Marielle0430's TTC Story

Posted Friday, March 12, 2010 5:44 PM

"We really thought we’d be pregnant before Christmas. But Christmas 2008 and then Christmas 2009 came and went -- and still no pregnancy to announce..."

Finding eachother

My husband Alex and I have been married now for almost a year and a half. We met through mutual friends and even served as Maid of Honor and Best Man at their wedding, and later, were both godparents to their son…all before we ever even started dating! We originally met back in 2001, while we were still in relationships with our exes. Over the next few years we got to know each other and developed a friendship while supporting our friends and our godchild. But eventually, each of our relationships failed and we became closer and came to lean on one another for support. Soon our friendship grew into a romance.  

We officially became a couple in May of 2006 after dating for about a year, we moved in together in February of 2007, and were engaged a month later. Finally, we were married on October 12, 2008.

Immediately after getting engaged, we discussed having children.  We were both in agreement that we wanted to start trying right after the wedding.  It was surprisingly easy for us to have this conversation.  We both always knew we wanted children so it was only natural that we’d want to start our family as soon as we were married.  Luckily, we were in a secure place financially and both have degrees and stable employment. We also had the total support of our families.  Everything was perfectly aligned…or so we thought.

Taking the next step

When we’re younger, we assume that when we're ready to have a baby, we’d just have one. Simple, right? Well maybe for some, but not for us.

I was on oral birth control for about 9 years before I stopped taking them. It was the last day of our honeymoon when I threw that little pill pack away, and on October 22, 2008 we were officially TTC. We really thought we’d be pregnant before Christmas. But Christmas 2008 and then Christmas 2009 came and went -- and still no pregnancy to announce. At first, we thought it was the birth control pills and thought we just needed to give it time.

As soon as we started TTC, I made the transition from The Knot to The Bump and began visiting the online TTC community. That’s where I learned about charting my BBT, started reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility, using FertilityFriend.com -- the whole nine yards. These women knew their stuff!  I began charting right along with other Bumpies and realized I wasn’t ovulating. It was obvious that AF was refusing to visit anytime soon, as well. 

So at my annual OB/GYN checkup, I spoke with my doctor about our TTC issues. (Mind you, at this point we’d only been trying for about 4-5 months). She promptly prescribed Provera to induce a bleed and then Clomid. I took Clomid for 2 cycles and although I did ovulate, I didn’t get pregnant.  After visiting The Bump regularly for months and learning from the wisdom of others who were going through what I was going through, I realized that I shouldn’t be on Clomid without being monitored by a qualified doctor. So I decided to switch doctors and then have the new one refer me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE).

Trying everything

My new doctor first prescribed a semen analysis for my husband and an ultrasound and HSG (procedure to check my tubes) for me. What they found was that, although Alex was fine, I on the other hand, was diagnosed with PCOS. My RE started me on Clomid since they knew it worked for me, coupled with Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI).  The first didn’t work. The second didn’t work either. I then switched from the oral Clomid pill to medication that would be injected into my stomach over the course of several days… and I’d have to do this myself! The third IUI (with the injectable meds) didn’t work either.

So here I am today, with IUI #4 behind me and we’re just waiting to hear the results (in exactly 1 week). I believe the next step, if there is one, might be IVF, which is scary.

This process has taught me a lot about myself and about my relationship with my husband. We are stronger than ever after going down this tough road.  ’t get me wrong, challenges still persist, but we are able to handle these situations with love. We know that our day will come and are praying it is soon... actually, I hope our time has already come and might just be too soon to tell. It’s possible!

> Read more about Marielle0430!

> Want to share your TTC story? Email it now to kstanford@theknot.com.