Thursday, October 25, 2012

My Shaklee Story!

Finally!  I finally get to share my story with you!  Grab a cup of tea and enjoy.

This story starts clear back in 2008 when my husband and I decided we wanted to start a family.  I had always been interested in adoption and talked to my husband about it.  We talked for MONTHS and decided it was time to start saving our money.  

In April of 2009 we started the adoption process.  It took us until November to get everything squared away.  By the end of November we had a copy of our homestudy in our hands and our profile books were going to be seen.  

This was so exciting! The adoption agency told us we could possibly be parents at any time.  It wasn't common, but there is a chance a woman will go to the hospital and decide they do not want to be a parent.  That meant we could get a call whenever!  This kind of freaked me out.  I am a planner.  A BIG planner, so we set up our nursery, got all of our cloth diapers, and got a car seat.  

The weeks started dragging into months with no word from the agency.  We would call and they would tell us they hadn't shown our profile.  We kept getting told we need to be patient.  I'm sorry, but you don't tell prospective adoptive parents to be patient!  

Again, the months were passing by.  We would call and get the same answer...they hadn't shown our profile.  Talk about frustrating!  In July of 2010 I was standing in the garage with my husband when I opened a letter from the adoption agency.  I broke down.  I could not take it anymore!  So much time had passed that we were going to have to fill out all the papers again, go through our FBI checks again, and pay A LOT of money AGAIN.  

That day we tore that letter up.  It was heart breaking.  We had been living on pins and needles for MONTHS thinking we could be parents.  In that entire time they had only shown our profile a handful of times.  They would not return our calls in a timely manner.  It simply felt like they did not care.  How much time and money were we supposed to invest in this?

That day we made the decision to seek fertility help.  We were pretty sure something was wrong with me since I would go a year with out a cycle.  I would go to the doctor about my weight gain and lack of cycles and I would get told the same thing over and over again....diet and exercise!  I just wanted to scream "BUT I DO THOSE THINGS!"  

I love my family doctor...I really do, but I know my body and I know it is not normal to gain 60lbs and not have a cycle for a year.  However, I made my yearly appointment so I could talk to her about being referred to an reproductive endocrinologist.  

She agreed to this, but thought it would be a good idea to get my husband tested first since he is in a wheel chair.  We got his consultation appointment set up for September for a specialist 2.5 hours away.  After three appointments, it was confirmed he had male infertility.  We had a very hard decision to make, but overall it was easy.  If we wanted any chance at being parents we would need to use donor gametes.  

I was then referred to a R.E. in the same hospital.  In February I had my first day of appointments.  We were there a total of 5 hours and found out I have PCOS, hypothyroidism, and diabetes.  FINALLY!  I had answers!  It was confirmed that I do not ovulate on my own.  The course of action was to put me on what she referred to as a "safe fertility cocktail".  At this point I did not care!  I just wanted a baby.  My husband wanted a baby.

I started the cocktail and was so so so so sick!  I couldn't handle it, but I plugged along.  I contacted my friend Erin at Healthy Branscoms to see what she recommended.  She told me I needed to try Vitalizer and Vivix.  I bought them and tried to take them.  Honestly, I was only able to get them down a few times a week because the fertility drugs were making my stomach so upset.  

In April I did ovulate (due to the drugs) and we attempted our first IUI.  It failed.  We were only given a 7% chance of conceiving, but I prayed day and night that we would be that 7%!  In May we tried our second IUI and failed.  I was getting so frustrated!  Then in June we tried our third IUI.  We were hoping third time was the charm...nope.  

After the third failed IUI I needed a mental break.  I was tired of tracking ovulation.  I was tired of obsessing about things.  I was tired of taking drugs that were making me sick.  And I was tired of seeing our money dwindle away.  

For the month of July and first two weeks of August I stopped everything.  I decided to take my Vitalizer and Vivix everyday and see where thing lead me.  Sure enough in August I did ovulate, so I went in for our 4th IUI.  

Guess what!?!  It worked!  I am now carrying our little "Shaklee Miracle".  I 100% believe the Vitalizer and Vivix are what helped us conceive our little one. 

I was in such shock and disbelief that I took 5 pregnancy tests that morning.  YEARS of frustration and heartache were now a distant memory. 

I had spent years watching everyone around me have babies with no problems.  I was happy for them, but it hurt.  It hurt so bad I had to distance myself.  One of my friends and I decided to start families around the same time and she now has two little girls.  The youngest one being one.  I felt miserable and couldn't force myself to be around that.  That may make me a selfish person, but a piece of me just broke inside when I thought about it.

We have spent around $20k just trying to start our family.  The adoption agency doesn't give you your money back and hospitals require services paid in full for infertility.  Plus we had the OUTRAGEOUS cost of donor gametes.  Infertility can be a huge financial strain and it was. 

Everything was 100% worth it in the end! 


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