By: Basic Tart
Posted Wednesday, June 22nd, 2016
For most women the thought of only having a period every three months or so seems fantastic. I thought so too until it happened to me without being on birth control. And then I found out it was a sign my body wasn’t functioning properly and getting pregnant was going to be a challenge.
I first noticed my periods spaced way out during the first semester of my senior year of college. While I was home over Christmas Break I saw my doctor who ordered an ultrasound. I remember joking with my brothers about “the baby” since ultrasounds are usually associated with pregnancy and there was no chance I was pregnant. During the ultrasound the tech explained that she was seeing cysts around my ovaries like a “string of pearls”. These weren’t traditional ovarian cysts, they were caused by follicles (eggs) that never released. My doctor explained that I likely had PCOS and the best thing to do was go on birth control pills which would regulate my hormones and dissolve the cysts. Seemed simple enough, so that’s what I did. I didn’t really think much about it again until I got married and my husband and I decided to have kids.
We knew it might take some time to get pregnant because of my PCOS. At that point I hadn’t really looked much into the diagnosis but knew that irregular cycles make it difficult to get the timing right to get pregnant. I talked to my OB/GYN and she put me on Metformin around the time I stopped taking my pills. Metformin is used by type II diabetics to regulate insulin and helps a lot of women with PCOS regulate their hormones since many are also insulin-resistant (PCOS increases the risk of gestational diabetes, type II diabetes and heart disease). Once I went off birth control we were surprised that I got pregnant pretty quickly. We were ecstatic and happy that it didn’t take as long as we thought it might.
And then two weeks later I started cramping and spotting. I called my doctor and got an appointment for the next morning. They did an ultrasound where we got to hear the heartbeat and see baby moving around. Since that was all okay they ordered some lab tests to check my hormone levels and sent me home. That afternoon I was at home resting when I got the call that my progesterone was low and they wanted to start me on supplements. We live about 30 minutes from the doctor and pharmacy, but I got the medicine as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, it was too late. My bleeding increased and my husband took me to the emergency room that evening where the doctor found I had passed placental tissue and was having a miscarriage. And just like that, we were heartbroken.
As we learned more about PCOS, we found out that hormonal issues, like low progesterone, are common. In some ways that made it more difficult to deal with the miscarriage. Well-meaning friends and family members would say there must have been problems with the baby which is what caused the miscarriage, which in many cases is true. But I couldn’t help but feel like the baby was fine since we saw the heartbeat that morning and the miscarriage was because my body malfunctioned. We won’t ever know for sure but what I do know is that the miscarriage was the first stop on our long journey to parenthood.
About the Author:
Mini-van driving, coffee and wine drinking, sports loving, chocolate eating, work outside the home, cradle/cafeteria Catholic, pro-vax, married mom of 3 (including twins). I enjoy reading Harry Potter, romance novels, People magazine and true-crime. I live in the rural American heartland.
