The story I was always afraid of, the story I never wanted for us, but yet here we are. Today, on the blog, I am sharing a new chapter as the husband, and I, navigate our fertility journey.

Fertility is such a funny thing. You do the most to avoid a pregnancy when you are not prepared, and then you finally feel ready, and you find out how hard it is to actually get pregnant. (Well, for some of us.)

Although, the more I learn about fertility, the more it makes sense yet my irrational (and selfish) mind doesn’t want to make sense of it all sometimes.

It can be a lonely journey.

And yes – I have a wonderful and supportive husband, who is loving and patient, but the loneliness can get to me if I spend too much time alone. On those days, I know how to pull myself out of the funk and remind myself how blessed I am. I also remind myself that God’s plan is greater than our plan.

And that is what keeps me going.

I trust that once I hold our beautiful baby for the very first time, it will all make perfect sense. I picture that moment every opportunity I get.

The Original Plan

Jose and I got married in July 2017. Before we got married, we talked about our future babies all the time. We envisioned our lives with our “little nuggets” from the very beginning.

Like some couples do, we chose to wait to have children because we thoroughly wanted to enjoy our honeymoon stage – at least three years to be exact.

We had a few goals to accomplish before welcoming tiny little humans to take care of. I mean, after all, we felt it was necessary to figure out our lives as newlyweds before adding more newness to the mix.

Some of those goals included paying off credit card debt, moving to the city, traveling to new places, saving money, and of course, purchasing a home. Needless to say, by 2020, we were ready to welcome those babies! After all, for the first time, we were forced to stay home, so we thought, “What a perfect time to make a baby!”

And, well, our fertility journey begins.

We would try one month without getting pregnant and then we would change our minds. Then, we would try again a couple of months later, but no luck. We took this as a sign that we needed to wait a little longer. But then we would try again, and nothing. We brushed it off thinking it was simply not our time.

The OBGYN Visit

In March 2022, I had an OBGYN appointment with a new doctor. This appointment was long overdue and needed to see someone because it was time to check-in with a doc to make sure everything was looking good.

During my doctor’s appointment, I asked questions regarding fertility. I basically asked her, “When should we start to worry?”

Once she knew that we were married for almost five years, she suggested to start testing now. And so we did.

We started with Jose because it is easier to test the male first. Thankfully, his results came back normal. However, this meant I was the one most likely with the issues.

After a full blood panel to test various hormone levels, it was determined that my anti-müllerian (AMH) levels were lower than the average female for someone my age. She considered this to be a case of diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). DOR is a term used to describe a condition in which a woman’s ovaries have fewer eggs than expected for her age.

I was utterly devastated.

However, I want to take this opportunity to say – women with low AMH levels can still get pregnant. Let me repeat that for the people in the back: women with low AMH levels can still get pregnant. And yes, it can happen without IVF.

Fertility Specialist Appointment

The below timeline occurred between April and May 2022.

Due to my low AMH, my OBGYN doctor referred us to a fertility specialist (aka an IVF doctor). During our first appointment with the fertility specialist, we asked a lot of questions about the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process.

I felt somewhat familiar with IVF because I knew someone that went through it. However, we still had a lot of questions.

After the appointment, Jose and I walked away feeling certain about moving forward with the IVF procedure. Since we always talked about having more than one child, IVF made sense to us. Granted, at the time, IVF seemed to be the only promising option.

That said, we moved forward with the preliminary work. We scheduled more blood tests and an antral follicle count. The antral follicle count is a quick ultrasound to assess the number of follicles present in a woman’s ovaries. I’ve learned that this is particularly important in the IVF world because it can help determine the likelihood of a successful conception by IVF.

After completing the preliminary tests, the doctor reaffirmed his confidence that I would get pregnant through IVF.

Our Fertility Journey: In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

In July 2022, I knew it was almost time to embark on our IVF journey. I felt comfortable enough to share this news with a friend that went through IVF. She encouraged me to read “It Starts With the Egg” by Rebecca Fett. According to her, the book guided her on how to prepare her body before starting the IVF process.

As I started to read the book, I realized there were things I could do to improve our chances with IVF. For example, the book strongly recommends taking CoQ10, which is a supplement known to improve egg quality. Up until this point, I had no clue about CoQ10. That said, I felt completely unprepared for IVF.

I gave myself grace by deciding not to start the IVF process in August like we originally planned for. Instead, I spent the next few months implementing the changes mentioned in the book because I wanted to make sure I did everything possible to increase our chances of a successful IVF cycle.

For those unfamiliar with IVF, it is a type of assisted reproductive technology (ART) that involves the fertilization of an egg outside of the body in a laboratory setting. IVF is used to help couples who are struggling with infertility, or who have a higher risk of passing on genetic disorders to their offspring. To learn more about IVF, please read this blog post.

Our Fertility Journey: The Creighton Model + NaProTECHNOLOGY

In February 2023, just a few weeks before our appointment with our IVF fertility specialist, I reached out to one of my girlfriends for guidance. I recalled a conversation we had regarding fertility and she mentioned that she knew someone that could possibly help.

*Pam Miller enters the chat.*

Jose and I scheduled a virtual consultation with Pam Miller. Pam is a certified Creighton Model instructor who teaches couples about the Creighton Model, which is a natural family planning method.

I know, I know, what does this have to do with helping us?

The fascinating thing about the Creighton Model is that it tracks biomarkers of a woman’s cycle. You do this by completing a chart and taking daily notes of those biomarkers. Once you gather enough data, you take that chart to a medical doctor to assess the data.

The medical doctor is like any other OBGYN EXCEPT they’re trained in NaProTECHNOLOGY (or NaPro). NaPro is a medical approach to identify and treat underlying causes of infertility. This approach focuses on the root cause of reproductive issues in order to address the real problem(s) instead of only treating the symptom(s).

To learn more about our experience using the The Creighton Model, read this blog post.

So what did the NaPro Doctor think of my Creighton Model chart?

Well, after gathering almost three months of data in my Creighton chart, we finally got to see our NaPro doctor! (She had a two-month wait list!)

The good news was she didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary. However, one data point that stood out was the brown bleeding towards the end of my menstrual cycle. This indicated a possible case of endometriosis. Also, the labs indicated that my hormones were a little out of whack.

Our Fertility Journey: Endometriosis Surgery & Results (August 2023)

In August 2023, I was scheduled for a laparoscopy surgery to check for endometriosis. Finally! I was excited and nervous, but mostly excited. Alas, we would have some answers.

After the surgery, she was able to confirm that I had stage 2 endometriosis, one fibroid, and the left fallopian tube was partially blocked. (Despite passing the HSG test! WILD!)

Relief was an understatement.

The doctor suggested to try to conceive whenever we felt ready after recovering from surgery. She encouraged us to try for three months without any intervention to see if I would get pregnant. Lo and behold, I didn’t get pregnant.

*sighs.*

October 2024 Update

Since we didn’t conceive the later part of 2023, I started to explore different fertility medications to see how my body would respond. My doctor started with low dosages of Letrozole and Progesterone, however, we eventually moved away from Letrozole. We think the Letrozole caused cysts in my ovaries (aka I didn’t ovulate) + my high-quality fertile mucus was very low.

The cysts didn’t go away immediately so we had to hold off medications for a few months. After three cycles, the cysts finally went away so I could proceed with taking medications + try to conceive.

As of May, I haven’t had any cysts – PRAISE! My body is responding well to the medications I am currently on so that’s helpful. The only thing we are doing different starting this month is, my dosage of Menopur has tripled. This is the medication to stimulate my follicles so more than one egg matures.

The hope is that we are able to increase our chances of fertilizing at least one egg.

On top of Menopur, I am still taking progesterone shots, which have been helpful on increasing my progesterone levels. This hormone is very important, especially once we conceive. I am also on the trigger shot, which is meant to help the mature egg(s) get released from the follicle(s).

I am at peace with the results thus far even though we have yet to conceive. My body is responding well to the meds and I am ovulating when I am supposed to.

It is only a matter of time, I pray and I hope.

On the next update, I will either deliver the great news, or I will tell you what our next steps are. Please keep us in your prayers.

Final Thoughts

After opening up about our struggles to conceive on Instagram, I was flooded with messages from other young women experiencing the same issue. And because I like to keep it real about what’s happening in my life, I knew it was time to open up in greater detail about this new chapter. Hence, why I wrote this blog post.

The intention of sharing our fertility journey is to provide the hope I felt after learning about NaPro. If you are struggling to conceive, I encourage you to research this approach and see if it’s something that aligns with you.

Also, if you are interested in learning more about The Creighton Model, I will link a helpful resource here. To find a certified instructor near you, I’ll link their search tool here.

If you have any questions about our fertility journey, email me at sonia@mrsprofresh.com or send a DM on Instagram. I am always an open ear.