our long journey - part I - harder than we thought

this is the story of our journey to our first little chilipino (chinese + filipino)... our little miracle.

on november 21, 2009, mark and i got married. on november 22, 2009 we began our journey to start our own little family. little did we know, it was going to be a lot harder than we thought. we tried for 2 years with no success. we tried to time everything, track ovulation, etc. etc. etc. we soon realized that with my irregular cycles (i'd be lucky to get my period 2-4 times a YEAR!) it was going to be a lot tougher than we thought. after a long exhausting and emotional conversation, we decided to finally see a specialist.

the summer before our 2 year wedding anniversary, i made a visit to my OBGYN, dr. S, to tell her our troubles of conceiving. she ran several tests and concluded that most likely, i was suffering from PCOS - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

• Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition in which a woman has an imbalance of a female sex hormones. This may lead to menstrual cycle changes, cysts in the ovaries, trouble getting pregnant, and other health changes.

first let me say, hearing the words "cyst" and "ovary" in the same sentence is like a punch in the gut. my heart dropped about 50 feet deep and panic and tears started to brew.  dr. S assured me that it wasn't as bad as i was probably thinking. she explained to me the risks and difficulties i would be encountering to get pregnant and suggested we see a fertility specialist. enter the angels at Shady Grove Fertility.

we were connected with dr. jeanne o'brien - a total God-send. we sat nervously in her office with all our paperwork in hand - page after page of medical history and questionnaires. poor dr. o'brien came in with a hoarse voice and looked like she needed a nap pretty bad. but nonetheless, she spent 2+ hours with us for our initial consultation explaining my PCOS condition, all the testing we'd both have to endure, how hard but possible the process will be, answering our questions (i had about a million), and amazingly, after some tears on my part, hugged me and said "we WILL make this happen."

so, after a couple of months of more blood tests and various other testing, we began what i'd like to call phase 1 of our fertility treatments. phase 1 seemed pretty easy, take a pill (Metformin) to get control of my PCOS and then a few more pills to help get the ovulation process going. seemed easy enough right? take a few pills, do a little dance, pop out some little chilipino babies. WRONG.

after 3 cycles of the treatments, 0 chilipino babies. so onto phase 2 - IUI - Intrauterine insemination.

• IUI is a fertility treatment that uses a catheter to place a number of washed sperm directly into the uterus.  

a few more pills,a couple of shots, and 3 failed IUI cycles = 0 chilipino babies. it was getting rough and i was getting exhausted, physically and emotionally. but mark, still as strong and as determined as ever to make this work, was there as always, by my side and pushing me to keep on going. he gave me the hope, faith and strength to keep pushing through this rough journey - who could ask for anyone better? i was even more thankful for mark than i had ever been before. little did we know, the journey ahead would truly test our hearts, our strength, and our faith.