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If you have been trying to conceive for longer than you
expected, take hope from these success stories
Lucy2 (Low SA)
Heather
(Unexplained Infertility)
Anna G(PCOS and
Low SA)
Choc Croc
(PCOS and M.E.)
Joanna
(Unexplained Infertility)
Anna B (PCOS)
Anita Anon
(Unexplained Infertility)
ClaireR
(Unexplained Infertility)
Matilda (PCOS
and Low SA)
Gilly
(Unusual FSH Levels)
Cleo
(Endometriosis)
Denise
(Unexplained)
Lucy2 (Low SA)
Tried Sept/Oct 1999 until July 2000 - then had six months off for wedding prep
then tried again from Jan 2001 got pregnant Dec 2001. Hubby diagnosed low
motility/low morphology June/July 2001 (this was suspected due to a bout of
epididyitus in March 2000).
Started Natural Solutions July 2001. Hubby also had no baths since around March
2001, and stopped cycling and wore loose cotton underpants. Charted on and off,
used OPKs on and off but all showed that I ovulated and had reasonably obvious
signs of it.
The month of success we were less stressed as he was seeing the consultant- we
thought we had no chance, as he would have to give a SA. He didn't so we managed
the deed again! And I thought to no avail!
So less sex for our sperm problem seemed to have worked! Got quite down about it
from September to December 2001- found Anna Furse’s book quite helpful. I think
our success came from natural solutions.
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Heather (Unexplained)
We were trying to conceive for 10 months, no problems that we knew of. Started
charting on month 7 only to find that month 7 and 8 I didn’t ovulate, month 9
and 10 did ovulate and month 10 was lucky for us. The only advice I would give
would be to chart, I found it extremely helpful.
Update: Joshua George was born on 8th December 2002, weighing 10lb 1.5oz.
Heather says he is 'a very happy contented baby, well worth the wait'
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Anna G(PCOS and Low SA)
It took us 21 months to get pregnant. I have PCOS and H has low SA and poor
motility. He took vitamins to improve his count (which I think worked). I had
the infertility investigations (blood tests and HSG) and 6 cycles of Clomid. 4
cycles of Clomid were successful; the other 2 did not make me ovulate.
I can't say what measures I took to get the blue line, except we moved house at
the time and TTC wasn't on my agenda, so I eased up a bit on the idea of getting
pregnant (I supposed I relaxed!). The advice I would give is, never give up, as
it will happen.
Update: Rylan was born on 14th May 2002, weighing 6lb exactly.
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Choc Croc (PCOS and M.E.)
I have PCOS and was told I would NEVER conceive naturally. I got pregnant the
first time after coming off Dianette. I only had 1 period then I was pregnant!
Sadly it ended in a m/c at around 5/6 weeks.
I then decided to try to get pregnant again but the doctors told me I had better
take Clomid, as I would never get pregnant naturally again! I tried Clomid 6
times and had HCG injections, 4 out of the 6 times I managed to ovulate and had
a cycle of around 29 days! (Very good but still not pregnant) After 19 months of
trying I got so depressed that I decided to give up (also due to the fact I have
M.E) and take a break so I went to the doctors to get the pill for a year or so.
The next month I got a blue line! NATURALLY!!!!!! It took 19 months but I’m now
pregnant. I also dabbled with Natural Solutions and took Pregnacare tablets. It
is so difficult when trying to conceive - the pain is unbearable sometimes.
There is no easy advice I can give you but just NEVER SURRENDER!
Update: Ella Victoria arrived on 29th December, 3 days overdue - she weighed
8lb2oz
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Joanna (Unexplained)
It took me 18 months to get pregnant first time - I then miscarried, and
conceived again in the next 'proper' cycle (i.e. after 21 months).
I tried the following:
CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE: Laparoscopy (conceived in the next cycle), Cyclofenil
(conceived on this first time in the 5th month, but conceived unstimulated this
time), Clomid (didn't work) Hubby and I went for GUI tests (all were clear)
Hubby had sperm tests (which were fine) and I had day22 programme monitoring
(which was slightly low - about 50 - the month I conceived it was 62.7)
ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES: Full Foresight program - supplements, hair analysis,
working with Foresight nutritionist (removing food intolerance’s etc.), read
‘Planning for a Healthy Baby’ by Belinda Barnes & Suzanne Gail Bradley, cut out
alcohol, ate organic etc.
Natural Solutions - one session at Hale Clinic with colleague of Marilyn
Glenville, and read the book (very similar to Foresight approach) Cranial
osteopathy Alexander technique Took 'She Oak' Australian bush flower remedy (to
recover from miscarriage and 'cure' unexplained infertility) I also conceived
when I was very quiet at work. I feel this is not insignificant.
Also, following my miscarriage in Feb, I followed 'Eat Right 4 Your Type' and
pulled the stops out on diet and supplements. I was also determined having
conceived once, that I'd do it again soon - the power of positive thinking!
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AnnaB (PCOS)
We tried to conceive for 23 Months (diagnosed with PCO/S) before falling
pregnant. We were just 3 weeks from starting IVF drugs on our first IVF cycle
when I got my blue line! I lost two stone (got down to a BMI of 26) and followed
the Natural Solutions diet/plan after being persuaded by a friend (Anita Anon)
for whom Natural Solutions had worked. I went to see Marilyn Glenville too and
four months in, I became pregnant.
The advice I would give is as follows:
That every day you are trying to conceive really is a day nearer to the time
that you will get your blue line. It won't always feel like it, but it's getting
nearer and nearer.
That it really is worth trying the Natural Solutions/Foresight natural
approaches to Infertility, because they work! All of the hi-tech methods are
fantastic but before you try these, try the natural methods. (Unless you have a
fertility problem where there is no chance - i.e. blocked tubes, etc).
Get tested early. If you've been trying to conceive for 6 months and you aren't
having regular cycles, insist that the GP refer you for blood tests. If there is
something wrong, then the sooner you can find out what it is, the sooner you can
start to address the problem.
When going through fertility test/treatments gen-up your husband/other half and
make sure that he knows what questions to ask. You may find yourself welling up
with tears and unable to speak, so make sure you still get answers to the
questions you have.
Update: 'So I was finally pregnant! I had a very easy pregnancy, although
spent the first twelve weeks being fairly terrified of miscarrying, as PCOS can
be associated with a higher miscarriage rate. BUT, everything was fine and we’d
had lots of reassuring scans up to the thirteen week point that really put my
mind at rest. I’m happy to say that my daughter Amelia arrived (ten days
overdue) on January 14th 2003 weighing a very strapping 9lb, 1oz. My labour went
very well and I had a natural birth, which I enjoyed! Never Surrender – you WILL
get there'
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Anita Anon (Unexplained)
It took us 10 months to get pregnant the first time, then I had a missed
miscarriage, then it took a further six months. I started by 'just not using
contraception' - then after two months of driving myself and Mr A crazy -
charted for the remainder of the time we were trying to conceive. A couple of
months after the miscarriage, we started Natural Solutions.
I would definitely recommend both charting and NS. Charting helped me feel more
in control (whereas trying to conceive generally made me feel out of control)
and NS I'm sure has helped us have a healthy pregnancy this time.
NS seems hard at first, but it's really quite easy to incorporate into your
life.
I found trying to conceive the hardest thing I've ever done - I never felt like
giving up - but I cried a lot of the time we were trying. It strained the
relationship I had with Mr A, I was unreasonably jealous of every other
pregnancy I heard about, and even when I was really enjoying myself (eg on our
holiday to Australia) - I couldn't stop myself thinking about coming back one
day with our child. What helped me get through all that was the support of the
forum, the thought that every day that passed was bringing me closer to my goal,
and the active measures we took to help bring success about (eg charting and
NS).
Update: Lyra Constance was born on 25th September, 2002 weighing 7lbs 14.5
oz. Anita says Lyra is a 'very healthy happy baby'.
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ClaireR (Unexplained)
We tried to conceive for 15 months. Started June 2000 and charted from July/Aug
2000 - practically every month, except when I got extremely fed up with it!!! I
was having some gynae problems (bleeding in between periods, which I was assured
was having no effect on fertility, but I'm not so sure about that) and tried to
get them sorted too at the same time. Went to see GP about initial analyses
around Feb 2001 - husband's sperm OK (slightly low motility) - me ovulating
fine. May 2001 - went to see consultant privately at Hammersmith Hospital
(luckily my husband's works health insurance covered this). Had barrage of tests
over a month or so, nothing wrong found with either of us. July 2001 - got
pregnant but miscarried very early (under 5 weeks).
Then started Natural Solutions and did that pretty much to the letter until we
got pregnant again in the October. We had the hair/sweat analysis as well and
saw a nutritionist in the August. Did chart the month I got pregnant the second
time (but not the first) as my cycles weren't that regular I couldn't pinpoint
the ovulation day myself. Found OPK’s pretty useless overall as well!
Update: 'I gave birth to a healthy baby girl called Serena in July 2002 and
amazingly enough have just conceived first time trying for no. 2 so obviously
the pregnancy has increased my fertility, or maybe we were just lucky.'
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Matilda (PCOS and Low SA)
Tried for 18 months - after 1 year my husband had test, referred to consultant
for further tests (privately so all happened fairly quickly), and was diagnosed
with very low sperm count (less than 1 million), told IVF with ICSI was our only
option, I had tests to rule out any problems with me, discovered that I have
PCOS (I don't have any symptoms except very slightly irregular periods 27-34
days). I had lap and ovarian diathermy after 17 months of TTC to burn cysts off
ovaries and encourage ovulation (in preparation for IVF). Discovered 1 month
later that I was pregnant. A miracle really with my husband's problem. We tried
the following:
Natural Solutions, sort of, read the book and changed our eating habits slightly
not drastically eg changed to brown bread/rice/pasta, cut back on alcohol, not
that I drank much anyway, made sure I ate regularly - I tend to eat 3 large
meals without snacks in between which isn't very good for blood sugar levels. H
cut out coffee except on special occasions and cut back on alcohol, but again
didn't drink much to start with. We are both generally healthy people anyway and
exercise regularly so didn't have to make too many changes.
The advice I would give is: If you do Natural Solutions make sensible and
realistic changes to your lifestyle gradually or you'll only be miserable. Allow
treats now and again without feeling guilty. Don't give up hope, everyone's
situation is different but it really can happen.
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Gilly (Unusual FSH Levels)
I didn't get married until I was 38, and then only really because my mum was
very ill (she died a couple of months later). I had planned to have kids in my
early 30s but my then fiancé died very suddenly when I was 33....so it just
wasn't to be. Some years later I met my (now) husband and had started my own
business, didn't want to have family until truly settled etc. Anyway, after we
got married we stopped using contraception and waited, and waited....nothing
happened. Didn't really get too concerned at first as both of us work away from
home and abroad a lot so often there were months when we just weren't together
on the same house at the right time! After a year we tried to be more organised,
but still nothing. Went to GP’s around Christmas 2001 – tried to conceive for 25
months by then and I was 40. All the usual blood tests done (except a vital
one...more later) and H's sperm too and all OK.
Referred privately to IVF clinic (no NHS provision where we live at all).
Consultant recommended having lap and dye but then told us during a terrible
consultation (another long story which involved zero bed-side manner) that my
FSH level was high (12.5 - up to 10 is usually considered normal) and this meant
I had about a 1% chance of IVF working as it would not be possible to hyper
stimulate the follicles. We were devastated and horrified at the way we had been
told. Asked about donor eggs but told had to have an IVF cycle first "just in
case" - he didn't want to waste donor eggs if I could produce my
own...presumably also quite keen on getting his hands on £4500 per cycle.
A friend of mine was seeing Enda McVeigh at the John Radcliffe and said how
wonderful he was (she is the same age as me). So we got our GP to refer us
there, not feeling very hopeful. But he was FABULOUS - realistic but still gave
us hope, treated us like adults, answered all our questions. He too said we
should give IVF one go before considering donor eggs- gave us about 8% chance of
success. So we decided to give it a go (also was "only" £2000 per cycle). We
attended a fantastically interesting open evening and then got started on the
injections in late February.
The clinic staff were all wonderful and the whole process was hardly stressful
at all, apart from the long drive from Wiltshire. The IVF cycle is a whole other
story (not bad at all, just a bit complicated with drug adjustments, good and
bad egg scans etc), but basically on 11th April we had the egg retrieval- there
were 7 or 8 of a good size but sadly they could only reach one ovary as the
other had helpfully been covered up by my moving womb! So only 4 were retrieved.
But all 4 fertilised...only 2 were usable as the other 2 had more than one sperm
inside (H now called Mr Super Sperm). The good 2 embryos were put back and 2
weeks later......A BLUE LINE!!!!!!!!
Early scans showed we had twins but sadly only one really developed after week
6. [Editors Note - The pregnancy continued to go very well and Gilly gave
birth to a healthy little boy].
So my message for anyone in my position would be: *don't leave it too long
before getting checked out if you are in your late '30s *find a
clinic/consultant you are happy with - the John Radcliffe are worth a long
journey from anywhere in my opinion *don't worry if you don't feel positive -
positive thinking isn't always necessary! I was convinced we would have to adopt
*the IVF process does not have to be stressful - especially if you find a clinic
where you see the same nurse each time. I would definitely have kept going on
more attempts if necessary *if you are given low odds of it working, remember
somebody has to be in the 8% and *life can begin at 41!! I'd be happy to "speak"
to anyone who wants any more info.
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Cleo (Endometriosis)
As a sufferer of endometriosis for over 10 years, I hoped that it would not
cause us any problems when my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby.
However, after trying for 6 months with no luck, I knew that we were not going
to have an easy and straightforward time.
Despite charting and using OPK, it wasn’t happening, and so my gynaecologist
sent us for tests, which showed my luteal phase was short but my tubes were ok
and clear. However, my husband’s sperm analysis showed a very good count but
very low motility. This news hit us hard and we were both devastated and did not
know what problem to deal with first.
My gynaecologist could do no more for us and suggested we went onto the next
step and contacted a fertility clinic. I immediately asked my GP for a referral
but due to where we live, we were not entitled to any NHS funding and had to
face the possibility of very expensive treatment. This of course concerned us
but it was our only option and we agreed to go for it.
Things moved quickly and we were able to have a consultation at a fertility
clinic within a couple of weeks. The first thing they did was repeat hubby’s
sperm analysis. This time, his results came back very well, with a high count
and normal motility. We were shocked and asked how this could have happened? The
only explanation was that the hospital which did the first test had to send the
sample off to an outside lab which, with a delay of a couple of hours, caused
most of hubby’s little soldier’s to perish! The fertility clinic has a lab on
site and therefore can have accurate results within half an hour.
We were very relieved that one of our problems was sorted out and so the
spotlight turned to me. I was immediately given a prescription of progesterone
pessaries, which I had to insert vaginally each day starting after ovulation for
14 days to increase my luteal phase. These were pretty messy but I soon got the
hang of them and the first month there was no sign of my period 14 days after
ovulation. I got very excited and did a pregnancy test but it was negative. I
was very disappointed but impressed that after just one month my luteal phase
was long enough for implantation to take place. I carried on using the pessaries
for 3 months but each month I had the same outcome and was starting to feel
despondent that this route was not going to work.
We went back to the fertility clinic and they suggested doing an IUI – Intra
Uterine Insemination. We agreed and started the treatment. It was a tense time
for us and the 14 day wait after insemination seemed like forever.
Unfortunately, the HPT was negative.
We were both very disappointed and returned to the clinic for a consultation on
what to do next. We did not want to try IUI again as it was eating into our IVF
money and with such low success rates compared to IVF, we decided to go ahead
with IVF.
At this time, our home life was very chaotic; we were due to move house and both
of us were starting new jobs and Christmas was just around the corner. We
decided to try on our own again for a few months and in January, start IVF.
Christmas came and went and with no luck trying to conceive on our own, we
decided the time was right to start IVF. We decided to go for the more
successful ICSI procedure.
Undergoing IVF (the medical side) was easier than I imagined, and the time went
very quickly. The egg retrieval was the worst bit and although it left me in
pain, I was so grateful it went well and we had a good number of eggs to
fertilise. Unfortunately, though, only 2 were fertilised to a good enough
standard to be put back, so we didn’t have any to freeze for future attempts.
The emotions we went through are hard to describe – there were highs and lows
but I was very lucky to have a close friend who had gone through it just a year
earlier. She and her husband had success on their first attempt, so I was hoping
and praying for the same outcome.
I was watching my body very closely for pregnancy symptoms and did a pregnancy
test 10 days after egg retrieval. I was expecting the usual empty window, and
was astounded to see a feint blue line! I was shaking and crying and phoned my
hubby at work. He was as scared and excited as I was but we still had to wait 3
days before doing a blood test at the clinic. 5 positive home tests later, our
blood test showed a strong positive, and I was officially pregnant.
At the time of writing I am 26 weeks pregnant and still can’t believe it! We
were incredibly lucky and can’t wait for our precious little girl to arrive in
November.
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Denise (Unexplained)
Started trying to conceive in July 1998; however it seemed to be taking a little
longer than expected so on recommendation of a close friend I started charting
January 1999, with the conclusion that despite having a regular 28 day cycle I
was not ovulating. When to see my GP and was referred for tests including
laparoscopy, blood tests etc. but no obvious cause was found.
In December 2000 I started a 6mnth course of Clomid, which failed to induce
ovulation despite increased doses and addition of other hormones.
The same friend who introduced me to charting suggested I see a friend of hers
who had just qualified as a reflexologist, as she was worried I was becoming too
stressed. I reluctantly agreed and went along in June 2001 thinking it would be
quite nice to have a foot massage, and continued charting and to my surprise I
ovulated 2 weeks after the initial appointment and continued to do so with
monthly visits. The reflexologist was also trained as a midwife and had
previously used reflexology to “help alleviate” morning sickness.
In July 2001, the second month in which I ovulated I fell pregnant,
unfortunately I miscarried August 2001, fell pregnant again October 2001
miscarried December 2001, fell again May 2002 and miscarried July 2002. The
charting had revealed that my luteal phase was on the shorter side of normal 10
days although not sufficient to be considered a luteal phase defect. I fell
pregnant again in October 2002, and despite bleeding at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16
weeks and 24 weeks, morning sickness that lasted throughout the length of the
pregnancy (I actually lost 2.5 stone while pregnant), pre-eclampsia we now have
a baby boy delivered by C-section in June 2003. His growth had stopped at 32
weeks, probably due to the high blood pressure caused by pre-eclampsia, so baby
had to be delivered in next day or so ( at 34 weeks) and we were told to expect
a baby between 2-3lbs. Our baby boy was born by C-section weighing in at 4lb 4oz
and after a relatively short stay of 10days in SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit), he
was breastfeeding well and had put on sufficient weight to take him home. I
received a huge amount of support from SCBU to help with breastfeeding as prem
babies generally have problems with latching, and falling asleep.
One of the things I find amazing about the human body is that even though my
body wasn’t ready to give birth naturally at 34 weeks and had to have a
C-section with the help of an electric pump my breast milk came in after only 5
days, and the milk produce contains all the nutrients specifically required by a
premature baby. He remained exclusively breastfed until 15weeks and has now
moved to a mixed feeding routine.
Update: I am charting again and to my surprise have ovulated in both cycles,
and hope to start trying to conceive all over again after mass, so watch this
space!
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