Hi all,
I've been a member of the bnb since April, when we found out that we were expecting our little miracle. I never really thought of sharing our story, but as we're now at 33+1 think I'm ready and brave enough to believe this is actually happening!
I'm 35 and my partner is 30. We started trying about 4 years ago, no regime or strictness, more a 'let's not use anything and see what happens'. We did this for a year or so, but I had very irregular periods which were unpredictable to say the least. in 2008 I had a total of 3 periods in the whole year. After another year of trying, we went to the doctors to get me checked out, as I was getting older and we realised if we needed help, then the sooner the better. I was referred to the hospital for some scans of my ovaries, womb and fallopian tubes. We went along to the hospital, generally feeling glad that we were ruling out physical causes - only to find that I had multiple cysts (more than 12) on each ovary. I was also told that I had a viable uterus, which was the silver lining. This knocked us for six, although I chose to not really think about it. I had expected all to be well (don't we all?), and had fully expected that the lack of periods would be put down to stress (I was in a highly stressful at the time). However, this plus excess hair growth and excess weight put together would have led to PCOS - except that my hormone levels were all normal. My BMI at this stage was about 33.
My husband decided to get himself checked out too, and, following two sperm tests, we discovered that he had less than 1% viable sperm - all aspects of healthy sperm were affected - morphology, motility and amount. That was quite a blow, as you can imagine. We spoke with our GP who said that it wasn't a case of being infertile - we still had a chance, just a tiny one, and that we could be referred for IVF. We found that our best chance was to be IVF ICSI, where sperm are selected and then implanted. We were put on the waiting list.
In the meantime my then work continued to cause major stress, to the point that I burnt-out and rapidly succumbed to severe depression and anxiety. After 8 months off work, the contract with that employer ended. My husband wanted to move to London for better job prospects, and so we moved to London (where we are now). I had recovered to the extent that I could cope with this, but was on lots of medications to keep things under control. It took another 6 months before I was back to myself again, which brings us to March of this year. I had lost weight, decided I was never returning to my profession again, got fitter and recovered almost completely. We went on holiday for a fortnight in January, where I weaned myself off the sleeping tablets on which I had been reliant since the burn-out. I stopped using lorazepam and diazepam at this point too, which was a struggle but achievable as the pressure of thinking I was going to return to the environment was gone. I was only on a low dose of anti-depressant. On February 16th we had sex, and as I hadn't orgasmed used (for the first and only time together) a vibrator after my husband had orgasmed. 7 weeks later I took a test - positive! I will never forget the emotions, the overwhelming excitement, the disbelief, the amazement. Two days after that, our appointment with the consultant to begin IVF came through.
From when we moved to London (and I was not working and had no possibility of returning to that workplace as we'd moved away), and my BMI was 29.8, I'd had 7 regular periods. Well, regular for me, but when we went to the GP in London for the IVF referral he said that it really wasn't. I had periods every 29-38 days, each lasting 2-4 days. I took the test because I'd been regular for the first time in my life and my boobs were so incredibly sore!(Couldn't stand them being touched or put them anywhere near the shower!).
So, there you have it. I'm 33 weeks now, 46 inch waist, 4.5lb baby kicking away inside me, and our spare room in our corporate flat (not expecting babies for a couple of years due to IVF) has been turned into a nursery. We are still somewhat in a state of disbelief, and feel blessed. The circumstances that got us here could not have been foretold - who'd've thought a breakdown could end up with you getting pregnant (I don't recommend it, btw). BUT, it did get me away from a highly unhealthy situation (my periods returning tells me that the job certainly had an impact there), got me to a place where the pressure of potentially returning was non-existent, forced me to change careers (eventually - took a while) and made me healthy enough to have a baby. I never believed the BMI guidelines, but now I wonder if there's something to it, particularly if you have PCOS. My hubby changed to looser boxers, kept fit and ate lots of things with potassium in them. Using the vibrator probably got his 'boys' where they needed to be, and somehow on that one day, it was the right day. The GP said it's one in a million and the nurse who took my bloods said he's a miracle baby.
BTW, we went straight to the GP to get it tested by them, to make sure we hadn't done the test wrong (the things you think!). She went through 3 - yes three! tests before she got one that worked, she kept shaking her head and we thought we had got it wrong. THe moment she turned round and told us it was positive (in that non-emotional matter of fact manner some doctors have) was the biggest relief! That was a horrible ten minutes!
So, there you go! For me, leaving a stressful job, losing weight (to be light enough for IVF) and using mechanical help worked, for my hubby wearing looser boxers and increasing potassium also seems to have had an impact. To all of you still trying, there is hope, even when it really seems there isn't.
Good luck xxx
I've been a member of the bnb since April, when we found out that we were expecting our little miracle. I never really thought of sharing our story, but as we're now at 33+1 think I'm ready and brave enough to believe this is actually happening!
I'm 35 and my partner is 30. We started trying about 4 years ago, no regime or strictness, more a 'let's not use anything and see what happens'. We did this for a year or so, but I had very irregular periods which were unpredictable to say the least. in 2008 I had a total of 3 periods in the whole year. After another year of trying, we went to the doctors to get me checked out, as I was getting older and we realised if we needed help, then the sooner the better. I was referred to the hospital for some scans of my ovaries, womb and fallopian tubes. We went along to the hospital, generally feeling glad that we were ruling out physical causes - only to find that I had multiple cysts (more than 12) on each ovary. I was also told that I had a viable uterus, which was the silver lining. This knocked us for six, although I chose to not really think about it. I had expected all to be well (don't we all?), and had fully expected that the lack of periods would be put down to stress (I was in a highly stressful at the time). However, this plus excess hair growth and excess weight put together would have led to PCOS - except that my hormone levels were all normal. My BMI at this stage was about 33.
My husband decided to get himself checked out too, and, following two sperm tests, we discovered that he had less than 1% viable sperm - all aspects of healthy sperm were affected - morphology, motility and amount. That was quite a blow, as you can imagine. We spoke with our GP who said that it wasn't a case of being infertile - we still had a chance, just a tiny one, and that we could be referred for IVF. We found that our best chance was to be IVF ICSI, where sperm are selected and then implanted. We were put on the waiting list.
In the meantime my then work continued to cause major stress, to the point that I burnt-out and rapidly succumbed to severe depression and anxiety. After 8 months off work, the contract with that employer ended. My husband wanted to move to London for better job prospects, and so we moved to London (where we are now). I had recovered to the extent that I could cope with this, but was on lots of medications to keep things under control. It took another 6 months before I was back to myself again, which brings us to March of this year. I had lost weight, decided I was never returning to my profession again, got fitter and recovered almost completely. We went on holiday for a fortnight in January, where I weaned myself off the sleeping tablets on which I had been reliant since the burn-out. I stopped using lorazepam and diazepam at this point too, which was a struggle but achievable as the pressure of thinking I was going to return to the environment was gone. I was only on a low dose of anti-depressant. On February 16th we had sex, and as I hadn't orgasmed used (for the first and only time together) a vibrator after my husband had orgasmed. 7 weeks later I took a test - positive! I will never forget the emotions, the overwhelming excitement, the disbelief, the amazement. Two days after that, our appointment with the consultant to begin IVF came through.
From when we moved to London (and I was not working and had no possibility of returning to that workplace as we'd moved away), and my BMI was 29.8, I'd had 7 regular periods. Well, regular for me, but when we went to the GP in London for the IVF referral he said that it really wasn't. I had periods every 29-38 days, each lasting 2-4 days. I took the test because I'd been regular for the first time in my life and my boobs were so incredibly sore!(Couldn't stand them being touched or put them anywhere near the shower!).
So, there you have it. I'm 33 weeks now, 46 inch waist, 4.5lb baby kicking away inside me, and our spare room in our corporate flat (not expecting babies for a couple of years due to IVF) has been turned into a nursery. We are still somewhat in a state of disbelief, and feel blessed. The circumstances that got us here could not have been foretold - who'd've thought a breakdown could end up with you getting pregnant (I don't recommend it, btw). BUT, it did get me away from a highly unhealthy situation (my periods returning tells me that the job certainly had an impact there), got me to a place where the pressure of potentially returning was non-existent, forced me to change careers (eventually - took a while) and made me healthy enough to have a baby. I never believed the BMI guidelines, but now I wonder if there's something to it, particularly if you have PCOS. My hubby changed to looser boxers, kept fit and ate lots of things with potassium in them. Using the vibrator probably got his 'boys' where they needed to be, and somehow on that one day, it was the right day. The GP said it's one in a million and the nurse who took my bloods said he's a miracle baby.
BTW, we went straight to the GP to get it tested by them, to make sure we hadn't done the test wrong (the things you think!). She went through 3 - yes three! tests before she got one that worked, she kept shaking her head and we thought we had got it wrong. THe moment she turned round and told us it was positive (in that non-emotional matter of fact manner some doctors have) was the biggest relief! That was a horrible ten minutes!
So, there you go! For me, leaving a stressful job, losing weight (to be light enough for IVF) and using mechanical help worked, for my hubby wearing looser boxers and increasing potassium also seems to have had an impact. To all of you still trying, there is hope, even when it really seems there isn't.
Good luck xxx
