When my husband and I decided to start trying to conceive early in 2006,  it was the beginning of a long journey where I would learn about both my fertility and infertility.

After a few months of trying to conceive and several (expensive!) negative pregnancy tests, my husband went out and bought me a fertility monitor to help determine when I was ovulating. I totally stressed about this and also charted my temperature and my cervical mucus (I know right!) and basically went a little nuts about planning the best days and times to have baby making sex. As my husband explained when describing infertility from a father’s perspective, planned baby making sex wasn’t as much fun as you would think it would be. I also searched the internet obsessively, trying to glean some fact that would help us get pregnant sooner.

Eventually, my husband and I went to our doctor who ordered some tests, and then to a specialist who ordered more tests, and we landed in a fertility clinic after learning the devastating news that we were infertile. Our treatment plan included in vitro fertilization and ICSI.

It wasn’t smooth sailing – our struggles included a diagnosis of endometriosis, male factor infertility, a surgery and a failed in vitro fertilization attempt –  but on New Year’s Eve 2007 we learned I was pregnant at last. And then this little miracle happened!

We are so lucky to have our happy ending with our now 6 year old son.

From someone who has been there, if you think you might have fertility challenges, don’t wait to seek out help and advice from a fertility specialist. You know your body, and you need to be proactive because the longer infertility drags on, the more you will suffer from the emotional roller coaster of ongoing disappointments and uncertainty.

Fertility Matters is a great site to check out if you live in Canada – full of information and resources about infertility issues.

You are not alone.

 

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