Meet Courtney!

Meet Courtney!

It’s Success Story Sunday! If you’re here from ICLW, I strive to feature a new story every Sunday. If you or someone you know has been successful, please go here for more details. Thanks so much!

Meet Courtney! She is on Facebook, blogs at The Secondary Chronicles, and vlogs at Our Journey to a Family of 4. She went through secondary infertility and is now pregnant with a boy due in November! Read on for her surprising story!

1. How long did you struggle through infertility? I am not your typical infertility story. I did not have to struggle for as long as some women, but either way the struggle still hurt. We tried for 21 cycles.

2. What did you go through (as far as treatments, different doctors, adoptions agencies, etc.) ?

I had Secondary Infertility. We had our Daughter in November 2007. We didn’t try, nor did we prevent getting pregnant with her. We hadn’t been preventing for 2 years prior to getting pregnant, but didn’t think much of it because we were young and not really trying. She was a wonderful surprise and David and I were both over the moon excited to be having her. (I had always thought I would have trouble getting pregnant because my mom had a horrible time) So after she was born I naively thought “YAY! I will be able to get pregnant when we want and have the large family we always wanted!”

So when our daughter was Nine months old we decided to start trying for our second child. The first month went by and I was a little upset but not put out yet, because I knew it could take a couple months. After 6 months I was getting very depressed. I began looking it up and found that Secondary Infertility can be quite common…. who knew?? I sure didn’t. Month after month I got more and more upset. I mean what the heck is wrong??? I get a period every month!

In January I was finally able to start seeing a new OB/GYN to help me find out what was wrong. (before that I had tried all the At-Home remedies for TTC (none worked:/)) She was so amazing and started running tests immediately. My Husband had his Semen Analysis, which was a little abnormal. You can hear all about it here. I had an ultrasound where she told me I have a titled Uterus, my right ovary is more in the middle of my body instead of the right side, my ovaries are poly cystic, but none of these things were the problem. My lining was great, my progesterone was good (even though my luteal phase was a little short), and my cervical mucus looked good.

I was beginning to think I was going to be one of those women who just wouldn’t know why. In February she told me to come back in on CD 3 of my next cycle and we would do an ultrasound then. That month I decided not to chart m BBT or take OPKs. We had sex about every other day around my usual ovulation time (cd 16 or so I thought) like always. The only things I changed was after sex I laid on my stomach instead of hiking my hips (because of the tilted uterus) and that month I really looked at myself and was not happy. I told myself I was going to be happier and stop acting so upset and depressed it just wasn’t me.

On March 12, 2010 I decided to take a pregnancy test (I was 9dpo by my usual ovulation day) I didn’t think anything of it because I was so use to it being a BIG negative that when I walked back in the bathroom to look I almost passed out! It was Positive! I broke down in tears and called my husband (who was working out of town at the time). He thought something was wrong with me, I almost couldn’t get it out I was crying so hard. When he finally understood what I was saying he started crying too. After 21 cycles of trying we were finally PREGNANT!

3/4. How did you handle disappointments? What were the ‘stress-free’ techniques that you tried that helped you get through the cycle or time (yoga, meditation, acupuncture, support through family, friends & on-line, etc.)?

In April of 09 I found the TTC community on YouTube and that group helped me out so much! At our one-year mark in August I decided to start making TTC Vlogs and the support I received was amazing! Then in October I started my Blog and found my Twitter community, which helped me even more. These ladies are the best and helped drag me out of the horrible depression I had fallen into.

I am now 22 weeks pregnant. Our SON is due November 23, just 10 days after our daughter’s 3^rd birthday. He is growing perfectly and although I have more aches and pains, this pregnancy is going great. We are planning a VBAC and our OB is amazing and on board with us 100%.

5. If you could give advice for couples going through infertility now, what would it be?

Baby Dust and Sticky Vibes to all! My Best advice to those going through infertility is to ignore all the negative people around you and the idiots who throw the “just relax” in your face. Focus on your spouse and the supportive friends and family in your life. If you don’t feel you have enough support get into a TTC community. YouTube, Twitter, and the Blogging communities are amazing and were a lifesaver for me. There are so many supportive women and men and there is always someone going through what you are going through or have gone through it. It always nice to have a “cycle buddy” to suffer your Two Week Wait with or go through injections with or IVF or IUI. These are great support systems!