Trying to Conceive - Dealing With the Challenges of Getting Pregnant

By: Sha

Waiting for those two stripes to appear. I can't tell you how often I stared at that stick waiting for good news. We had been trying for two years, yet all those test were always negative. It was so disappointing. How could it be? We were both young, healthy and (most important) ready to be parents. As a matter of fact, I wanted to be a mother for as long as I could remember. I had it all planned out: When? My first kid before 25. How many? As much as possible, as a joke I would say 11. With who? The love of my life, the guy I have been with since I was a teenager. Age difference, they should not be more than 2 years apart from each other. As you see, I had it ALL planned out. Unfortunately, like most plans, my plan had to change. This is how my fertility journey:

1. General Practitioner

The first thing we did was visit the General Practitioner (GP). My husband and I have different GP's. He went to his GP and said we are trying to conceive but haven't gotten pregnant yet. His GP said ok, I need to test your sperm. There was no problem with the sperm. 

My GP, on the other hand, needed much more information. There were so many questions: 

• How long have you been trying?
• Is he your only sexual partner?
• Do you do drugs or smoke?
• Have you had a STD?
• Does infertility run in the family?
• Have you been pregnant before/ had an abortus or a miscarriage?

---- And so on ----  

After answering all these questions, I was referred to the fertility clinic.  

2. Fertility clinic

The first visit to the clinic was in January 2016 and it was basically the same as with the GP. My husband and I had to answer a number of questions and after that I had to take a blood test. The blood tests are for a number of things, such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, chlamydia, thyroid issues and so on. We discussed the results, our doctor told us that there was nothing to be found in my blood. We did an internal ultrasound to have a look at my ovaries, they were in good shape as well. The doctor said I have a beautiful uterus (whatever that means lol). 

Because nothing alarming was in the blood work or visible in my uterus we had to take the next step, figuring out if the uterus is working correctly. In layman’s terms: is the sperm entering the ovaries? To check this the doctor wanted to try the fluid experiment: a balloon filled with fluid would be entered into my uterus, the balloon would be manually exploded while in my uterus and the doctor could check (by x-ray) if the fluid is actually entering the tubes and going to the ovaries. We made an appointment for this experiment, it was in May of 2016 and the results were good. My uterus was working as it was supposed to. I was happy to hear this and thought we could start off with IVF! Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The doctor said she wants me to have a keyhole surgery to check for endometriosis. 

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. I never had surgery before and wasn't happy about the idea of getting surgery. But what needs to be done in order for us to have children was the most important thing for me. The surgery was planned for August 29, 2016. 

It was the morning of the surgery, I had prepared myself as much as I could. I was in all honesty very scared. My doctor told me that it is a routine keyhole surgery. I will be put under full anesthesia, the surgent will make 3 small incisions, my belly will be blown up with some type of unharmful gas and cameras will be entered to look around for endometriosis. Scary, right? 

I was put in my room, which I shared with 3 other people who were having surgery that day. Everyone had a different type of surgery planned and nobody spoke to each other. My husband was there with me. The nurse said it's my turn to go into surgery, my husband can follow us to the elevator but he will have to leave me from there. The nurse took his number and said she would call him as soon as I get out of surgery. I laid in my hospital bed, while the nurse pushed me to the elevator. I said goodbye to my husband, we got into the elevator and we arrived in the surgery room. A whole team of people were surrounding me. They took me off the hospital bed and put me on the surgery table. They asked what my name and what my date of birth was. They introduced themselves and explained the surgery once more. "You have nothing to be worried about, we're going to give you something to sleep". I get a headache, I look up and see operation lights, I look at all those faces surrounding me, tears start falling down my face, I hear someone saying are you ok? I say I'm scared I have a headache. One doctor says to another, we never think about how someone feels, its just become regular for us. And then I hear Sha, count back with me 10, 9, 8...

I hear crying, gotta run. 

To be continued…