The Pre-baby story -- a journey through fertility (or lack there of)
Well considering it's halfway through Feb I feel as though another update is in order. In my last post I mentioned that my husband and I are expecting. Our first baby is due April 2019. No, we do not know the gender it's going to be a surprise :)
I figured I'd do a little recap of how things have gone thus far...
To start things off my husband and I have been together for almost 15 yrs, married for 5+ No, we were not high school sweethearts. I met him the summer I graduated high school. (2004)
We were young, both hadn't dated many others and we took things slowly.... waited 5 yrs to move in together 7 + yrs to get married and another 5 to have a baby haha
Now, being a 'responsible' young adult I was on the pill as I was basically terrified to get pregnant by mistake. I have always felt like I would have a family at some point. Even 10 yrs ago I would have told you I'd like to be "done having kids" by 30. Now, at 32 I'm expecting my first babe.
Would I like to have more kids? I'm going to say yes, although I literally have no idea how this is going to go haha. Having a baby earlier just kind of 'didn't make sense' any earlier. If you've looked at previous posts you can see that I've spent some serious hours in the gym and training. Between fitness competitions, intense diets, triathlons and some travel it just didn't seem to be the right time... but is it ever?
My husband is one of 4, he's the oldest. I am one of two and also the oldest. This will be the first grand baby for our immediate families and yes they are excited.
I mentioned I was on the pill, Alesse specifically. I had taken depo-provera prior to that and after I had broken up with that boyfriend and no longer needed it for the 'birth control' effect I was talked into switching to the pill so that I would still have a 'cycle' (although a pseudo cycle)
Transitioning to the pill was a bit tough, it was really hard on my stomach. If I took it on an empty stomach it would cause me to vomit. My least favorite thing. Eventually it was just fine and I'm a bit of a stickler for taking things on time... a traditional rule follower haha
Fast fwd, I finish my yearly prescription from the doctor and opt to not fill it again. Are we trying to get pregnant at this time? No. I had wanted to give my body a chance to see what it would do without the fake hormones. I was having trouble losing weight after competing back to back years for fitness competitions and was a little concerned about the things I had seen online about 'adrenal fatigue' and 'damaged metabolisms' online
Well, going off the pill proved to be .... trying. My body didn't have the means to have a regular cycle. When others would return to "normal" within a month or two I had gone almost 9 without any action. So, I consulted my MD. Which requires taking time off work and waiting (long) periods to be seen for a total of 3 mins to be told to just take birth control again to try to trigger my cycle.
Now, I wasn't interested in having a band aid. To me, re introducing hormones where they were lacking wasn't going to fix another longer than 30 maybe 60 days. I needed a different approach
My MD had told me to take a months worth of birth control in the total of 7 days. (ouch) I said I apprehensive about it. He informed me bloating and some other side effects could be affected. Like vomiting? Not interested.
I went back to the doc about three months later having no changes, and requested a referral to a gyno. He obliged and asked me to take the BC because he felt that's what the specialist was going to ask me to do anyways. I also obliged
Specialists take a while to get into see (except the one I work for, we take a few weeks ;) ) I met the OBGYN and she was lovely, sent me for some blood work and an ultrasound to see if there was something going on. I was elated.
I had done the tests, nothing obstructive in the scans but my blood work was less than stellar. At this time I'm 30 yrs old and my labs say I'm in menopause... hmm
This doctor ended up suddenly closing her practice due to personal health issues, so I requested a new referral to another doc. This doc didn't come highly recommended through friends or online and couldn't accommodate my work schedule at all. So I opted to try a natural path doctor local to me. Their hours are much more diverse the wait times are shorter but .. it's all out of pocket
The NP Doc that I saw was lovely, she did more blood work and confirmed that I was in fact showing that I was in menopause. She had said that she didn't believe that I was truly menopausal so now we tried a few things. It all started with natural supplements, I was into trying that. Eventually we took it to estrogen and progesterone creams trying to trigger things... Throughout this time I had a few periods but nothing to call home about
I was also training for a half iron man at this point. I had been playing with intermittent fasting and eating stupidly low carb for someone who was training so much.
For someone who appeared to be in menopause I had almost none of the symptoms. I didn't feel fatigued, I was the busiest person I know! I didn't get crashes, I worked 6 days a week. Training 6-7 days a week and going out with friends when possible. Energizer bunny style. -- that's apparently also a symptom
Fees kept climbing -- blood tests are expensive when not covered by MSP! - and I went back to my MD for yet another referral, this time to a fertility specialist closer to my home
More blood tests, I was told to 'start trying' to get pregnant since I was heading to a fertility clinic it's ideal to be trying to get pregnant. I was not a standard case to them having never miscarried or even attempted pregnancy. I was actually super good at preventing it (we)
After my half iron man was over, I was bagged! I took almost a whole week off of the gym which was weird for me. The chronic over trainer and under eater. Two weeks following my triathlon I got a period. Spoke to my husband and said I don't know when my next period is coming. It could be months. We agreed to throw caution to the wind and go for it
two wks after that, I was pregnant. I had no idea. By the time I had my first blood test with the new doc I was already expecting. I was showing estrogen dominant (who me?) and was given an Rx for progesterone for after my next cycle. That never came
Currenlty I'm 33 weeks pregnant. I'll post a different blog about how that all has gone because this is already getting long winded
Thanks for reading. Hopefully it's interesting to some
Jess
I figured I'd do a little recap of how things have gone thus far...
To start things off my husband and I have been together for almost 15 yrs, married for 5+ No, we were not high school sweethearts. I met him the summer I graduated high school. (2004)
We were young, both hadn't dated many others and we took things slowly.... waited 5 yrs to move in together 7 + yrs to get married and another 5 to have a baby haha
Now, being a 'responsible' young adult I was on the pill as I was basically terrified to get pregnant by mistake. I have always felt like I would have a family at some point. Even 10 yrs ago I would have told you I'd like to be "done having kids" by 30. Now, at 32 I'm expecting my first babe.
Would I like to have more kids? I'm going to say yes, although I literally have no idea how this is going to go haha. Having a baby earlier just kind of 'didn't make sense' any earlier. If you've looked at previous posts you can see that I've spent some serious hours in the gym and training. Between fitness competitions, intense diets, triathlons and some travel it just didn't seem to be the right time... but is it ever?
My husband is one of 4, he's the oldest. I am one of two and also the oldest. This will be the first grand baby for our immediate families and yes they are excited.
I mentioned I was on the pill, Alesse specifically. I had taken depo-provera prior to that and after I had broken up with that boyfriend and no longer needed it for the 'birth control' effect I was talked into switching to the pill so that I would still have a 'cycle' (although a pseudo cycle)
Transitioning to the pill was a bit tough, it was really hard on my stomach. If I took it on an empty stomach it would cause me to vomit. My least favorite thing. Eventually it was just fine and I'm a bit of a stickler for taking things on time... a traditional rule follower haha
Fast fwd, I finish my yearly prescription from the doctor and opt to not fill it again. Are we trying to get pregnant at this time? No. I had wanted to give my body a chance to see what it would do without the fake hormones. I was having trouble losing weight after competing back to back years for fitness competitions and was a little concerned about the things I had seen online about 'adrenal fatigue' and 'damaged metabolisms' online
Well, going off the pill proved to be .... trying. My body didn't have the means to have a regular cycle. When others would return to "normal" within a month or two I had gone almost 9 without any action. So, I consulted my MD. Which requires taking time off work and waiting (long) periods to be seen for a total of 3 mins to be told to just take birth control again to try to trigger my cycle.
Now, I wasn't interested in having a band aid. To me, re introducing hormones where they were lacking wasn't going to fix another longer than 30 maybe 60 days. I needed a different approach
My MD had told me to take a months worth of birth control in the total of 7 days. (ouch) I said I apprehensive about it. He informed me bloating and some other side effects could be affected. Like vomiting? Not interested.
I went back to the doc about three months later having no changes, and requested a referral to a gyno. He obliged and asked me to take the BC because he felt that's what the specialist was going to ask me to do anyways. I also obliged
Specialists take a while to get into see (except the one I work for, we take a few weeks ;) ) I met the OBGYN and she was lovely, sent me for some blood work and an ultrasound to see if there was something going on. I was elated.
I had done the tests, nothing obstructive in the scans but my blood work was less than stellar. At this time I'm 30 yrs old and my labs say I'm in menopause... hmm
This doctor ended up suddenly closing her practice due to personal health issues, so I requested a new referral to another doc. This doc didn't come highly recommended through friends or online and couldn't accommodate my work schedule at all. So I opted to try a natural path doctor local to me. Their hours are much more diverse the wait times are shorter but .. it's all out of pocket
The NP Doc that I saw was lovely, she did more blood work and confirmed that I was in fact showing that I was in menopause. She had said that she didn't believe that I was truly menopausal so now we tried a few things. It all started with natural supplements, I was into trying that. Eventually we took it to estrogen and progesterone creams trying to trigger things... Throughout this time I had a few periods but nothing to call home about
I was also training for a half iron man at this point. I had been playing with intermittent fasting and eating stupidly low carb for someone who was training so much.
For someone who appeared to be in menopause I had almost none of the symptoms. I didn't feel fatigued, I was the busiest person I know! I didn't get crashes, I worked 6 days a week. Training 6-7 days a week and going out with friends when possible. Energizer bunny style. -- that's apparently also a symptom
Fees kept climbing -- blood tests are expensive when not covered by MSP! - and I went back to my MD for yet another referral, this time to a fertility specialist closer to my home
More blood tests, I was told to 'start trying' to get pregnant since I was heading to a fertility clinic it's ideal to be trying to get pregnant. I was not a standard case to them having never miscarried or even attempted pregnancy. I was actually super good at preventing it (we)
After my half iron man was over, I was bagged! I took almost a whole week off of the gym which was weird for me. The chronic over trainer and under eater. Two weeks following my triathlon I got a period. Spoke to my husband and said I don't know when my next period is coming. It could be months. We agreed to throw caution to the wind and go for it
two wks after that, I was pregnant. I had no idea. By the time I had my first blood test with the new doc I was already expecting. I was showing estrogen dominant (who me?) and was given an Rx for progesterone for after my next cycle. That never came
Currenlty I'm 33 weeks pregnant. I'll post a different blog about how that all has gone because this is already getting long winded
Thanks for reading. Hopefully it's interesting to some
Jess
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