My husband and I are childhood sweethearts and met at 14 years old. We were never in a rush to have children, but once we decided the time was right in October 2019 to start TTC, we didn’t think it would be such a bumpy road ahead.
After a few months, I started to suspect something wasn’t quite right. It was happening so easily for others around us and yet we weren’t getting any signs anything was happening. 9 months in TTC we decided to get some initial tests done on the NHS (UK) which all came back “normal”.
After a year TTC, we decided to pay for more extensive tests and go privately. That’s when it was found I had endometriosis due to visible endometriomas on one of my ovaries. I was relieved, shocked and devastated all at once, but glad I could start making plans for fertility treatment.
We were given three options; surgery, IUI or IVF. They explained they didn’t know how extensive the endometriosis was but that all our other tests were good so left it to us to decide. We went ahead with a self-funded round of IVF on July 21 which resulted in abnormal fertilisation and a high number of immature eggs so no embryos at all, it had failed.
That was the lowest point we have ever encountered and I can’t pretend we weren’t distraught and it genuinely felt like a loss.
After giving ourselves a few months to recover emotionally (and myself physically), we started the process to refer ourselves for one more round of IVF on the NHS (UK) and surgery to remove the endometriosis. After being told that the waiting list for surgery was most likely a year, we took the plunge and found a fertility and endo specialist who performed excision and ablation surgery on April 22.
I was diagnosed with stage 3 endometriosis which she said was very extensive.
Since the first IVF round and excision surgery, we have been working on cleaning up our lifestyle, spending quality time together as a couple and travelling so that infertility isn’t the driving force in our lives anymore (easier said than done).
We are currently on the waiting list for our NHS-funded IVF round which is estimated to start in the Autumn (September) of 2022.
Infertility doesn’t get easier but opening up and sharing our experience has helped me process the grief, frustration and loneliness of it all. I am beyond grateful to those family members and friends who check in, rant, shout and cry with me and encourage me to talk about it out loud because without them I don’t think I would have been brave enough to share my story.
I just hope our story helps others else feel less alone!
Leila shares her story from the United Kingdom.
Thank you for sharing x Emma & Lynette.
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