Background and Diagnosis

Reading my first infertility message boards, I read them about as fast as a 1st grader- too many acronyms! DH, AF, TTC- what?! I understand, it is a pain in the ass to type out the same words/phrases 10 times but for the uninitiated or the reader who skims it makes little sense. I had to open a page of fertility acronyms to be able to read a paragraph- no fun. Oh, and men will NOT learn them so ladies, you'll be speaking in code. Thus, no acronyms unless they are clearly defined.

We got married in 2008. Before we got married we both discussed children and we both  didn't want any. Not because we didn't like kids, but we relished our freedom. We wanted to live abroad (still do) and honestly, infacy freaks me out- no sleep, all poop. Then sometime in early 2011, we started to see the benefits. We want to show the world to another human being. To make a long story short, we decided to try. I knew I was high-risk already because I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) in 2010. Luckily I have had no surgeries to date but pregnancy puts enough strain on a healthy body without adding an autoimmune disease to the mix. I had already been off the Pill since my diagnosis (the Pill can add to autoimmune problems) so now we would discard our usual condoms- how hard could it be? Well, pretty hard it you aren't even ovulating.

My periods since getting off the Pill were few and far between. Every 6 weeks for awhile, then every 8 weeks. Strange. I wasn't getting tender breasts or cramps either like I did on the Pill. Strange. I wasn't as bitchy as I was on the Pill. Strange. This brings us to July 1, 2011. Saw an Ob-Gyn, explained my symptoms, had some bloodwork and a transvaginal ultrasound. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) it is.

It is defined as "a condition in which there is an imbalance of a woman's female sex hormones." I also learned it is the leading cause of infertility among women in their reproductive years. Okay, glad I'm in good company.

This diagnosis made sense to me. First, my weird periods. Second, I have gained weight in recent years. I thought I was just getting older, so lower metabolism but actually the syndrome makes many women gain weight AND it is harder to lose weight. Wow, like we don't have enough problems. In any event, we began the infertility journey on that day.