Hi Everyone,

This is a long one too however will try to stick to the main point which is I finally got to where I am- eight weeks two days pregnant. We started trying in 1999 about April. I had turned 36 in January and thought, "good I've got four years to have a couple of children- no sweat". First had all the routine checks that things were OK- hormone levels, blood types and diseases and immunity to rubella. Doctor gave me a chart and told me to temp to check fertile times as had always been irregular. As my job had irregular hours this was difficult but got right into it in June on a month's holiday. Nothing happened but didn't bother, thought "oh well it can take up to a year".

In April 2000 found out I was five and a half weeks pregnant! Fabulous, the year thing worked, told everyone, even people I didn't know ,the news. About six blissful days later started brown spotting, saw doctor she said no problems unless it turns red. Two days later it did with bad cramps then the next morning I miscarried. Was absolutely distraught but suddenly everyone was telling me they'd miscarried and became convinced it was practically compulsory to have a miscarriage first when you were my age kind of like a clean out after all those years of inaction. Also was told that you are more fertile in the months after a miscarriage so before I knew it would be pregnant again. So very hopeful set about trying again this time without temping as became pretty regular for a while. Six months passed and nothing- also suddenly occurred to me I was almost 38 so got a referral to special fertility doctor who immediately scheduled me for a laparoscopy which found extensive endometriosis. Ha, that had been the pr oblem! Also gave me prescription for Chlomid to help things along due to my age. Started chlomid in December and found I was pregnant in January this year! Only found out at five and a bit weeks again due to the fact that I thought AF had arrived- brown spotting- however this went away after a day and did a test got + result. Two days later at night got bad cramps and thought 'oh no here we go again' and miscarried in the morning. By now had developed along with everything else a phobia about going to the toilet due to having horrible monthly bleeding moments and miscarriages there. This time insisted on every medical test available to man to be inflicted on me in case had some underlying condition or chromosomal defect. All came back OK except thyroid test- found I was suffering from hyperthyroidism which can cause miscarriage. This also explained why I found it hard to keep weight on.

So had to be treated with medication for three months before could even try again which was relief to have a holiday from sex I have to say.

Meantime I found a wonderful herbalist who had helped loads of women get pregnant and she put me on daily herbs to complement the thyroid thing and get everything cleansed and in balance. Took time off work and started temping again, in the mean time had a couple of blighted ova which are eggs which do not divide properly into sac and baby and miscarry very early like a late period. By now had temperature and toilet phobia and thought could not stand much more of this as I was hurtling towards 39 developing new Downs Syndrome fears and not even pregnant. The herbs helped alot and my periods became regular, I felt better with no more PMT or period pain. Still in August in desperation went back to the fertility doctor ( thyroid now back to normal) and enrolled for IVF. Started the daily injections mid-September, did the procedure,( which was a rollercoaster as they didn't think there was anything good enough to implant the day before they were due to) and waited. Worst wait ever for what I thought was going to be the $3000 period.
However saw my herbalist days before the blood test and she said I was glowing and allayed the fears I'd had the days before ( CD 24 & 25) of slight cramps saying they were normal before pregnancy too. Also had had lots of twinges and when got up felt like I pulled a muscle in my groin. My breasts were swollen with huge nipples but I was still convinced this was something to do with the drugs I'd been injecting. On October 15 went for the blood test and was + with good levels of hormones! Last week ( at seven weeks) had ultrasound and for once saw something in there not just a sac like with the miscarriages. Also saw the heartbeat which apparently is good non-miscarriage signal. So am taking it one day at a time, still monitoring the thyroid etc. but or the first time in almost three years feeling totally optimistic.

Other symptoms have been- cravings for tomatoes and onions in Week 5, needing to pee all the time since then and tired since Week 6. No real nausea yet just some strong food aversions. So everyone out there just keep on persisting, some of just have a much longer and harder road than others but we get there.
Best wishes to you all!
Jodi

DH and I started ttc in Nov. of 99. My mom has pcos also and needed clomid to have my sisters and I, all on her first round. I knew it wouldn't be as easy as other people, but I knew that clomid was the trick. I stopped taking the pill in Nov..then months went by with no AF. finally in March of 2000 I went to see my OB/GYN not only to seek infertility treatments but because I was worried about not having a period for so long. She gave me provera to start af and taught me how to temp. I did that for 2 months and the rocky mountains appeared on my chart as the days went on. Obviously i wasn't O'ing. I went back to see her and she gave me more provera and 50 mg of clomid. I was so excited because I knew my mom got pg all 3 times on her first try with clomid. but..weeks went by and nothing..no O, no nothing. I went back to see her 4 weeks later and she gave me more provera and another 50mg of clomid..same thing again..nothing. Next time she bumped me up to 100mg..I was excited at first but to no avail, no O again. this time she told me that she was moving and I would need a new Ob/gyn an she gave me a name to go to. he did u/s in his office which she had never done before, so i was excited. at that time she also gave me a referral to the RE's office. I made an appointment there for October or 2000.

I started seeing my new ob/gyn in august. first thing he did was run all kinds of tests, knowing that i would come back with pcos and nothing else, i wasn't worried. to my surprise I got a call late on Friday night fro him, telling me the my chlamydia test had come back positive...I was devastated. not only had i made mistakes as a younger girl, but they were back to haunt me. It had gone undetected for 7 years...who knows the damage that could have been done. that Saturday he treated dh and I and we were on our way again. he gave me 150mg of clomid this time and decided to monitor my with u/s which made me very happy. cd 13...nothing...cd 15..nothing... low and behold i had one ok looking follicle on cd 20. i got my hcg shot and was so excited because I knew this would be it. if I could only O...everything would be great. well, no pg. that month. the next time 150 again but no follicles in site...he gave me provera to start again. this time I was up to 200mg...i got a nice size follicle and again was very excited. When doing my u/s he told me that my lining was so very thin and there was nothing he could do because it was from the clomid. This was my last cycle with him... he was ok, but wasn't my favorite dr. in the world i guess.

DH and I met with my RE a month and a half later. he decided to do the work up, HSG (whish i dreaded), SA, u/s, bloodwork, you name it, he did it. everything was great except the bloodwork, which we already knew about. my testosterone level was through the roof. I had read in a book that saw palmetto berries help lower testosterone in women, so I started that right away. He started me off on clomid at 200 and got the same follicles and the same hcg shot and what not...again, no pg. we went up to 2 rounds at 250mg and nothing as well... the side effects were killing me and I was a mess.

I decided to take a little bit off while I gave Glucophage (metformin) a try. i had done so much research on it and had been eager to try it for months. i also decided to join a gym and get my weight down a bit as that would help too. From Feb. of 2001 to may I lost 30 pounds and was starting to feel much better. I decided to start with treatments again in June. This time I started back at 100mg because of the met and made a beautiful follicle and one that was close...I also got my bloodwork back and it was all practically normal. I knew this would be it. i got my hcg and was trying IUI's at this point as well. all went smoothly and two weeks brought nothing but a later AF. I was so upset, but eager to try again. this time, 150mg...same thing..2 follies, IUI, HCG...thick lining..but nothing once more. I was becoming even more depressed and tired than I had ever been before, beginning to realize there wasn't much hope. My RE being the wonderful man her is though, kept my spirits up. We tried two more rounds of clomid and IUI and I told him i was done, I couldn't take it anymore. In sept. of 2001 I moved on to Gonal f. I had heard that there is a higher success rate with injections plus a lot less side effects. The shots weren't bad at all and my re monitored me relentlessly. everything was going fine, my ovaries were a little sluggish, but I had 4 mature follies by cd 18. i got HCG and IUI and thought for SURE this was it!! well...as you have guessed, nothing. i was so down and depressed, but willing to try once more. same protocol only beefed up the amount a little bit. i got 3 follicles and an ok lining of 7. Re gave me HCG and IUI again. I was so depressed at this point. i told him i wanted to schedule a lap and take awhile off after this. he said ok and I went home.

That brings me to las Thursday... told you this would be long :)

Last Wednesday my temp dropped almost to cl...it was 8 dpo and the cycle before I had the same thing happen and AF arrived early on 12dpo. last cycle i also had slight spotting on 10 and 11 dpo right before af showed. Thursday night I made some steak for dinner, one of my favorite things in the world. I took a few bites and was done with it. i thought it odd, but since the temp drop I didn't think anything like this. Friday, 9dpo I had brown cm just like last month and another low temp. I thought great, another AF early this month... I was soood depressed i wrote my family a huge e-mail asking for help because i couldn't do this anymore and I didn't know how to handle being infertile. 10 dpo my temp went back up and more brown cm..i didn't think anything of it because my temp seems to drop and then rise a little bit right before AF. next day (11dpo) spotting was gone, no af temp still back up. It was odd, but still thought nothing of it. 12dpo my temp went up a little more, but still nothing odd. On 13 dpo I had a Halloween party to go to and was planning on drinking my pain away. i decided to take a clear blue easy HPT 'just in case'. well, an ever so faint line came up immediately but then faded away within minutes. i didn't know what to think, but the ladies on here told me that clear blue does that and it was probably a +. I decided to be the dd at the party :) Sunday night i felt fine, but had an odd craving for eggs. Again, i thought nothing of it. Monday morning I decided to take another test, AF was due that day (15dpo) and I was anxious. The same thing happened, only a little darker, but faded away. I told the dr. I wanted a beta and they sent me in for one that morning at 8:30.

Usually the nurses call back with results around noon-2 pm. Well...noon came, then 1..and 2 and then 3pm...I was so nervous I couldn't concentrate so I called and left a billion messages for them. Finally at about 4pm my dr. called and said "If you were in my office I would be giving you high five's all over the place!!" At 15dpo my beta was at 67...a LITTLE low, but nice. My dr. was just as much amazed as i was. I had a LAP scheduled for December and have 3 adoption seminars to attend this month! It's funny how things work I guess. I believe I am now 5 weeks and 3 days, but I may be off. We have our first u/s on Nov. 19th, Dh is sooo excited!

As for symptoms, my first one was the aversion to meat at 11dpo. At that same time my temp had dropped and I had started spotting thinking AF was on her way. I was also SEVERELY emotional and VERY pmsy's. I was SO sure that this had failed again. on 14dpo i had the cravings for eggs and went in for my beta at 15dpo, the day AF was due. Oh, the only other sign that was really different was my nipples itched something FIERCE at about 12dpo-15dpo. other than that, nothing is different. the first week after finding out I had a lot of pulling/stretching cramps, but no m/s or anything else. I guess i should feel lucky, but instead I am just scared to death :)

My story goes to show that it really can happen I guess, even after you think you've done and tried it all. ++++++++++

Momma Kath!!!!!
I'm pregnant!
The Vitex made me ovulate for the first time in a year and a half,
ONE cycle of vitex, and false unicorn,
and I GOT A POSITIVE - 4 positives!!!!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart Momma Kath.
You are my angel. I mean that. You have been there for me.
Love,
Ginger