I am a Cradle Catholic hailing from a beautiful country (India) with less than 2% Catholics (17 million). I come from one of the Southern most States of India - the state where St. Thomas the Apostle introduced Christianity in the 1st Century, the state where St. Alphonsa (the First Woman Saint of India) grew up.
I met my wonderful husband in the Summer of 2005 and we got married in May 2008. My hubby had the gift of going to a Catholic School and he is a devoted Catholic in every way. We came to US soon after our Wedding as part of hubby's work.
We were introduced to NFP for the first time while attending our Pre-Marriage Classes. The NFP Instructor wasn't impressive and she mentioned "something" about Cervical Fluid. The class was the least informative but we were convinced that Contraception is a sin. Nevertheless, with our limited knowledge, we decided to follow NFP to postpone pregnancy. :-) Low and behold, I fell pregnant 2 months after our wedding. I never knew I was Pregnant until I went to the Emergency Room with severe Bleeding and unbearable pain. I had a ruptured Fallopian Tube and had to undergo a Laparascopic Surgery in August 2008 to remove my right tube. The doc suggested that we take a TTC break for atleast 6 months to allow my body to heal. He was "kind enough" to prescribe Birth Control Pills & we refused. BCP is relatively uncommon in India and I wondered why the doc had suggested BCP. Now I know how common BCP is in US !!! :)
We decided to wait for a while before starting a family. After all, we were just married! On our 1st Wedding Anniversary, I suggested TTC to hubby but he wasn't ready yet. Deep down I was worried and I prayed to God. Six months later, my dear hubby agreed. We began our TTC journey, hoping to be pregnant the very first month. It didn't work and I started learning more about Ovulation, Cervical Mucus, BBT and everything possible. In April 2010, I got my first positive test. It was faint and hubby asked me to wait until the line was really dark. After 2 days of Positive HPTs, it became negative and my period started. I still don't know if those were False Positives or True Positives but I strongly believe that I was pregnant. Meanwhile, my Ob/Gyn was least helpful and introduced me to the term "Chemical Pregnancy". He suggested HSG and Clomid. We weren't keen about Clomid but decided to undergo HSG to know if my remaining tube was in good condition. The HSG was done on the day of our Second Wedding Anniversary & revealed a "Perfect Tube"!!!
We continued our TTC Journey and I again fell pregnant in Nov 2010 but this time I was spotting. I went to my Ob/Gyn and after a series of Blood Works, he labeled it as an "Early Spontaneous Abortion". Again he suggested BCP and we decided it was time to find a new doc.
It's 2011 and I find a new Ob/Gyn who again suggests Clomid and a SA for hubby. We are still wondering if we should start seeing an RE. Clomid somehow scares me. Meanwhile, I discovered a few Catholic blogs and it was so comforting to know there are so many others struggling with IF. I am still trying to find out if there's anything wrong with my body. My Periods were fairly regular (30-32 days) until my ectopic pregnancy. Now my cycles can be anywhere between 22 - 50 days and I had a couple of Anovulatory Cycles. I don't have Painful Periods and have never been diagnosed with Thyroid Issues, PCOS or Endo. Probably it's time to see an RE who can help me!
We pray to our Lord to strengthen us on this journey and we are confident that he would bless us one day....
Love & Prayers
Blessed Be Lord
I met my wonderful husband in the Summer of 2005 and we got married in May 2008. My hubby had the gift of going to a Catholic School and he is a devoted Catholic in every way. We came to US soon after our Wedding as part of hubby's work.
We were introduced to NFP for the first time while attending our Pre-Marriage Classes. The NFP Instructor wasn't impressive and she mentioned "something" about Cervical Fluid. The class was the least informative but we were convinced that Contraception is a sin. Nevertheless, with our limited knowledge, we decided to follow NFP to postpone pregnancy. :-) Low and behold, I fell pregnant 2 months after our wedding. I never knew I was Pregnant until I went to the Emergency Room with severe Bleeding and unbearable pain. I had a ruptured Fallopian Tube and had to undergo a Laparascopic Surgery in August 2008 to remove my right tube. The doc suggested that we take a TTC break for atleast 6 months to allow my body to heal. He was "kind enough" to prescribe Birth Control Pills & we refused. BCP is relatively uncommon in India and I wondered why the doc had suggested BCP. Now I know how common BCP is in US !!! :)
We decided to wait for a while before starting a family. After all, we were just married! On our 1st Wedding Anniversary, I suggested TTC to hubby but he wasn't ready yet. Deep down I was worried and I prayed to God. Six months later, my dear hubby agreed. We began our TTC journey, hoping to be pregnant the very first month. It didn't work and I started learning more about Ovulation, Cervical Mucus, BBT and everything possible. In April 2010, I got my first positive test. It was faint and hubby asked me to wait until the line was really dark. After 2 days of Positive HPTs, it became negative and my period started. I still don't know if those were False Positives or True Positives but I strongly believe that I was pregnant. Meanwhile, my Ob/Gyn was least helpful and introduced me to the term "Chemical Pregnancy". He suggested HSG and Clomid. We weren't keen about Clomid but decided to undergo HSG to know if my remaining tube was in good condition. The HSG was done on the day of our Second Wedding Anniversary & revealed a "Perfect Tube"!!!
We continued our TTC Journey and I again fell pregnant in Nov 2010 but this time I was spotting. I went to my Ob/Gyn and after a series of Blood Works, he labeled it as an "Early Spontaneous Abortion". Again he suggested BCP and we decided it was time to find a new doc.
It's 2011 and I find a new Ob/Gyn who again suggests Clomid and a SA for hubby. We are still wondering if we should start seeing an RE. Clomid somehow scares me. Meanwhile, I discovered a few Catholic blogs and it was so comforting to know there are so many others struggling with IF. I am still trying to find out if there's anything wrong with my body. My Periods were fairly regular (30-32 days) until my ectopic pregnancy. Now my cycles can be anywhere between 22 - 50 days and I had a couple of Anovulatory Cycles. I don't have Painful Periods and have never been diagnosed with Thyroid Issues, PCOS or Endo. Probably it's time to see an RE who can help me!
We pray to our Lord to strengthen us on this journey and we are confident that he would bless us one day....
Love & Prayers
Blessed Be Lord
Awe, I'm so so so happy to meet you!!! All the way from INDIA!!! I'm from Alabama:) Couldn't be two more different places...haha.
ReplyDeleteIndia is close to my heart. My brother's best friend was Indian and was one of my most favorite people on this planet. He recently passed away and ever since I feel him all around me. Whether it is through teaching a unit on India to my students or a new blogger popping up in my life from INDIA!!! Great happenstance:)
You and I seem to have experienced similar situations. I'm sorry for your loss. I hope it brings a smile to your face to know that our little ones are playing in heaven together:)
I would absolutely recommend an RE and get yourself checked out. Do you happen to know if there is a NaPro doctor close to you???I doubt it, but it is worth trying to find out. Either way, it is so very important to find out the "Why" so that you can assure that your body is prepared to hold a baby. The fact that your cycles have seemed to go longer (up to 50 days) makes me think that you possibly could be having pregnancies that for some reason aren't being able to form completely. Perhaps that's why your cycles are lasting so long and then starting over.
I'm no dr. but that happened to be a couple of times and my practitioner and I came to the conclusion that it was possible that I could have been pregnant at those times but that things happened that prevented that from continuing. Now I know I have a huge progesterone problem. It is so low that it would drop immediately after ovulation and that's why I couldn't ever maintain or get pregnant...or why a couple of my cycles lasted so long b.c my body might have been pregnant, but then it couldn't continue with lack of progesterone.
These are all thoughts so don't read to much into them but I would highly encourage getting a new dr. A fabulous book to read is Dr. Hilgers book Unleashing Power in a Women's Cycle.
http://www.drhilgers.com/2010/06/09/coming-soon-a-naprotechnology-book-for-you/
I'm so happy to meet you:) Stay in touch!
Thank you so much for enlightening me. I am so happy to meet you too.. I have started feeling that I need to look into NAPRO to find out what's wrong. We live in NC and so I maybe able to find a NAPRO doc as long as we are in the US but NaPRO is definitely new to India. I doubt I will ever find a NAPRO doc if we move back to India. I feel God has given me a chance now which I should utilize.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fertilitycare.org/north-carolina/
ReplyDeleteUr so welcome! Happy to help/support u on this path of IF. I looked up some info that might be helpful to you. It's Napro practitioners in the NC area. Check it out!
I'm so sorry for losses, especially the most recent one. It breaks my heart to hear that. I'll be praying for you.
ReplyDeleteCan you post your e-mail address so I can contact you? I will gladly help you find a CrMS Practitioner.