Tammy's Story Posted April 3, 2006, updated May 4, 2006 My husband and I have been together for 12 years. We are now 30 years old and nearing 31 in the next few months. We tried to get pregnant 4 years ago but after 4 months of crying and hurt we decided to postpone and wait until it was 'meant to be'. We never fell pregnant. About 6 months later our lives changed and we decided that we would wait a few years before trying for a baby. We started trying again this year. Although, I know it has not been a long time I have always had a gut feeling something is not quite right in my body. In the past I had problems with blood clotting and a bad abortion when we were 21 years old which had to be done twice. Anyway, I started preparing for our baby 6-8 months ago and found out that I have endometriosis on both ovaries. My right side is about 6cm and my left which has grown in the past month is now 3cm. My dr wanted to remove my right ovary because she was scared it would rupture and she thought it was most probably not working anyway. I did not want to lose my ovary, so I tried Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. I did this for about 3 months against my dr's wishes. After 3 months of time-consuming and expensive treatments, the herbal medicine was showing no signs of getting rid of the lumps, but I did feel more balanced hormonally and had more energy. I am happy that I used this procedure. I still wonder whether if I had continued to use it the endometriosis would have gone away. I can say though that in the time I was using the herbal medicine and acupuncture my lumps did not increase in size. It was 3 months later that my smaller left side grew bigger. After stopping the herbal medicine, my husband and I decided to start trying sooner than we had originally planned. For the first month we tried, it was difficult to know exactly when I was ovulating because my periods are irregular. I also show no signs of fertile mucus which I remember getting when I was younger (though at the time I wasn't aware what it was). It would be nice to knows these things (fertility awareness) as a way to prevent pregnancy and to know how to enhance our chances of pregnancy. Why don't they teach us these things in school? We didn't get pregnant the first month. I was fine with this and did not cry but then there were days when I would cry and think the world was over if we couldn't ever get pregnant. I feel for all women out there. It's such a horrible thing to go through. I haven't even gone through this for very long and its eating away at me. I hope all women out there remain strong and hopeful that it will happen some day and if not there are so many babies out there that need our love and dont receive it. By month two, my dr did tests of my ovulating. It showed that I was in fact ovulating. Good news. Then we were told that my mucus and my husbands sperm were not compatible and my mucus was infact killing all sperm. So our chances (of conceiving naturally) are pretty much zero. This was a blow to us after just hearing the good news about me ovulating. I was in tears and felt it was the end of the world. My husband could always have a baby with someone else. I thought of running away and leaving him so he could continue his life with someone who could give him the children he has always wanted. It was a day or two of these silly thoughts and then by day 3 I felt better more stable and able to see that we still have a lot of chances to have our baby. Its such a trying time. The following month my dr kept an eye on my body. I had my tubes checked to see if they were blocked or damaged. The test was successful and I found out that my tubes were fine. I found this a big relief. The following week I started to take clomid. I took the pill for 5 days (monitored) and then had injections for the next 7 days (more than the norm) My body took the clomid well I had no pains other than bloating on the last few days when I was beginning to show signs of ovulating. My dr found that my right and my left ovaries were still working and producing follicles (where the eggs are) this was great news and I am so happy I did not have my ovary removed. We did a IUI procedure which was not painful at all. I felt a slight twinge for about 5 seconds. The procedure was quick and stress free. I was left to rest, with my hips elevated, for about 30 mins and then I went to work about 2 hours later. Now its the waiting process. I have about 2 weeks beofre finding out if it worked. Please all of you keep positive. I know it's difficult. Only last night I cried and cried. I hope that all our dreams will come true some day. --- Update (May 4, 2006): After writing my story my husband and I had some wonderful news. The IUI procedure, our first, worked and we are now pregnant! I am in my 7th week and doing great. We are both still shocked and cannot believe our luck. I always tell women about the wonderful help we had from our wonderful dr and how there is hope out there for all of us. Please keep trying girls, never give up.