Lynette's story: The infertility trifecta

It's hard to know where to start. What I do know is that it's been one hell of a ride. I won the trifecta and not in the I’m at the Melbourne Cup and now I'm rich kind of way. I’m 1 in 10 women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), 1 in 10 women with endometriosis and 1 in 4 women who’ve suffered a miscarriage. Yay me!

If my 16-year-old self knew this would be my future, maybe I wouldn't have spent the past 16 years on the pill trying NOT to get pregnant.

After three years or more of trying to conceive (TTC), I’m now at a place where I can confidently say this doesn't define me. I’m not weak. I’m strong, I’m resilient and I feel empowered to have more conversations about my struggles, as unfortunately, I am not alone.

Where it all began

This all started about 3 years ago, when my partner, James and I decided to go off the pill and get my body into a baby-making shape. When I didn’t get my period for 1 whole year, I knew this was going to be a slow burn, not a race.

I was seeing a naturopath who treated my PCOS, and gut issues, which back then I thought was undiagnosed Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Every morning I took a concoction of supplements, which weren't really working, and tried to 'eat healthier' and limit booze.

However, my gut was inflamed and I was bloated all the time. To top it off, my period was back to its old tricks, showing up whenever it wanted. And boy when I got it, I got it. The pain was debilitating, I'm talking throwing up, can't move, diarrhoea, the works.

Around this time, I also started seeing an acupuncturist but was feeling like nothing made a difference.

Getting introduced to my new friend, Letrozole

Another year passed and my naturopath referred me to a fertility specialist from Genea. We took a whole bunch of tests, and for a while there, PCOS was the frontrunner for my fertility struggles.

Through Genea, I became acquainted with 'Letrozole' and ovulation induction. You’re monitored throughout your cycle with a series of blood tests and internal ultrasounds at certain times of your cycle. I’ve done about 6 rounds of Letrozole, 4 of which were monitored by the Genea nurses.

It's time-consuming, invasive and quite clinical, to the point where a nurse calls you to tell you what 3 days to have sex. Definitely, not like those sexy scenes in the movies.

I was prodded and poked a lot in the past couple of years, and every time a blood or ultrasounds result came through, it was always 'everything looks great', 'you have a healthy uterus', 'you definitely ovulated' blah, blah, blah.

So what the bloody hell??

The ‘E’ word

It wasn't until my 5th round of letrozole, after my feedback about my debilitating periods, that the E word was mentioned. Endometriosis.

After speaking with an Endo specialist about my history, not only with infertility but years of gut issues along with painful periods, Endo (a horrible condition affecting 1 in 10 women) quickly became the new frontrunner.

Fun fact. It takes around 6-10 years to diagnose Endo. Like seriously WTF?! So many women are suffering every day for years from a condition that is so poorly recognised in the medical industry. But that’s another story.

I had a laparoscopy, my first-ever hospital overnight visit which involved 4 incisions in my belly and about 3 weeks of recovery. I can say now the pain was worth it because it was a success, kinda. I was riddled with stage 2 and 3 Endo (not cool). While he was in there, he also did an ' ovarian drilling' procedure, to further assist with fertility.

It took about 6 weeks from my surgery for my period to return, and then we were back on the Letrozole.

Our angel baby

We went through the cycle like we normally do, having bloods and ultrasounds done, everything seemed fine and on track (like it usually does). And then it was D day. The day the nurses call to tell you whether you’re pregnant or not.

Now, I'd had about 5 of these calls already and we’d grown accustomed to hearing a sad 'no', so this time I was just on autopilot.

I will never forget the feeling I felt when she said ‘congratulations, you’re pregnant’.

Honestly, it was the best feeling in the world. Finally, after all the pain, suffering, tears, we finally did it. We got into happy we are pregnant mode, downloaded a pregnancy app to track how big our seed was growing, bought baby clothes online, debated baby names, bought our mums a 'best lola' and 'best' nan' top.

It was great, apart from having my partner inject me daily with 'Clexane' and the daily pessaries. I was feeling good, I was happy.

Until our 7-week scan.

Going into the scan, we were excited to see our little seed growing, and get our first photo, like the thousands I’ve had to scroll past on Instagram and see in the movies. Something I’d been waiting years for.

But when she opened her mouth to speak, I knew there was an issue.

Our little seed was only measuring at 5 weeks and there was no heartbeat. We were sent packing, clinging to the hope that implantation had taken a little longer than expected and our little seed was still growing.

That was the hardest 2-week wait of my life.

My partner was still injecting me daily, my boobs were sore and swollen, I wanted so badly for all of this to be a sign that our seed was hanging on.

But unfortunately, it wasn't our time. There was no longer anything growing in the sack - it was a Blighten ovum.

Getting a D&C

After everything I’ve been through in the past 3 years, I knew a miscarriage was a possibility. But when it happened, I was completely heartbroken. I had my cry, and it was time to move on to the next phase in my fertility journey. And this decision was not an easy one.

Do I wait to miscarry naturally? Do I take the drug? Do I book in a dilation and curettage (D&C)? After long deliberation, we decided to get a D&C. The procedure was quick and I’m glad I made that decision in the end.

What’s next?

It's not quite over for me yet, they found half a millimetre left in the sack after the D&C, so I need to get another scan. Here's bloody hoping it's gone, otherwise I will need to go under again.

They also took the sac away for testing and turns out our seed was a healthy male chromosome, which was extremely hard to hear. However, now our doctors have more data, and I am hopeful things will only get better from here.

It's definitely been a whirlwind of a ride, so we’re taking a break to focus on our wedding in Tassie this February. And we’ll restart our fertility journey, stronger than ever as man and wife.

And remember, never give up!