Welcome to the Crazy!

Hello! Welcome to my fertility blog! For those of you that don't know me, my name is Michelle. I am 29 year old and mother to a very inquisitive 16 month old. Caysen was conceived through IVF (in-vitro fertilization) after 4 years of struggling with infertility. We are now finding ourselves struggling again to conceive #2. And let me tell you, it's just as stressful and painful (maybe more) with the 2nd. I know what some of you are thinking (because I used to think the same way), "but you already have one, why can't you be happy with that?" My answer to that, "because motherhood is like heroine. It's addictive."

Why can't we conceive? My husband is fine. In fact, he has super sperm! He could probably sneeze on a fertile woman and she would be pregnant... It's me. I'm the "broken one". At least that's how I feel most of the time. Previously I had stage 4 endometriosis and very large ovarian cysts. All that was removed through surgery and after 2 1/2 IVF cycles we conceived our son about a year later! Oh, there is the small issue with "ovarian reserve". Basically, I may have the ovaries of a 40 year old woman! While a normally healthy woman would make about 20 eggs during the process, I made 5. Only 2 were "healthy" and only 1 fertilized normally. That's our son! So ladies, it only takes one.

I've been told by the doctor and through some of the numerous hours of researching, that being pregnant may be the best cure for not being able to get pregnant! Essentially, the hormones from pregnancy supress the hormones that fuel the endo and the cysts. I am pretty sure the endo is gone. Before, my "time of the month" was HORRIBLE! Terribly painful and emotionally draining. Back pain, terrible cramps and stomach pain. Thankfully I no longer suffer from those symptoms! BUT STILL NO PREGNANCY AFTER ALMOST 10 MONTHS OF TTC (Trying To Conceive).

My OBGYN says, "do IVF again!" I said, "are you going to pay for it?" The first time cost around $35,000 with everything plus meds. It's just not an option for us right now. But with my 40 year old ovaries, my clock is ticking!!! So, I have decided to try something different...

I recently reconnected with a highschool/college friend through facebook. I was saddened when I heard that at such a young age, she had lymphoma. Instead of injecting her body with poisons to kill the cancer, she took a huge leap and treated it holistically. She adopted a whole food diet and an exercise routine. Long story short - SHE CURED HER CANCER! Oh yeah, and she got knocked up!

So, I'm going to adopt some of her "concoctions", if I can stomach them and add some supplements to my diet. One of them being bromelain. I now suffer from a very scant period. So hopefully I can "beef up" my uterine lining! I also hope to add to this, acupuncture and some trips to the Chiropractor for some adjusting :-)

I realized I am expecting a lot out of my body, and I'm not giving to it. I don't have a good diet and nearly no exercise. This was not always the case though. I've just "let myself go". But it's time for me to take myself back!