Trigger Warning: This story contains mention of miscarriage that may be triggering to some.
“As I sit here holding my 12-week-old, I am ever so thankful to be in the spot I am right here, right now. You see, for 6 years, I was told, ‘All you need to do to get pregnant is to lose weight to regulate your menstrual cycle.’ I was screened for PCOS but did not end up having it then. I was referred to an endocrinologist to test my thyroid to see if that may help me lose weight. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and prescribed medication in order to regulate my thyroid levels.
Everyone was hopeful this would help me lose weight and regulate my menstrual cycle. This went on for a couple of years with no results of helping my lack of periods. My weight didn’t change significantly, even with diet and exercise. I ended up going off my thyroid meds because I was getting nowhere, and the extra expense of medication didn’t make sense to me since nothing was getting resolved.
Fast forward to July of 2019 where I ended up having two menstrual cycles within 1 month. I couldn’t believe it! I’m lucky to maybe have four to six periods per year! Turns out, I was spotting because I was pregnant. I had no idea I was, as this was completely spontaneous, and I never know when I am ovulating due to lack of consistency in my cycles.
I remember coming home from a concert and after experiencing a hypersensitive sense of smell and a little bit of swelling in my ankles, my sister-in-law suggested, ‘You should take a pregnancy test just to rule things out.’ When I saw those two pink lines, I ran downstairs to my husband crying, saying over and over again, ‘I am not broken!’ Tears streamed down my face. He was immediately worried because I was bleeding, but I remained hopeful everything was okay. The next morning, I booked an appointment with my OB/GYN, and luckily, they were able to see us the very next day!
They said those blissful words, ‘Congratulations, you’re pregnant!’ Those words will always be with me. Unfortunately, the happiness did not last long as my spotting continued, and my hope dissolved. My heart knew something was wrong, but I definitely did not want to believe it. We did a follow up 2 weeks later only to hear, ‘Your embryo is starting to disintegrate along with your hormone levels.’ I was miscarrying my first baby. We scheduled the D&C for the very next day.
A few weeks later, my husband and I went out of town for a wedding and on the road trip to our destination, we decided it was time to put a call in for expert help. Yes, the miscarriage was absolutely devastating but at the same time, it was a huge sign of hope for us as we have never had any luck in the past with becoming pregnant. Knowing we could naturally was enough for us to think, possibly with a little extra help, we would become parents no matter what the journey may look like.
On September 17, 2019, we had our first appointment with the New Hope Fertility Center located in Virginia Beach. During our consultation visit with the lead doctor, she pinpointed exactly what was wrong and had me go through several tests that day. From there, we devised a plan and discussed the steps moving forward in order to get us pregnant as quickly as possible. Their optimism of our situation provided comfort when we needed it most.
I was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries that day. My ovaries have an overwhelming number of follicles that secrete a fluid that doesn’t allow my eggs to drop at a normal rate. This is what was causing my menstrual cycle issues and couldn’t be detected at a normal OB/GYN office.
I went through a few weeks of a couple of different screenings, blood panel tests, and medications. My husband also had his sperm tested to make sure he wasn’t a factor in our infertility issue. He was ruled out quickly… My polycystic ovaries were, in fact, the reasoning behind all of our struggles.
During Thanksgiving week, I underwent surgery to completely scrape my uterus clean so when we had our IUI performed, our embryo would have a clean surface to land on and attach to. From there, I did a cycle of Metformin for ovulation induction and then Femara to promote the growth and release of my eggs with a timed trigger shot to make my eggs drop to meet my husband’s injected sperm.
On December 15, we had our insemination! I will tell you the procedure was super easy, and our journey to that procedure was 100% enjoyable. We were in amazing hands the entire time. I remained on several medications to aid a healthy first few weeks into pregnancy.
On December 30, 2019, we found out we were pregnant again! This time I was able to look for all of the signs of implantation, as well as track everything because of all the education this experience provided my husband and me. To get that phone call was absolutely amazing!
At 5 weeks, we started tracking my pregnancy weekly in the office with ultrasound checkups. We were able to have ultrasounds from 5 weeks to 12 weeks and to see our baby grow from a tiny grain of rice to the size of a grape. Having those sonograms is one of my favorite things about our pregnancy journey. I will cherish those memories and sonogram images as long as I live.
My pregnancy was pretty close to perfect. Our baby progressed without any problems the entire time and we did not have any health issues through-out the duration of gestation. I barely experienced any morning sickness and did not have that many food aversions along the way. The days I did feel ill were quickly mended with peppermint oil or half a Coca-Cola.
Our sweet boy surpassed his due date by 9 days, and we ended up having to have a cesarean delivery because he was stuck in my birth canal at an angle. I honestly didn’t care how he made it into this world, I just know I wanted to hold him and call him mine. He made it into this world as a healthy 8 pound, 21.26 long little man. He has been a true delight and we are so thankful for him. Without our struggles in the beginning, we wouldn’t have this appreciative perspective on parenthood we do today.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Kristin Watkins from Virginia Brach, VA. You can follow her journey on Instagram. Submit your own story here, and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
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