Another rough cycle & month. These BIBLE VERSES ABOUT INFERTILITY, God's promises on having children, stories of barren women in the bible and comforting bible verses bring hope and encouragement.
When I first started using essential oils, my primary concern was cleaning up (pun intended) the products and fragrances I used in my home. This was of concern to me because it had been 9 months si…
Boys born to fathers who needed help conceiving grow up to have poorer sperm quality than peers conceived without help, a study has found.
Trying to conceive? Add these good-for-you fertility foods to your daily diet.
After 4 IUIs and 2 cancelled IVFs, I was getting desperate. I stumbled upon a podcast and it completely changed my life.
IUI pregnancy involves an artificial insemination procedure. Here is more about the process, the signs to watch out for, its advantages, and risks.
After 4 IUIs and 2 cancelled IVFs, I was getting desperate. I stumbled upon a podcast and it completely changed my life.
IUI Tips and Tricks Healthy eating! I feel like this one can’t be emphasized enough, and will probably be included in almost every blog I write. Make sure you eat plenty of whole foods and minimize process foods as much as possible! Eat lots of veggies, fruits, proteins (beans, nuts, lean organic meats), drink lots of water, and make sure to take a multivitamin or prenatal every day so your body gets all of the nutrients it needs. Manage stress. Life is filled with stressful things, and investing time and money into infertility treatments is hardly stress-free. It’s not always possible to just get rid of it all together, but try to find things that help you manage it. Things like acupuncture, spending time outside, getting sun, going for walks, reading a book, going to the gym, meditating, whatever helps you de-stress. Robutussin cough syrup for the male- who would have thought? The idea is to help with sperm motility and to clear things up a bit! I have no idea if this made a difference or not, but it was one of the first things my OBGYN recommended to my husband when we found out he had low sperm count and slow motility. He did it faithfully every morning, and things seemed to improve when we went in for our IUI. Wear some comfy pajamas/sweats to the procedure. The IUI itself really isn’t very painful, but afterwards I experienced a little bit of mild cramping and bloating. Eat a pineapple. I haven’t actually tried this one, but I have friends that did it for IVF and swear by it. In fact, one friend told me she would force me to eat it even if she had to shove it in my mouth herself if I ever ended up having to do IVF! There’s no medical proof that it works, but it is definitely worth a shot! To find out more about the pineapple trick and all of the details, click here. Sex after the IUI. If nothing else, this helps keep the intimacy in trying to conceive, but many clinics actually highly recommend you do this anyway! Find things to fill your time during the two-week wait. Make a bucket list with your spouse/partner. Who knows, maybe this will be the last two-week wait you have in 9 months! Find things that you’ve wanted to do or haven’t done before- it will make it go by faster and you will enjoy it so much more and have good memories to look back on. Have a weekend getaway Come up with a project/craft to work on Anything to keep you as busy and stress free as possible, and believe me, I know that is hard to do! -Rachel
Empowering you with accurate and up-to-date evidence based information in order to heal your PCOS and support you through infertility.
There are easy diet and lifestyle changes men can make to boost sperm count and increase fertility. Here’s what experts suggest couples trying to conceive do.
Smart Fertility Choices is dedicated to the dissemination of scientific knowledge for couples with infertility, and women with PCOS.
After 4 IUIs and 2 cancelled IVFs, I was getting desperate. I stumbled upon a podcast and it completely changed my life.
Increase fertility by visualizing conception and pregnancy. Guided imagery & meditation for ttc and infertility- that helped me get pregnant! Twice!
Smart Fertility Choices is dedicated to the dissemination of scientific knowledge for couples with infertility, and women with PCOS.
In the midst of tracking cycles and negative pregnancy tests, it can feel like you will never have a baby. Whether you've just started or have been TTC for a while, leaning into the Lord and trusting His timing is important. Let this season be a time to grow in your faith. Even though it
The rainforest and mountains may have some amazing foods, but you can find superfoods for fertility right where you live! You'll be surprised what they are.
Did you know the chemicals and toxins in tap water can cause infertility and miscarriage? How to chose the best under the sink water filter for fertility!
Smart Fertility Choices is dedicated to the dissemination of scientific knowledge for couples with infertility, and women with PCOS.
Third times a charm, right? That's a saying that I have heard for years, but this month I pray it is true as we prepare for our 3rd IUI. This month is different than the last 2 times. It's more doctor visits, blood draws, ultrasounds, shots...and of course, more money. We joke that our future child(ren) will be born already in debt and will have to start at a young age to work this debt off. We might not be joking if we have to endure more expensive treatments in the coming months! We went in on Wednesday, August 27th for a baseline ultrasound and to learn how to administer the shots will be doing this cycle. Anyone who knows me knows I pass out with around blood and needles, which is why going to the infertility doctor isn't one of my hobbies. I surprisingly did really good when the nurse explained everything to us and about 20 minutes and a couple thousand dollars later we were out the door! (Thanks Indiana insurance for not covering fertility treatments!) On Friday, August 29th, our meds arrived! My amazing neighbor, Robin, was so sweet to wait for them to arrive and put them in the refrigerator right away. I mentioned to her that she is basically babysitting our first born child so take extra care (LOL) When we got everything out, it looked like this. Scary right? Monday, September 1st, was our first injection. It has to be a good sign that it was LABOR Day, right?! After we had dinner and I had stalled enough, we got everything out and ready. I just wanted it done before I made it a bigger deal that it is (and I think Barry was in a hurry to finish his movie) and 5 seconds later and one, "Slow down!" It was over :) The medicine was straight out of the refrigerator and his nerves/excitement to poke me with a needle, caused him to push the medicine in super fast. Good news, it took about 1 second. Bad news, I may have yelled at him. (Sorry babe!) 5 shots, 3 ultrasounds, and 2 blood draws later, we were scheduled for our IUI on Sunday, September 7th. Waking up a 7am to head to the fertility doctor wasn't super exciting for Barry and I, but we made the best of it. We were able to enjoy a quiet breakfast together at Le Peep in between appointments, which rarely happens. After the procedure, we went home and I relaxed for a couple hours as my amazing husband did ALL the laundry and made me lunch. Now, we wait... a LONG two weeks before we know if we are finally starting our family after nearly two years of trying to conceive. Our hope is that this will be the final procedure we have to endure to achieve our first child. We would also like to avoid a reality TV show contract (Remember Jon and Kate Plus 8... yes, she did IUI with injectables!!) All the thoughts, prayers, and kind words are very much appreciated! - Sarah
So unlike most people when they get an HSG done, we had to wait 3 weeks to get our results. Usually you are told the results right away by the doctor doing the procedure. This particular doctor didn't really say anything. And so we had to wait for my doctor to get the report from him. When the time finally came, we traveled down to where our fertility doctor's office is so that we could get the results. We got to the appointment and went back into my doctor's office. She chatted with us for a bit getting caught up since we had last seen her about a year and a half ago. She asked what they did for Randy and we told her that he'd had surgery and that they had recommended we return back to her after his results weren't improving as much as they had hoped. (Although they had improved quite a bit.) After getting all caught up, she opened up the report in order to read us what the HSG doctor had said. As she was doing this she told us she honestly didn't understand them herself. He had said that there was a small amount of contrast in my right tube but no evidence of it flowing out into my ovary, and that my left tube only had a small amount of contrast right at the very beginning of the tube and none in it or flowing out. My fertility doctor said that she thought that he had done the procedure wrong somehow and pretty much told us that these results were inconclusive. She then went over our options. We could attempt an IUI cycle with no medication, an IUI cycle with medication, or go straight to IVF. If we did an IUI cycle she said she would want me to have another HSG done just to double check to see if my tubes were actually open and that the HSG doctor I went to had actually done something wrong. If they were truly blocked they would put the money we had already paid for the IUI towards IVF. She said that before we made any decision that we should have our hormones all tested again, since it had been two years since we were last tested, and have Randy do another Semen Analysis. We agreed. So Randy and I went and had our blood drawn and Randy got his semen analysis done. Then the waiting began again. After the appointment was over we went and filled in Randy's grandma on how things went. When I finally got Randy to stop talking so we could go, we went and got in the car and headed somewhere to get some lunch. On the way there I had a complete melt-down. I could not stop crying no matter how hard I tried. I just wanted to go home and curl up with my fur kids. I knew that the HSG doctor hadn't messed up. He had tried all he could to get the contrast through my tubes. I think the knowledge came as a shock and also as a relief. We finally knew the whole story. I was also kicking myself for not getting a repeat HSG sooner. If I had done it before Randy had had surgery I could have saved ourselves some money as well as saved Randy some pain. It took half the drive to Randy's parents house for me to calm myself down. I honestly didn't really want to see anyone else but I knew we needed to fill all our family in on how the appointment went. And that's just what we did, and I managed to keep myself together both times. On our long drive home, Randy and I knew that we had a big decision to make. Should we attempt an IUI with an HSG that same cycle? Or should we go straight to IVF? There were pros and cons to both.An IUI is definitely cheaper, though I honestly wasn't sure if I was up to doing another HSG, that thing was PAINFUL. I knew IVF would be painful too, since I'd have to give myself shots every day and that instead of growing one egg I'd be growing multiple. We talked over all the different pros and cons and by the end of our drive we were actually leaning towards IVF. Luckily, we didn't have to wait long to get the blood and semen analysis results. We got a call from my fertility doctor the next day. She told me that I passed all my blood tests with flying colors. Which is awesome! But that wasn't what we were worried about. She then told me the results for Randy's semen analysis. His numbers had dropped down to lower than pre-surgery levels. They wanted them to at least be 5 million motile sperm in order to do an IUI, his were 600,000 motile sperm. Giving us a 0%-2% chance of us conceiving with the assistance of an IUI. (0% if my tubes are truly blocked, and 1%-2% chance if they were open). This immediately made our decision for us. The only way we will be able to get pregnant is through IVF. So we are going to begin the process of IVF starting this next month (July). We will first be having a few consults to go over pricing and what the whole procedure will entail. Then we will make a decision on when to do IVF. As of right now this depends on how those consults all go, I plan on documenting the whole thing as we go through the process so that others who find themselves in a similar situation can know what to expect. I am so grateful to everyone who has been following our story and who has been continuously praying for us! You have no idea how much that means to us and we can definitely feel those prayers at work. We ask that you continue to pray for us and that we will have success when we do IVF. Til next time! Becca
The incredible story of how a waiting adoptive couple got more than 7 million views about their adoption journey on Facebook.
Natural herbs that help you conceive.
Praying for a baby during infertility? Trying to conceive your first child? Open your womb through fertility prayer!
The Free 30-Day PCOS Diet Challenge 1. Weekly PCOS Meal Plans 2. Weekly Shopping Lists 3. PCOS-Friendly Recipes 4. Nutritional Video Lessons 5. Community Support 6. A PCOS Diet Plan That Gets Results A PCOS Diet Plan That Gets Results Challenge Success
