December 23rd 2011 was the last day I took birth control.
We were gearing up for our March wedding and knew that we
wanted to have a family right away. I didn't expect
to get pregnant right away, so at that point we "pulled the goalie".
March 17th 2012, we got married.
Still off in lala land thinking eventually it would happen.
I wasn't paying attention to timing or temp tracking at that point,
just playing things by ear and taking pregnancy tests monthly.
August 19th 2012 I started working with one of my now besties, Meg.
Meg had suffered a miscarriage a year prior and had been trying to
get pregnant ever since. She was currently waiting for her appointment
at the Regional Fertility Program. She recommended I
purchase the book called "Taking control of your fertility".
It had so much information and I kind of got the feeling at that
point, that things were going to be much more complicated
than I thought. I knew I wasn't ovulating, my periods
were still few and far between and my basal body temps were all over
the map. I still wasn't ready to go to the doctor, PLUS we
hadn't been trying for the token one year anyways.
August 30th 2013 I went to my doctor because
I was having right upper quadrant pain, she shipped me
for an ultrasound where they discovered a solid mass
{which we now now is a cyst} that was measuring 4x4x5 cm.
About the size of a large plum. Let the fun begin!
Initially there was a bit of a panic. Referral was sent in for me
to see an OB/GYN for a surgical consult. It's large enough to
cause ovarian torsion but they also aren't quite sure what this
mass like thing is. After numerous blood tests, repeat
ultrasounds, and monitoring, we decide to not surgically
remove it. My anxiety was peaking and I wasn't even prepared
for that. In the meantime, I am also referred to a different
OB/GYN for colposcopy. Not fun. The fist one came back
inconclusive so a repeat is performed and then another as a monitor!
This basically tied up a solid 2 year of monitoring.
The concern of course was that the mass would
1. Grow 2. Spread to my other ovary {metastases} 3. cause Ovarian torsion
which would warrant emergency surgery.
August 11th 2015 I went in for my normal follow up and
at that point basically got the go ahead that the mass
wasn't growing, all my CA125 {cancer markers} blood work
kept coming back negative and that if I chose not to have surgery,
she would leave that up to me. Because I hadn't had a full flow period in
over a year, she wanted to do an endometrial biopsy.
She did explain that
although unlikely for endometrial cancer to show
up in a 30 year old, I would be the put in the high risk
category due to amenorrhea {not getting periods}.
September 23rd 2015, We met with an adoption agency in
Calgary. I feel the adoption calling deep in my soul. Rhys
feels like he would rather give the fertility treatments an
honest effort and then move on if it doesn't work.
Endometrial biopsy happened on October 20th 2015.
Painful. Only way to describe it. Really really painful.
They attempted 4 different times to get tissue samples and then
we called it a day. The whole procedure was only about 15 minutes
but probably one of the most painful things I've experienced
to date. Results- inconclusive. Of course they were.
At this point my doctor is now on mat leave and her
locum says she doesn't think a repeat is necessary
and sends me on my way with a prescription for Provera.
November 10th 2015. Provera period from hell. WORST
ever. I literally can't leave my house for about
4 days because I'm bleeding through everything
like an uneducated 15 year old girl. Everything.
December 12th 2015, my period shows up on cycle day 35!
Woo-Hoo! Usually that means you ovulated. Shocker.
Of course it also means that you usually aren't pregnant.
Oh well, I have a prescription for Clomid.
Here we go! On our way to Baby Williams!
Medicated cycle trauma. Can you say HOT FLASHES. Whoa.
Was not expecting that. They are no joke. Neither are the Clomid crazies
nor the extreme low mood changes.
Of course ovulation was due to happen right over the holidays.
Nothing says family holiday like timed intercourse.
If I had a gun to head emojii, I would be inserting it here.
We were both sooooo glad when that was over. The OPK said I ovulated
on January 2nd 2016 and Rhys had his semen analysis on the 8th.
By January 4th 2016 we said good bye to timed intercourse.
Phewf. The next week I called for my blood results
{did I forget to mention I had to go for
on day 21 and 28 of my cycle.... oops!}
... not that it mattered because my progesterone
was lower than a 5 year old girls would be. 1.7 to be exact.
It needs to be AT LEAST 15 to signal ovulation occurred. Crushed.
I still convinced myself that the blood work MUST have been wrong and
peed on about 10 pregnancy tests for 10 days in a row, just for tortures sake.
Rhys also calls his family doctor and the nurse at the clinic
tells him that his results are really bad. Bad bad were her exact words.
She's an idiot {obviously}. I had an OB/GYN appointment booked
on January 26th so I decided to hold out starting another medicated
cycle until we got things hammered out with my doctor. No way I
wanted to do another stressful cycle.
Besides, I'm now due for my monitor ultrasound for that pesky cyst.
January 26th 2016. I look like an idiot showing up unprepared because
Rhys' doctor didn't send over the results from his semen analysis.
20 minutes of detective work, which includes calling the lab,
calling Rhys {his phone was off},
calling his mother {to find out his doctors name} {I blanked under pressure},
finally his doctors office! A few little lies on behalf of my doctor
and shazam, results! The nurse isn't such an idiot after all.
They are bad. Bad bad in fact.
We are now on the waitlist for the Regional Fertility Program.
At least I got a few sympathy tears out {which was actually
horribly embarrassing to the social anxiety monster I am},
to make up for my doctor needing to be a private investigator.
Apparently being a preemie and having the mumps
does not do wonders for sperm. Who knew.
Off for IVF we go!
