Though this is about our adoption process, I think its helpful to many women who are going through the pregnancy struggle to hear about other things people have tried. For us, none of them were successful but this doesn’t mean they aren’t worth trying for you.
At our first appointment our doctor drew us many diagrams and explained so many things about the reproductive systems that were extremely interesting. He performed an internal ultrasound to see if he could see any issues and indicated that I likely had endometriosis. He also requested Jason to have a semen analysis.
The doctor recommended that I have an HSG, this is a Hysterosalpingography which is an x-ray text to outline the internal shape of the uterus to show whether the Fallopian tubes are blocked. My results were negative, no issues found.
We also chose to have a universal genetic screen done. This was extremely interesting as they took our blood and sent it off to see what genetically we could likely pass onto a child. Nothing too scary came back here either.
For health benefits they recommended I take a preconception formula and Jason a male fertility formula as well as both of us taking a high dose of probiotic daily. We tried the brand PrologHealth for about 6 months. We then tried a brand called Premama for about 3 months. Then we tried a brand called Eu Natural for another 3 months. From what I was reading I felt like I should feel something while on these to better understand by body. None of them seemed to make me feel anything different. But again, we are all different.
The doctors also recommended that we both exercise achieving a heart rate of 75-80% of target for 30 minutes daily but we couldn’t do anything too strenuous. They suggested we eat a Mediterranean-style diet with increased protein and low simple carbohydrates. Weight management, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption are typical topics as well though this was never something that came into place for us.
Jason ended up seeing a urologist and having a procedure completed to fix a varicocele. I ended up having a laparoscopy done to remove endometriosis and some cysts.
At our follow up appointments they told us nothing physically should be stopping us from naturally conceiving, yet, no baby. They gave us tons of forms on IVF and injections we could try. We opted to try naturally for a few more months and really take some time to pray.
Over the course, of the 5 years I tracked my cycles, I tracked activity days and anything that I felt could be important. I opted to try a sensor to monitor ovulation by temperature, the one I used is called OvuSense. Though I found this incredibly interesting and that data was interesting it obviously for us didn’t lead to a pregnancy. I took myself off allergy medication because I read that it can thicken mucus and that could have an effect on the sperm safely traveling to wherever they were supposed to go. I found a product highly recommended called Pre-Seed, this is a personal lubricant that you use prior to intercourse and its supposed to mimic the body’s fluids to help the sperm to travel. I found an all natural tea to help increase fertility. I hate tea but I tried it religiously for a while.
We went for months at a time trying not to talk about it and just forget about it hoping that maybe, just maybe, the removed stress would help. It didn’t do anything except maybe make those failed months after months harder emotionally to handle because it was the unspoken.
As much as I have always wanted to carry a baby, even if I get pregnant today I want to continue this journey through the adoption process. We feel as though God is working in our lives and we have been called on this journey together. I must admit since we committed to each other that this was going to be the way we move forward the months go by and the sadness fades, the excitement grows and my heart continues to love more and more each day.
Here are links to all the stuff we have tried if you want to check them out.
Prolog Health Preconception Formula
Prolog Health Male Fertility Formula
Garden Of Life Women’s 50 Billion CFU Probiotic
Garden Of Life Men’s 40 Billion CFU Probiotic
Laurin & Jason's Adoption Story 
Laurin Jason & Tyler I’m excited to see what plan God has for you for growing your family! I will keep you all in my prayers! 💗💙
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Thanks Susan!
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