My Story:
At the time my journey into fertility began, I was 39 years old. I had realized that if I wanted to have a child, it was going to have to be "now or never". I was busy relocating to the Netherlands from South Africa and my husband and I had decided that we would start trying for a baby as soon as possible after moving.
Unlike most couples with fertility issues, we hadn't yet even tried to fall pregnant. Because of my age, I went to a renowned fertility clinic, just to check what was actually going on with my body. I had always had the regular gynecological check-ups, but I wanted to check that everything was in order.
I never expected the bad news - the worst possible news, delivered early in the morning on Christmas Eve: "I'm sorry, but your test results confirm that you have NO eggs left, you are in premature menopause and your only options of having a baby are either a donor egg or adoption..."
I fainted from the shock and when I came round, I found a nurse standing there, stroking my cheek with a cup of tea in the other hand. She said: "...you will go through a mourning period and when you are ready, you can chat to the doctor about our donor egg program..." I said; "I'm sorry, I refuse to believe it, that's ridiculous - and I have to get out of here right now!" I drove to my parent's home in tears. (My husband was in the Netherlands at the time and that made it even worse.)
The first thing my mother said to me was: "Don't buy the bad news!" "Don't believe it." And we started doing research and taking action. Taking action makes you feel much better. It immediately takes you out of the victim role and puts you into survival mode!
After doing loads of research, I discovered a lot of the information as well as coming to the realization that the medical profession was offering no solutions. They gave me NO hope of having a baby with my own egg, so I decided to try some the holistic treatments, as I had to do something...
The things I tried that worked for me were: acupuncture, Chinese herbs, reflexology and DHEA, amongst other things. Please consult a medical professional, Chinese medical practitioner or homeopath first and DO NOT SELF-MEDICATE.
My story continued:
After doing an extensive amount of research and putting everything I discovered into immediate action, I decided to see if my fertility situation had changed, so I made an appointment with another fertility specialist, this time in the Netherlands...
He seemed a lot more positive initially, especially after seeing that my FSH levels had gone down substantially. I then proceeded to go through a whole new batch of fertility tests, a repeat of what I had already gone through in South Africa, as well as a number of new tests. Now feeling a lot more positive, I was not expecting the news that I received next!
"I'm very sorry, but your test results indicate that you are not a candidate for IVF, as we are not sure how many eggs you have and we don't think that you will respond to hormone treatment. There is, however a very slim chance that you could fall pregnant naturally, as your FSH levels have dropped, but we won't take you on as a patient as we feel it will be a waste of time and money". I was of course again devastated. I really thought that after everything I had been doing, that I would at least now have a chance of starting an IVF program, so I started looking at other fertility clinics as options. I was more determined than ever and followed my holistic regime religiously as it was the only thing that was giving me hope.
Not long after this, I started to feel different. My instinct told me I was pregnant. I did two pregnancy tests, which were both negative. Very disappointing, but as I was still feeling a bit strange and had noticed some changes in my body, I decided to do one last test, on the morning of my 40th birthday... POSITIVE! I was pregnant! What an incredible birthday gift from God!
I still sometimes can't believe the journey I went on, in order to be where I am right now. I am so happy being a mother to our beautiful, healthy baby boy - what an incredible blessing!
The human body has an incredible ability to heal itself, along with the grace of God and natural medicine, a positive attitude and the incredible love and support of family and friends.
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