It’s hard to believe that our blog has turned into an infertility story. We started it in March 2009 when we threw the birth control pills out the window and decided to start a family, thinking that it would be a fun way to chronicle our pregnancy and the adventures we would have raising babies together. Little did we know that we’d take an unexpected emotional detour before we got to that point. Here’s our story so far…
February 2009 - Kate completes her masters and Benjamin is finally ready. Goodbye, birth control. Hello, babies! Or at least we thought that’s what would happen.
March 2009 - Kate doesn’t get her period when she is supposed to. We blissfully think we are one of those lucky, uber-fertile couples who got pregnant their first month trying. No such luck.
April 2009 - Benjamin turns 30. After a few negative pregnancy tests and a little research (thank you, Taking Charge of Your Fertility!), we realize we’re not pregnant, and there must be some other reason for Kate not getting her period. Kate calls her gynecologist, who says to make an appointment in a few weeks if Kate still hasn’t gotten a period.
May 2009 - Kate sees her gynecologist. Gets bloodwork done to test hormone levels and is put on Provera to take the “Progesterone Challenge”. Bloodwork comes back perfectly normal (doctor says, “Beautiful!”) and Provera withdrawal results in a small amount of bleeding, which are both great signs.
June 2009 - Still no period. Gynecologist says to wait it out. Kate starts charting her temp every morning and finds no thermal shift, which indicates that she’s not ovulating.
July 2009 - Gynecologist suggests that we see a reproductive endocrinologist (RE). It’s the first time anyone has used the word “infertility”, and we’re scared. Kate thinks that maybe exercise is impacting her ovulation, so she chills out on the cardio and takes up yoga.
We go to Boston IVF for our first appointment with Dr. P, our RE. He orders up a round of diagnostic tests. Bloodwork, an internal ultrasound and an HSG. And a semen analysis for Benjamin. Kate completes all the tests like a champ, even though she is kind of a baby when it comes to needles.
August 2009 - Test results are in. Although all hormone levels are normal and HSG was clear, Kate is diagnosed with Lean Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Dr. P prescribes a round of Clomid (50mg, the lowest dosage) and tells us to use an ovulation predictor kit (OPK) to see if the Clomid results in ovulation.
September 2009 - After a few confusing OPK readings, we finally get a positive! Yahoo!
A week later, Kate experiences one day of bleeding. Since it is 7 days past ovulation and not enough to count as a real period, we self-diagnose as implantation bleeding and think Kate is pregnant. Again.
She’s not. Blood test confirms the negative result (as if three days of home tests didn’t confirm it enough!). Dr. P says to wait until her period comes and then try again next month.
October 2009 - But her period never comes. She goes back to Boston IVF for more bloodwork, which shows low progesterone, which indicates that she didn’t really ovulate after all. The positive OPK reading might have been triggered by a high enough LH level to set off the test, but not high enough to actually release a full egg. Dr. P increases the Clomid dosage to 100mg.
November 2009 - Kate takes round #2 of Clomid. When she hasn’t gotten a positive OPK by cycle day 14, Dr. P orders an ultrasound and bloodwork to get the skinny. Ultrasound shows two big, mature follicles (24mm and 25mm) raring to go! And bloodwork confirms that her body is in the midst of ovulating on its own. Yippee! Doctor’s orders: go home and make whoopee. One week later, a progesterone test shows a nice, high number indicating that Kate had a strong ovulation (for the first time, maybe ever!). Kate tries acupuncture in an effort to maintain her total mind-body wellness.
The two week wait finally ends, and Kate takes a home pregnancy test at 14 days past ovulation. BIG FAT POSITIVE! Benjamin, ever the videographer, catches the emotional moment on film.
First beta at 14 days past ovulation comes back at 387, a beautifully high number for 4 weeks pregnant. We can’t believe it. We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving 
Second beta at 17 days past ovulation comes back at 1467 – much higher than the expected number (which was double the first beta). Great news! There’s most likely one very healthy baby in there, or possibly TWINS!
December 2009 - First ultrasound shows ONE healthy baby, heartbeat and all (and Benjamin captures the tears on film… again). This is it, folks. We’re really, truly pregnant this time.
January 2010 - Second ultrasound actually looks like a baby, 2 arms, 2 legs. One little hand even waves at us during the procedure. We hear the heartbeat and confirm a healthy baby at 10 weeks.
March 2010 - We announce that we are having a BOY!
July 24th, 2010 - Owen is born! See his video birth announcement.
—
Trying for #2
Late April 2012 - Though all of our friends have already moved on to their second, we were specifically waiting for a 2 1/2 year age gap between kids. We’re FINALLY ready to “try” again and pulled the, ahem, goalie.
June 13, 2012 - After a delayed positive pregnancy test on our first month “trying”, an early ultrasound shows smaller fetus than expected. Could be late ovulation or a growth issue.
June 27, 2012 - Follow-up ultrasound shows delayed growth again. Doctor gives 50/50 chance of pregnancy being viable, but can’t say for sure.
July 5, 2012 - Another follow-up ultrasound shows nearly no growth. Pregnancy is not viable, but doctor has to wait for heartbeat to stop on its own before any next steps can be taken.
July 12, 2012 - Final ultrasound shows no heartbeat. We decide to induce a miscarriage at home with medication.
August 2012 - Kate’s period returns right on schedule post-miscarriage and after one normal cycle, we are ready to start trying again. Cautiously.
September 2012 - Kate has has extremely long, abnormal and confusing cycle.
October 2012 - We use an ovulation predictor kit to make sense of what’s happening when. Got a positive OPK late into the cycle, when Benjamin was [thankfully] not traveling.
November 2012 - POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST! Early ultrasounds show perfect growth and a healthy, viable pregnancy.
December 2012 – We share the good news.
February 2013 – Ultrasound shows we’re having another boy! Kate goes into full-fledged planning mode.
Wow! Your story sounds like my story to a “T”! My husband and I bought a home in November 2008 and decided that we were ready for me to come off the birth control and start trying! I kept waiting and waiting to get a period, but it never came. Finally, I decided to see my gynecologist. She told me to wait a couple more weeks and if I still didn’t get a period, to take Prometrium. About 98 days went by with no period. So I took a round of Prometrium and then 10 days later I had a period. My doc had told me this would jump start my body and from here on out we should be in a good position. Well I went another 2 months without a period so we tried the Prometrium again. That worked but then she also put me on 50mg of Clomid days 5-9, again hoping this would jumpstart my body. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Long story short, my husband and I used 2 rounds of Clomid before being advised by our gyno that we would need to see a fertility specialist. In August, we began treating with a specialist and I was told that I too have PCOS. I have 20 follicles on my right ovary and 24 on my left. I’ve taken all other baseline tests and everything has been ok. So, it’s really just a matter of getting me to ovulate. Which hasn’t been so easy. Actually I thought I had ovulated in August, I had the positive OPK test and couldn’t actually believe I was seeing a smiley face. It would be the first time I had ovulated in at least 9 months! But I too took a progesterone blood test and had a 2 which my doc told me means I hadn’t ovulated in a very long time. Since I haven’t had a period again in something around 50 days, I took Provera and now we are on a round of Clomid, this time at 150mg! We are also being monitored by the doctor. Hopefully next week we get good news!! Good luck!
Michelle, Hi! Thanks so much for sharing your story — isn’t it amazing how hard it is to get a concrete answer about what’s going on inside our bodies?! It seems like in this day and age we should be able to get some sort of scan and have the docs know everything about our reproductive system.
Good luck with the increased dosage of Clomid… I hope you get a REAL smiley face soon, and a happy baby soon after that. Keep in touch!
I accidentally bumped into your site while searching for stuffs on Clomid. I also have PCOS. For my case, I get my menses every month without fail but I just don’t ovulate … I always thought that anyone who gets their menses ovulate but it’s not true.
Well it’s been 3 months since we’ve tried to conveive. Like you, we thought we were those “uber-fertile couples who got pregnant their first month trying”….
Our gynae gave us metformin and clomid (100mg) and last month I did ovulate but the pregnancy test were negative.
I’m taking the same dosage of metformin and clomid as the previous month. Fingers crossed!!
My gynae said NO exercises from the time you ovulate till two weeks later.
I hope you will get a positive result soon
Obviously when I had my baby and stopped reading blogs for awhile, I missed a huge amount of EVERYTHING going on here. I’m glad that you added this page so that I knew where to go!
That said, I am so so sorry to hear about all of the developments. We tried, thought we were pregnant, were crushed when we weren’t, tried again, got pregnant, miscarried, tried again, thought we were pregnant, were crushed when we weren’t, tried again and got lucky. I cannot imagine it having gone differently now and I know that Charlotte was worth the bother, but I think about all of the heartbreak that came before my pregnancy with her, and oh, Kate, my heart breaks for you. Just keep it up; I hope to hear some fantastic news soon!
CA, Congrats on ovulating last month! It sounds like you found the magic concoction very easily
Good luck this month. My doctor confirmed that exercise was not the cause of my anovulation through some hormone levels, so I’m not worried about over-exercising anymore (although I found I love yoga, and don’t need as much cardio as I used to). Everyone is different, as my doctor said that exercise was perfectly safe in early pregnancy.
Sarah, I had no idea! I always imagined you were one of the lucky few who didn’t have to struggle with such things. Thank you so much for your kind words — they mean a lot! Charlotte WAS worth the rocky road, and I hope to have my own little success story very soon. I’m sure once that day comes I’ll barely remember these few months of frustration.
Yeah I hope the same previous cycle dosage will make me ovulate again this month
My gynae said I could keep on exercising (like 3-5 times a week) but not during the 2 weeks after ovulation. It was a little weird for me not to exercise as I love to run but of course, for baby’s sake I’d anything
I was just wondering if you were being monitored via ultrasound and whether you were taking an hcg shot (ovidrel) to trigger ovulation. I think these are both critical during medicated cycles. It is not enough to test progesterone after the fact because you don’t know what’s going on in those ovaries and when you need to give them an extra boost.
Also, if your bloodwork was normal (ie LH, testosterone, prolactin, FSH, estradiol, insulin- I’m sure there are more but my memory is hazy), you may not necessarily have PCOS. Having polycystic looking ovaries on an ultrasound is not enough to diagnose PCOS, as was my case.
I also was in the questionable “lean/ atypical PCOS” category, though ovulation was like clockwork and hormone levels were all normal, so there was some other subtle problem going on that was not necessarily attributable to PCOS.
I understand that, in your case, you are not ovulating but could this be some leftover effect of the birth control pill? It’s only been a few months and I’ve heard that a woman’s cycle can be messed up for a very long time after taking birth control? Was your cycle regular before going on the pill?
I highly recommend the book “The Infertility Cure.” I read it the month I got pregnant (though, admittedly was on gonal F at the time) but swore I would follow the book’s recommendations (some of which I did that month) if I did not get pregnant.
The link http://www.amazon.com/Infertility-Cure-Ancient-Wellness-Pregnant/dp/0316159212/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256643350&sr=8-1
Email me if you have any Q’s. I have a whole list of stuff I did differently the month I got pregnant. Not sure which one it was or if it was just high time after 2 years of unexplained infertility.
Hi Kate!
I started reading your blog after I found it on The Bump Mommy Blog Awards. Love it! I’m TTC #2 and am about a week behind your current cycle. (Just went in for CD21 bw today. My progesterone was low with my first preg which I m/c and my son, so they put me on 200mg 2x day to be safe). I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you ~ everything sounds great this cycle!!! I’m not all that hopeful for this cycle for me b/c we started “having relations” (tee hee!) a little early and lost some steam right before “O”….but did manage to hit O-day. So who knows? When are you going to test??? Since you didn’t trigger, you could possibly test on the 21st – 10DPO. (I’m such a POAS-pusher! LOL!) Anyway, best of luck to you. I’m sure you’ll have your little bundle of joy in your arms very soon. Your blog is awesome.
Wow! I just read the blog after Ari shared the movie with me. I can’t believe what you guys have been through. What a hard, amazing journey. So much love to both of you and hope for the road ahead.
Much love,
Lauren
Congratulations to you both! What an amazing story… and it’s only just beginning!
Congrats on your pregnancy! I just read through your whole blog and it’s fantastic.
What a story! Sounds so similar to mine. It gives me so much hope!
I still love your blog. I finally got my referral to an RE and he UNdiagnosed me with lean PCOS, so this has been a fun ride. Apparently my body just has a big brain fart in that department. My body decided to work on its own after I took the Provera, so now we’re waiting to find out whether or not to start Clomid.
Thank you for writing this blog.
We sell Savvy Rest at Mountain Air Organic Beds, you can find us on Face Book too! Mattress covers do not do the job as well as a organic baby mattress.
Why risk the health of your child to just a plastic cover?
We sell several brands but the brand I prefer is Savvy Rest because Savvy Rest is the only organic manufacturer that uses organic wool and organic latex everyone else just uses “Eco safer wool and regular latex.” What ever that is.
When you buy your Savvy Rest organic crib mattress from us and mention you saw it on Face Book you can get a 10% discount on organic baby items. Just type in Mountain Air Organic Beds in Face Book.
We are new to FB, so please be patient with us as we add more product. If there is something you don’t see you would like to buy and get a discount on, just contact us.
Warmly,
Joyce Robertson
“Healthy Sleep for the Entire Family”
I have PCOS and just stumbled upon your blog after googling provera and clomid. I just finished taking provera and I’m waiting for my period to start so I can try my first round of clomid. It’s so great reading happy stories like yours…. it gives me hope!
Wow what a remarkable story. It’s comforting to know other women out there have this same problem. I was on birth control since I was 16 (I’m 32 now). My husband and I decided it was time to come off birth control April of 2010. We weren’t necessarily “trying” to conceive but we weren’t “not trying” either. We really wanted it to be a surprise. However my period came twice after getting off birth control and then it didn’t come for 3 months straight. I thought “hey maybe I’m pregnant”…but nope. I went to see my ob/gyn and she thought maybe I wasn’t ovulating. So she gave me some Provera to take. This was in November.
It did kick start my period. Ok great! December…no period. Went back to doctor and she wanted me to take Provera and Clomid. HOWEVER… neither of us were wanting to have a baby with any fertility drugs…regardless of how small the dose. It’s just our preference to let this be as natural as possible. So anyway I’m on my 3rd round of Provera…just had a period and praying that next month I’ll be good to go. The doctor does want me to have an ultrasound to test for PCOS. We’re just in a very tight financial bind. So much going on!!
Anyway congratulations to you guys. God willing in the next year or so we’ll be pregnant!
Hi there, what a beautiful story. I was researching clomid online and came across this site.
My husband and I have been together 5 years, we got married last july. I’m 24 and he’s 27. We started trying last july and have been trying for 14 months now. I fell pregnant within 2 months of our trying but sadly miscarried at 2 months last november shortly before the miscarriage my grandfather died.
We went to the gp alot after the miscarraige, they diognosed me with depression and I refused anti depressants or any help at all. I wanted to get myself through it and I did, sadly I didn’t fall pregnant so we had numerous tests which showed I am normal fertile and so is hubby he has a higher sperm count then it should be. We were reffered to our local hospital and we are now on our first round of clomid, 50 mgs. I am experiencing mood swings from hell and tiredness.
I have regular periods of 30 days and I ovulate 7-12 days after every cycle. The consultant has only given us 3 month supply of clomid s and says I shall be pregnant within 3 months of been on clomid and said I would have fell naturally within the next 6 motnhs to a year. x
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!
I came across your YouTube channel one night scrolling through “Live Pregnancy Test” videos, as I was feeling particularly down about my continued infertility. Your video set my heart on fire to keep fighting through this emotional roller coaster. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 21 months now, and we are currently on a break from treatments due to a lapse in insurance coverage. Thank you for sharing your journey! I’ve also started blogging about mine, but only to an extent. This makes me rethink my whole blog, and I’m ready to open up about this struggle so people can truly understand.
so sorry about the loss of baby #2
I have read your blog in it’s entirety and have been following for about the past six months. I have one child, named Owen, born just weeks before your Owen. We got very very lucky with him. We went off birth control about 7 months before we got pregnant and we just waited for it to happen. Last september we decided we were ready to start again. In February I became pregnant with Mo-Mo (monochoriotic, monoamniotic) twins (one amniotic sac, one placenta) In May I miscarried at 17 weeks. They had strangled each other and were not getting any oxygen. Well, last month we decided we were ready again. I was given the provera challenge and clomid. Today is day 2. Your blog is such a great reference and I look forward to reading more posts. I hope that when you are ready for baby #2 again you will be able to conceive without too much heartache. Thank you for all the great information and for sharing your lives with us!
Look how far you have come. I feel proud to have read (and felt part of) your journey.
I had to leave a quick comment after reading your story. I wanted to thank you for posting this story, which sounds oh so much like what my husband and I am going through, basically step by step. I found your blog by searching for “clomid” and going to be starting my 1st round soon. Its good to read about your success with it. Good luck to you and your family.
Ur story is heart warming. U guys can be so lucky her body decided to ovulate by itself. I however was on cycles since August 2010 2 years of no luck left me without motivation…
Thus story is kinda helpful. I’m worried about infertility and will be talking to my dr soon hopefully to try round 1 clomid.. opks are all positive and periods are regular had one irregular cycle on month 3 and dr saud I didn’t ovulate and try using opks… thus would be baby # 1 for us after an abortion at a very young age. I regret it daily and now think I caused myself infertalization issues
Hi Kate,
I really enjoyed reading your story. I am so happy you were able to finally concieve and have a healthy baby and one on the way. We too thought we would be a normal couple who got pregnant right after after stopping birth control. Not so lucky…
I stopped birth control in Sept. of 2009 and I started having menstrual cycles every 31 -33 days which mean its not regular. (had no idea) – After a few months of no positve pregnancy I decided to go see my OB. Well they told me not to worry and just have patience. I knew something wasnt right and I wasnt ovualting so I went back to the doctor. They did a HSG scan and saw one of my tubes might be blocked and the doctor also found a large cyst so I had to have surgery. While they were in there they discovered I had endometriosis stage 3 (I had no symptons at all). Well after the surgery doctor felt confidant we were good to go and will get pregnant on our own. Well after healing and have a normal cycle I discovered – Im still not ovulating. So the I went to an RE and they did lots of blood work and said my hormone levels are normal and everything looks great but I am not ovulating on my own (RE has no idea why I am not ovulating). So he put me on Letrozole for 5 days the next cycle. Went back in for a scan – have mature follicles. He then had me trigger to ovulate – went back in neg pregnancy test and blood work shows I did not ovulate either. Devasting!!
So the doctor added follistim along with Letrzole to help me – I did this for 7 cycles – each month I was ovualting but not getting pregnant (last 4 of those we decided to do IUI to increase chances (we go into see RE and he cant explain why im not getting pregnant -says my body is responding beautifully and is working properly with help of course)… this was all through out 2012 – In November my period was really heavy and came a week early. Again devasting… I started another cycle in December and it was the longest cycle ever…my follicles took forever to grow…after 2 weeks from trigger we took a test an got a positive!! The greatest day of my life…went to RE did blood test right away. They said my HCG was low so had to go back in 2 days and needed to increase 66%. Went back that Friday and every was increasing nicely and growing as it should. RE scheduled for me to come back in 6 weeks. And said we will hear heart beat at that time.
Went back Jan 9th 2013 – and RE stated there was no heartbeat….WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!!… We didnt give up hope..thought maybe it was just too early and I wasnt miscarry..no bleeding no cmplications. So went back in a couple weeks later and my HCG was still climbing reached 90,000, but unfortanelty fetus still had no heart beat and was growing at a very slow pace so the RE said I needed to do a D&C. I wasnt ready…. I wanted to miscarry natrually, but after waiting and waiting nothing happend. I finally had a D&C Feb 8th 2013. A few days later feeling lots of pain went back to RE and I have a infection in my uterine lining so they put me on antibiotics. I am still healing and recovering… as one should, but this whole thing has been the worst few months of my life. Why does this happen?!?!?! Well they said its just chromosonal and that it is very common. Says we have to wait at least 3 cycles before trying again. My question…which I have been having a hard time finding out – since i got pregnant …and my hormones and body is healthy do you think maybe this pregnancy woke up my body and next cycle we can ovulate without any fertility drugs…I would really love to ovulate on my own and get through this without drugs. Its so hard going through that…