*Herbs for Her is a proprietary blend of herbs that increase fertility!
If it doesn't say Momma Kath, it's not Herbs for Her!
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*Herbs for Her is a proprietary blend of herbs that increase fertility! If it doesn't say Momma Kath, it's not Herbs for Her! |
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TTC SUCCESS STORIES..Book #75
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Monique age 33, DH age 32. First conception after 13 months of trying. I wanted to offer my encouragement to those trying as this web site and its stories have helped me to have hope when I felt like being hopeless. My DH and I had been trying for about 13 months. I have a history of moderate endo and have had two laporoscopies in the past. My last lap was about 6 years ago and I had been on birth control pills to keep my periods lighter and less painful since then. Both times the endo involved my ovaries which is not good for trying to conceive but the doctor treated all the spots he could see. September of 2002 is when I went off pill. After the one year mark of nothing happening (and several very disappointing negative pregnancy tests) we went to a fertility specialist. He is about 2 hours from our home and was recommend by a friend of mine who also got pregnant on her second IUI but unfortunately it turned out to be a molar pregnancy, which she lost. He did all the blood ! tests, HSG,etc. All was normal except for some minor blockage on the right side that the HSG blew through (gave me enough pain that I had to be given morphine in the ER, not a pleasant experience!) and low progesterone that was right on the border. With everything checked out his next step was IUI and clomid. I took clomid both months on cycle day 3-7, and fortunately, had no side effects at all. We were going to do this 3 to 4 cycles then move on to another lap if I didn't get pregnant. First month was a bust as everything timed out right using the OPK, then IUI treatment, but the second half of my cycle chopped off at only 9 days when AF arrived. Second month was the winner though! I started temping that month and saw a major temp drop on about cycle day 17 followed by two temp jumps over the next two days. During this time, the OPK was positive for the LH surge. We called him up and went in on a Sunday for the IUI (the day after the LH surge). He offered to give me progesterone suppositories to try and help lengthen the second half of my cycle this time. I was hoping that he would offer this as I knew from my research that was likely something I needed. I gladly accepted the rx. About a week after the IUI we planned a brief trip a few hours from home. I just returned from that yesterday. I was concerned as I had run out of progesterone suppositories on the trip home and had skipped it in the am. I was starting to feel some cramps by afternoon and I became really anxious to get home. When we got home I took two at once to make sure I got the dose I am suppose to take daily. Today I am about 18 days past my IUI and I had waited to test for fear of another negative. I woke up at 4:00am this morning and took the test. The double lines came up immediately. I woke up DH to show him. He was groggy but excited! Today I will call my doctor to have him test me to be sure. We are going to wait until Christmas to tell our family! My husband reminded me its only about a week away so you all are the first to know. I am so thankful to God for this blessing no matter what the final outcome! I feel a sense of relief just knowing I could get pregnant finally. With the history of endo I have had, and no success for over a year, I was afraid it was never going to happen. But God is merciful and heard ours and our friends prayers! Here is what I have done recently to help beside the IUI,clomid and progesterone: taking vit E, beta carotene, B vits and zinc. I avoided my usual jazzercise routine since the IUI just in case and instead did walks. As for pregnancy symptoms there hasn't been much. Some soar breasts that are only different this time as my entire breast is soar, along with some occasional shooting pains in ! them. Mild nausea coming and going through out the day. I chalked all this up to the progesterone, but thank God I was wrong this time. I also have had elevated temps of around 98 to 98.3 that are continuing. Keep up the hope. I am one who doubted it for myself but got help from a great fertility doc early on. If we hadn't done this, this post would have been many months or even possibly years before I could have shared it with you.. God bless, have faith and many ++++ thoughts! Mo. Hello Everyone! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this site! DH and I married in August 2002 and went to see a RE in January 2003 because I knew I had PCOS. We tried clomid and it didn't work, then she put me on the injectibles. The first time - it worked! I got pregnant in March with an IUI, but miscarried a couple of weeks later. We still held out hope and wanted to try it again. My insurance doesn't cover any infertility and the shots are expensive, I was taking four/day. Financially, we thought we could make it one more try. We did the shots for 8 days, had another shot of preganyl(sp) and the IUI on Memorial Day of 2003. 10 days later, I saw a pink line! I tried not to get too excited because of the miscarriage, but my beta turned out great, it was even high. We found out a month later we were going to have twins! They are due February 2004 and we can't wait! The point of my story is the emotional side of trying to conceive - it drains you. For five months, all I thought about was getting pregnant, time moved from the daily shot to the daily shot, I shut myself down. It really consumed me and this website really helped me out - I found a ray of hope. May God bless you all who are trying to conceive and let you see the wonderful blessings in your life as you make this journey! Nikki EDD: 2-16-04 Success Story December, 1999, Dh and I decided to start ttc. After 9 months with no luck, we went to an infertility specialist. He guessed that since my periods were so bad and that my cervix was only an inch from coming out, that I had endometriosis. He scheduled a lap, but I missed it due to DH's Grandmother's funeral. By November I was having severe bloating and pain and had to be rushed into emergency surgery. There they found an orange and a grapefruit sized chocolate tumors growing from both of my ovaries. The endo was so bad (Stage 4), they had to flush me with 3 buckets of water and peel the tumors away from my bowels. After 6 weeks of recovery, I returned to work and went on Lupron Depo for 3 months. By April I was having another lap to suspend my uterus. By June, 2001 we were finally able to start ttc. (Which brought me to this wonderful website.) We did two IUI cycles before the doctor suggested IVF. Financially we weren't ready for IVF so we got a second opinion with an RE. The RE suggested 7 months of Lupron followed by another lap. (Nine months of hormones and hotflashes nearly did me in, but I got through it.) After my 3rd lap in April of 2002, we were finally ready to try the IUI's with Pergonal. We did three cycles and by January 2003, we were ready for IVF. We signed up for 3 fresh cycles of IVF for the price of two. The first one reaped 4 mature eggs and 4 embryos. We transferred all four and one took. Unfortunately at 7 weeks, it was determined that it was a blighted ovum. I had to have a D&C. The second IVF we had 5 mature eggs and 5 embryos. We transferred all five and one took. My beta level started at 5 and were slow to rise, so it didn't look hopeful. Miraculously, this little guy hung in there. Today I am 7 and a half months pregnant with our precious baby boy. It has been over four years since DH and I first decided to start TTC. In all I've had 5 surgical procedures (3 laps and 2 egg retrievals). Our insurance only covered meds, so we are still making payments towards everything. But the experience I'm having now of carrying a miracle life inside of me has made the trip worthwhile. Sometimes I go back to the boards I once lived in and remember the ordeal. I know that each one of the wonderful ladies in there have the dream of being where I am today, just as I did. I live by the motto: "The race goes not always to the swift, but to those who keep on trying." Thank you, Momma Kath for giving us this board to turn to. I could not have gotten through all of this without you! -HollyW. Eggwhite Success! I was on the first cycle of clomid and Robitussin and noticed that I had very little EWCM. My DH and I tried the egg white trick and it really worked! 1 tsp lasted 2 days!! I am happy to say that I am now 6 weeks pregnant! Thanks for the info! |
There is hope….. we just celebrated my son’s first birthday! Hello, I haven’t been on any of these sites for a while, but I thought I owed it to women finally post my success story. I will try to make it as short as possible. I am 35 and hubby is 34; we were married in 1997 (I was 29 and he was 28). As most couples seem to do, we wanted to wait to have a family, thinking we would try and poof we would become pregnant. Well, we decided to start trying in October of 1998 and became very discouraged in February of 1999 when every month, like clockwork my period arrived – never late! I decided to be pro-active and go see me doctor – although it had only been 6 months, we had never used any protection from the start – so technically it had been longer. o, I went to see my dr who sent me to a OB/GYN who did some preliminary tests and found a polyp in my uterus – he said it wasn’t a big deal, people get pregnant with polyps all the time – so he made me decide if I wanted to have it removed or start on Seraphene – so I choose the Seraphene. After 4 failed months, (although in retrospect, I wasn’t properly treated – no cycle monitoring etc.) I decided to finally have the polyp removed in May 1999. In the meantime, my OB/GYN had scheduled me to see a fertility doctor in July, where after a few more tests I was told that my husband and I would never have children together naturally as his sperm count was so low. As you can imagine, those words rang in my ears over and over again – then he proceeded to tell me that we would be perfect candidates for IVF. We went home crushed and after many conversations and figuring out where we would get the money, we decided to wait for my period to come in September and start the treatments then. Well, September’s period never came, that’s when I found out that I was pregnant, we were ecstatic – we couldn’t believe it. Short-lived as it was, I miscarried in October at 10 weeks. As you can imagine, we was completely devastated. When I finally mustered up the strength to start trying again, still nothing was happening, and I didn’t want to go and see any doctors until after my “baby” would have been born, so we continued to try, we purchased one of those fertility monitors and then I was referred to another fertility doctor (who was supposed to be amazing) by a good friend of mine; so I made an appointment in July but he couldn’t see me until October. We met with him in October 2000 and instantly we clicked; my husband and I really felt comfortable with him and even after we told him what the other doctor has said, he told us that we did not need IVF, that IUI would work just fine – his words were “we only need one good swimmer”. We were relieved but also cautious; how could 2 different doctors give us 2 completely different stories. We enjoyed meeting him and we were excited to start right away. He reviewed my cycle for one month and we started treatments in November. He put me on 150 units of Gonal F for the first month, we did 2 insem’s that month and it didn’t work. So, he decided to shake it up a bit and in December, he put me on 225 units of Gonal and we timed it better, and only did 1 insem, and on my birthday I was to go in and find out if I was pregnant – I tested positive but my beta was very low (11) so I didn’t take too much stalk in it – although my numbers doubled, they were still low – I miscarried again a few days later, but I wasn’t upset this time, because I knew that he could get me pregnant. When we started again in January, he wanted me to take a break because I still had some pregnancy hormones in my body. In February we tried again, 225 units again, everything was going well and then I ovulated on my own and we had to stop the cycle – another disappointment. I thought it would never work. Again, he decided to shake it up a bit. He put me on Lupron on day 21, then started me on 225 units of Gonal F, on day 10 of the gonal injections, we were ready to go, I had 6 follicles on one side and 5 on the other, I took my profasi that night and 2 days later I had my 1 insem – he was very optimistic. I was to go in 10 days later (on a Friday), but when that day came, I just didn’t feel like going in and being disappointed again - so I didn’t go. On Sunday, when I still didn’t get my period, I was starting to feel a little optimistic and as I said before, my period was and still is like clockwork, so I said to myself, if I don’t get my period in the morning, (which is when it was technically due) then I will go in for the beta test… period didn’t come, I went in, got the call a couple of hours later, my beta was 90, went back 2 days later and my beta was 210. I was finally pregnant – how wonderful! I was due on December 31, 2002. I had a textbook pregnancy, only gained 19 pounds and on December 27, 2002 with no medication, a vaginal delivery and a wonderful coach (my hubby) we brought baby Christian Daniel into the world and he has been a wonderful baby. Here we are 1 year later we just celebrated his birthday on the weekend; and I have already started my Lupron injections again – we are going for number 2. We don’t know what the future has in store for us – but we have a beautiful, healthy, happy son and we couldn’t be happier. Sent by Sherri, December 29, 2003 conceived #2, cycle #7, sort of 23 dpo? We started trying to conceive our second baby in June of this year. We figured we'd try for three or four months and then not try in October, November, or December because the birthday would fall at a time when we would rather not have a child. So for those first months I charted my bbt (actually, I charted since March) since that method worked with our first child. But this time I included the use of an ovulation kit those first few months of trying. Nothing seemed to work. We'd dtd 5 nights in a row or every other night, and nothing worked. I tried not to worry. Then we gave up for a while and stopped thinking about trying. We just said we'd dtd when we felt like it. In November DH and I both got sick with the flu (and so did our daughter). We were home sick for 2 days and also over the weekend, and we started taking some Doxycyclene to clear up our sinuses. By Sunday afternoon, we were both feeling quite a bit better. That was cd #13. So on a whim, we dtd--you know, for fun! I got up immediately afterward and went on with my day... That was the only time until three nights ago that we dtd in this cycle! The week I was sick and the following week I didn't take my temps. I started temping on cd #25, just to get back into the groove of it. We were going to start trying again in January. I started to notice my temps were high: 98.9, 98.9, and up from there (today's was 99.5). The day AF arrives my temp usually drops that morning. Mine never dropped, so I decided to take a test. Two days ago I took an EPT test, and it came up positive! I was stunned. I didn't expect it. I showed DH, and he wondered, "How did that happen?" We just dtd one time this month. I had to wait and test again today--it came up positive again!-- to convince DH that it was real! He was just as stunned as I was. People had been telling me to forget trying for a while and it'll happen. Boy, were they right! I must also wonder if the fact that we'd both been sick had anything to do with it. I mean, we hadn't been feeling well enough to eat anything but healthy food and drink lots of fluids. Plus, the antibiotics could have prevented my body from attacking DH's sperm...? The only symptoms I had this time around were the cramping, which I always have before AF anyway, and the high temps. That's it. If I hadn't started temping on that 25th cd, I would not have known that I was pregnant until today (cd #35), probably, because my cycles have been running long (about 33-35 days) lately. I've made the appointment with my doc in January. I am so thrilled for us, and we can't wait to see this little one in late August or early September! Fertile thoughts+++++++++++++++++ Sherri, Tony, and Madison Thank you so much for everthing you have done. your website is a God send to all of us women. I know without this website i would have not gotten pregnant this month. after 6 months of trying, Ii dicovered this site and became pregnant 2 months later! I know it was because of the vitex and green tea all of you suggested. Thank you again. Tara Due 9/29/04 Momma Kath ~ Just wanted to let you know I am PG! We tried for 3 years and had a miscarriage in 5/1/03 and my EDD is 6-5-04 my DH's birthday! How cool is that? I am 20 weeks as of 1-17-04 halfway there! We are so excited! Thanks for your website. I have been a part of it for a year or more but just joined today! Thanks again all the girls are so wonderful and so are you. Love in Christ David, Kristi & Baby Williams due 6-5-04 Dave's b-day! I'm reading all of these stories and cant help but be curious as if I am or not? I'm 26 yrs. "young :) " and after 3 yrs. of marriage my husband and I decided to begin to try for a child as of Sept. of 2003. I thought for sure It would take us months to conceive or more at that. The following month every day was a challenge to get through the day. I was so lethargic and yawning all the time. I would come home and take a nap but, this sleep was instant and deep. I had not even thought of being pregnant, to be honest I just never looked into the symptoms of pregnancy. Thought it was just sickness and cravings. Which the hunger was not even there. I was no hungrier than normal. Well needless to say the end of the month came and I was late. Took a pregnancy test and sure enough it was a faint pink line. I called my Dr. and sure enough it was a ++. This went fine until October when we arrived back home from the gym, (only walking) to discover some spotting. Getting excited thinking this was normal and t he pregnancy was taking its steps towards implantation. Did not get upset when I noticed very soon afterwards the bleeding increased with some deep cramping. We went into the Emergency. room where the did the blood work only to be told I was in a "threatened m/c" and would not know until 48hrs. later when blood is drawn to discover if my blood count was dropping or increasing. I ended up loosing our first. I bleed for about 2 1/2 days and my period followed as a normal period. Never did I experience such cramping during the m/c. Here it is 5 months later and we have been trying since. Every month AF has without failed to show up right as scheduled. Except, this month. I am almost 5 days late now & I have taken already 4 preg. tests and all have shown up neg. I'm late with major tenderness to my breasts, and lower back aches. No signs of tiredness but, all preg are different everyone says. So, I just don't know. I pray we are blessed this time again. God bless to you all and good luck! Nicole Hello I am writing my success stories hoping it will encourage others as they ttc. I am now 15 weeks pregnant with #2 ( 4th pregnancy). My first pregnancy came and went with no problems what-so-ever. However, when my DH and I started trying for our 2nd child.. it did not happen so easily. We got pregnant right away but lost the baby at 6weeks. Baby did not develop past two weeks. My doc said we could try again as soon as we were ready. Mentally, I think I handled it pretty well. We got pregnant again 6 weeks later!! I felt better about this pregnancy especially after we saw the heartbeat on sonogram. Two days later I started cramping and bleeding. The Dr. confirmed I was miscarrying. He did a complete work up for recurrent miscarriage. (everything came back neg) I was feeling very discouraged and wondering if I would ever have another baby. I waited a couple of cycles before we starting ttc again. I noticed after the 2nd m/c I was not ovulating and AF was not regular. I was put on Clomid but did not respond to it. I was referred on RE and had all recommended test done. ( blood work, hystosonogram, uterine biopsy etc.) Everything was negative except the anticardiolipin antibody came back slightly elevated. That helped explain the m/c but not the ovulation problems. After several months on Clomid 150mg/HCG injections ' and getting BFN we decided to go ahead with an IUI. Luckily on the first IUI, did not get inseminated until cycle day 21, we were successful. We found out 9dpiui because I had to start the heparin asap. I still can not believe I am pregnant!! I will not take this pregnancy for granted as I know now it is a miracle to get pregnant!!! I have read each story on this board many times and it helped me so much when I got discouraged!! Good luck to all!!! Jill Wow. I really can't believe that I'm finally able to post this story. I have been coming here as long as I've been ttcing and this site has been nothing but a wonderful source of information and support. I only hope that my story will help to give others hope. I started ttcing in Sept. 2000. My OB/GYN sent me for an hsg and it was found that my left tube was blocked. She didn't do anything about it at the time, since, according to her I still had 1 healthy tube and that's all it takes. She then put me on Clomid, unmonitored, for 3 cycles. I did not ovulate at all. I was then referred to a fertility specialist, who is also an gynecologist, not an RE. I had my first appointment with him in October, 2001. He put me on metformin and told me to call him when AF arrived. Before that could happen, I lost my job which meant I had no benefits and could not afford to see him until I was working again. I found a great job in November 2002 and made an appointment to get things started again in February, 2003. In the meantime, I was getting AF more regularly and could tell that for the first time ever, I was ovulating. I had also lost about 25lbs, thanks to low carbing combined with the metformin. At my appointment in February, my dr. ordered that we have a few tests done. DH did all his bloodwork and everything came back fine. I had to have a procedure to clear my tube, which was successful. I then had a sonohystogram (blow up your uterus with water and then do an ultrasound), which showed a number of medium sized polyps in my uterus. In order for me to hold a pregnancy, I had to get those removed. So in May 2003, I had the surgery to remove the polyps. We were finally ready to go!!! In July, I started clomid again. I finally ovulated, but didn't get pregnant. We tried 3 cycles. On the third cycle, I didn't even ovulate, so my dr. decided to move us on to injectibles with 2 IUIs. My first cycle was trial and error and produced 2 follicles, but didn't conceive. My second cycle I only produced one follicle and again, didn't conceive. I took a break over the Christmas holidays, since the office was closed and picked up again in January. The third time was a charm. I produced 9 follicles and ovulated 5 of them. Everything seemed to be perfect. I went in 2 weeks later for my b/t, which I was sure would be negative, since that's all I'd ever known. I got the call from the dr's office a few hours later that it was positive!!! I was in pure shock (and still am). My beta @ 14dpo was 70. At 16dpo it was 143. My first u/s is on March 3. I did not chart my temps or do anything ttc related during the 2ww. I did start yoga and actually felt very calm during most of the 2ww. By posting my story here, I hope I can help at least one person get through the miserable times that the ttc can bring. I look back on my journey and cannot believe that I had the inner strength and drive to get to where I am. All of the disappointment and jealousy. The negative tests and the false pg symptoms. Sometimes, our mind plays evil tricks on us. Up until this point, my life had been very easy. I come from a comfortable family, and was fortunate enough to always get everything that I needed. This was the first time that I did not have control over my destiny and I made it through. So, if I can, you can too. Good luck to all, and remember, if I can do it, so can you!!!! Big hugs, Bonni Feb 20, 2004 Momma Kath, Thank you! I don't know if you remember me, I sent you an email over a month ago. I was frantic because our attempt at becoming pregnant failed. You offered me your kind words, and took them and ran with 'em. Well I am so happy to tell you that we are PREGNANT!! I am 5 weeks today! Your site is a huge blessing. I am so glad I found it. I cannot tell you how grateful and lucky I feel to have had the chance to meet/talk with someone as wise as you. Your words and website helped me gain the strength to relax and let nature take it's course. For that I will always be grateful. Thank you so much again. Carmen |
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