The Plan For Our Family

I have spoken before here on my blog about my fertility issues and the struggles that we face. When I was just 19, I was told that my chances of having children were second to none. In a nutshell, my body produces eggs, but doesn’t release them. Whereas an average woman releases an egg each month, I maybe release one egg per year. Which makes tracking, monitoring and trying to catch my fertile window pretty much impossible.

 

 

We are then unaware if my body is able to sustain an egg in the womb if it was to be fertilized. Long story short, we are going to have to make a plan and look into alternative routes if we want to have a family. Which is why today I thought I would sit down and share with you the plan for our family.

 

Why I went back on the pill.

You may remember that last year I wrote a post about coming off the pill. It was a revolution of the time, and I joined in. So many people that had been on the pill for as long as I had been suddenly decided to ditch hormonal contraception. I thought that this was the first step in the plan for our family. However, after being off the pill for almost a year, I looked back and realised that I had been a hormonal mess. At times I was unable to function because I could feel my emotions getting the better of me. My doctor said that because I have a hormone imbalance anyway, the pill was actually helping me. Because of that, I went back on it. And I have to admit, I feel bloody better for it.

 

What we have discussed.

As a couple, we came to the final decision that we do want children. It took a very long time to get to that stage because for so long I had resided myself to never having children. I think it was a defense mechanism that I built up. Because I didn’t think I could have them, it was easier just to pretend that I didn’t actually want them. However, we both decided that we could see children in our future. From there we just had to think about timescales and the extra help that we would need in order to conceive.

 

How IVF could work for us.

After discussing things with my doctor and telling them how long we have been forgoing contraception, we were immediately put forward for IVF. I am thankful that I live in a part of the UK where a number of cycles are offered to each individual if you have been trying for a set amount of time. During our initial consultation, we were assured that this isn’t the first time that they have seen something like this, and IVF has been successful. They walked us through the entire process and how it would run. Essentially, we are all teed up and ready to get going, we just need to set the date and time.

 

What natural methods are available.

Because we know that the problem lies with me, there are a few things that we could do. Most of them revolve around trying to regulate my cycle and make it so that I do ovulate once per month. This could be done via hormonal treatments, natural remedies and God knows what else. My doctor has said that doing these things cannot hurt or damage what is already happening. The one thing putting me off doing this is how extreme you can feel while trying to get your hormones under control. It is no easy feat.

 

Our timeline.

One thing that I am very grateful about is that I have so many people around me with similar experiences. They have shared their story with me and given me advice. One thing that pretty much everybody has said to me is to not waste any time. The younger you are when it comes to fertility woes, the better your chances of conceiving. They always question what it is putting us of from trying straight away. At the end of the day, I am in a committed relationship, we are good for money, and we have a beautiful home. I think it just generally comes down to feeling ready and we aren’t quite there yet.

 

As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this post about the plan for our family. At this stage, all we know is that we do want a family one day. We are not quite sure when that day will come or what route we will need to go down. Our plan is to take it one day at a time and see what happens. Planning a family really is one of the most stressful things in the world. Especially when you then throw in other people’s opinions. Especially family, they can be the worst and most opinionated. But I do want to hear from you guys on this. Did you find it easy to get pregnant? Are you trying? Are children in your future? Or are you happy without the little buggers?