First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage… right?! Wrong. I knew at a young age that I wanted to be a mother. I knew that I wanted a house full of children and that I wanted to be a stay at home mother. But.. when I was 12 years old I began to have issues with my menstrual cycle.
Being 12 years old and bleeding through a pad an hour was not only embarrassing but also so distressing. I missed a week of school each time I got my period because I just couldn’t sit in class for long periods without sitting in a pool of blood. I was passing massive clots, the cramping was unbearable. One night the pain was so excruciating my mother took me to the emergency room, where they done a CT scan to check for appendicitis. All was clear.
I was raised in a very rural area and our healthcare was often not the greatest. My mother took me to see the local OBGYN and I was told that I had low vitamin D and low vitamin B12. I was put on those supplements and sent on my way. Nothing changed. Back to the doctor I go, more tests are ran and nothing is found. The only option that the OBGYN gave my mother and I for treatment was a low dose birth control where I would skip the placebo week. Finally.. I had relief from my periods being so heavy but eventually, they came to a stop. Being a 16 year old girl not having to deal with a period sounded so amazing.. but what I didn’t know was my battle was only beginning.
I moved to college at the age of 18, was finally out on my own and could make better health choices since I was in a better developed area. I made an appointment with a recommendation from a college friend to an OBGYN in my college town. The appointment went well and I was sent for blood tests. My lab levels returned abnormal (high prolactin, low DHEA) and the doctor had her receptionist call to tell me “you probably have a tumor, but we need to get a CT to be sure.” I was terrified. My CT thankfully came back clear and the OBGYN shamed me at my next appointment for “faking” my lab levels. She wrote me a prescription for birth control and told me as soon as I was ready to have kids to stop taking it and I would immediately be super fertile. Guess what? Didn’t work.
I shared a post on Facebook about the second line on a pregnancy test not defining your worth. It was the first time I had ever publicly shared anything regarding pregnancy or fertility. A friend from high school reached out via messenger and told me her success with a doctor in the next city over from me. I quickly made an appointment with her and was excited to see if she could finally give me some answers. I had documented all of my symptoms, issues, feelings, etc. and I printed that document to bring with me to my appointment. I was so excited and hoped that I would finally have an answer to my problems. Sure enough, I left her office with the diagnosis of poly cystic ovarian syndrome later to be confirmed by blood work and a trans-vaginal ultrasound. Finally! I felt like I was moving in the right direction.
Now for a treatment plan.
Blessed Mama 