my OB/GYN and received the news that I have PCOS, and this was causing my period to stop and making it difficult to get pregnant.
I had to begin meds to start my period, and then we did several rounds of Clomid. After that didn’t seem to get me pregnant, I was sent to Nashville Fertility Center. All in all I was put on 1500 mg of Metformin, did about 7 cycles of Clomid, and an IUI with Femara and Ovidril, and still had no success. In December of 2011, I developed a cyst the size of a golf ball after one of my failed IUIs and had to have it aspirated. This caused us to have to postpone further fertility treatments. For 1 or 2 cycles after that I was still developing cysts and couldn’t continue treatment. So we kept trying on our own, without success. (We got busy with moving, new jobs, and other things which kept us from going back to the fertility clinic.)
We went back July 17th, 2012 and received some news that we never dreamed of. Our doctor said we could do one more cycle of Femara, and if that didn’t work we’d need to begin with injectable. I should mention that my insurance covered NO fertility treatment whatsoever. My husband’s covered some, but since his insurance is my secondary, it doesn’t cover very much.
We decided after the 2nd failed IUI to go to IVF, but our doctor convinced us to try one more IUI with Follistim and Ovidrel. Amazingly, this was the IUI that worked. I found out February 2nd that I was pregnant!
Q. Which books, quotes, websites, verses, movies, songs, etc. have been an encouragement to you during your journey?
All of the people on Twitter were amazing encouragements for me. God was and still is my biggest stronghold. My parents and my husband were my biggest supporters, along with my BFF who later became my doula. The Infertility Survival Handbook: Everything You Never Thought You’d Need to Know by Elizabeth Swire Falker was an incredible resource in learning of all my options.
Q. What made you decide to blog about your journey?
I was sick and tired of infertility being a taboo subject. It’s always considered something that happens to someone else. I wanted people to know it DOES happen to people you know, and this is what happens. I wanted others to know they aren’t alone in this fight. I also wanted to keep up with everything I was going through.
Q. How did you take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually during your struggles?
I prayed a LOT. I cried, talked, and leaned on my husband, my parents, my BFF, and the church. I monitored and wrote down EVERYTHING and all my symptoms for my doctors.
Q. What was your lowest point and how did you survive it?
I think my lowest point was after my 2nd failed IUI. I wasn’t sure I would be able to go through ANOTHER negative pregnancy test, and I didn’t think we were going to be able to afford IVF before I was 30 (which was what my doctor recommended). My faith in God is honestly what helped me survive it.
Q. How did your experience with infertility affect your pregnancy and how you see your son now?
My experience with infertility really made me cherish and appreciate EVERY part of my pregnancy, good and not-so-pleasant. I never took any of it for granted or rushed the delivery. I actually had to be induced 3 weeks early due to preeclampsia and was devastated. I felt robbed of the final part of what may be the only pregnancy I may ever have. My experience has made me love and appreciate my son so much more than I think I would have had I not had infertility issues. I’m so thankful for him, and while I would love to have another child, I’m not focusing on TTC. I’m going to enjoy everything about my son in the here and now, and not rush his childhood. I worked SO hard to get him, and I’m going to do all I can for him. If he’s the only child I have, I’m completely fine with it!!!
Q. Anything else you’d like to tell my readers?
One thing people always say is “You can just adopt.” I can’t tell you how mad that statement makes me. You should NEVER be made to feel bad about your desire to have your genetic children!!! You may not want to adopt. Adoption is not for everyone, and that is OKAY!!! It is okay to not want to adopt. It’s okay to want your genetic children. Adoption is not for everyone, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. I really wish someone had told me that.
Many thanks to Dana for sharing her story with us. Please leave a comment below to let her know you appreciate her, and please consider pinning this image so other people can read her story. You can see all my previous interviews here.
Connect with me on {Facebook} | {Pinterest} | {Twitter}| {Instagram}