A new bloggable purpose...

It is a little known fact to people outside my little social circle and salon (aka maybe 5 people) that James and I are thinking about starting a family of our own.

By thinking I mean we are ready to take the plunge.
I have officially started walking baby aisles randomly for reasons other than showers - I call it research. I have been on Etsy almost more often than I was for my wedding looking at nursery ideas, cute outfits - ya know..for the baby we aren't even having. Also research. It's safe to say I have the bug. We are super excited. Soooo with all of that being so dang super....there is a hiccup. My body SUCKS. Not like crap I need to lose 10 pounds and this acne just won't go away sucks but like oh my wow my internal workings are all kinds of crazy sucks. I realize I have taken for granted how bad things with people's bodies can truly be. While I have stressed over excessive hair, acne, and vanity pounds others have serious issues. So in retrospect what I am about to go on a bit of a rant about is something I hope to one day roll my eyes about and say ummm you thought YOU had it bad?!
Ok so back to the acne, excessive hair growth, and weight issue...it's for a reason people!

 Why didn't I know this back in like middle school?! PCOS!
Let's start from the beginning:

James and I decided in October I would stop taking my birth control pills, meet with my super sweet and sassy OBGYN for a preconception appt and be on our road to parenthood. Easy right?! Everyone is like you better be ready, it happens so fast, my husband just winks at me and I'm pregnant, oh my gosh happened on our first try, I am the virgin Mary...ya get the picture. We were going to have a baby and quick. I was following all of the steps..No BC for three months before trying, take prenatals, you know that drill. Well at the appt I mentioned a previous OBGYN said that my lining was thin and that when we decided to start trying for  a baby it would be a good idea to have that checked just in case I needed some sort of medicine to thicken it up so our baby could attach. Well my Dr. took us into the ultrasound room and instead of finding a thin lining she found tons of tiny little cysts lining my ovary like a string of pearls (her words). She said this was abnormal in the sense of how it looks but not abnormal for someone who has a history of weirdly timed to non existent periods, acne, excessive hair, and weight gain. Enter exhibit A) what pcos looks like in the ovary. ( not mine just so you know)

 

See the difference? What does this mean?

Quick rundown!

 

(Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) is one of the leading causes of infertility in women. Approximately five to ten percent of women of childbearing age have PCOS. Most women with PCOS don’t even know that they have it. In fact, less than twenty-five percent of women with PCOS have actually been diagnosed. Most women do not get a diagnosis until they begin trying to get pregnant. Some of the symptoms of PCOS may be overlooked until a woman starts trying to conceive a baby.

What is PCOS?

PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, is a medical condition that affects women’s menstrual cycles, fertility, hormone levels, and physical appearance. Women with PCOS produce high levels of insulin. Researchers believe that excessive insulin production causes their bodies to respond by producing high levels of male hormones or androgens.

During the first half of a normal menstrual cycle, several follicles will develop. Each follicle contains an egg. As the menstrual cycle continues, only one follicle will remain. This follicle will produce the egg during ovulation. Once the egg has matured, LH levels will surge causing the egg to burst from the follicle. This is when ovulation occurs.

Excess male hormones produced with PCOS affect the production of female hormones necessary for ovulation. A woman with PCOS does not produce enough hormones to cause any of the follicles to mature. They may grow and collect fluid but none become large enough for ovulation. Some of these follicles may develop into cysts. Because ovulation does not occur, progesterone is not produced. Progesterone is what causes the lining of the uterus to thicken. A woman’s cycle will be irregular or absent without progesterone.

 

And as we all know - without regular cycles and ovulation no mini Stell is in our near future! Sad!

 

After processing this a minute back in December I asked how we should move forward.
Was there a forward?

Well my friends with modern medicine, patience, and resilience YES we could (and did) move forward!

 

So I've decided to use this blog to document our journey to bringing a fabulous little mini Stell into this crazy world. I think this will be helpful not only to my mind, soul, well being, sanity (whatever works for you) I think it will be a fantastic outlet so I don't drive my friends and loved ones absolutely insane. See! Love my friends! So considerate! I am going to spare them my nasty ovulation details, my cervical mucus charts and my oh my gosh my temp spiked! moments! Yes. This will be my outlet for all of my TTC (trying to conceive for any newbies) thoughts, emotions, moments... Yes, my own therapy. This is going to be good ;)

 

So with all of that said: Welcome to my TTC blog. I have PCOS. It won't get the best of me and my little family to one day be :)
Catch that rhyme? See, I totally need a kid.

Maybe a girl who searches random blogs for hope night after night just like I do will run across this blog and not feel helpless or alone. This condition is common but no matter how common - hearts can be broken.  Hearts yearn. This heart will be strong because I know we have a plan.

 I know our amazing God has a plan.

That, my friends, is why I am so excited to share our story.
To reach out to others. To document miracles.
So very excited!

Our mini Stell is loved more than words can descibe already by me, James and so many others...
Can't even imagine how we will feel when he is really cooking away inside ;) Crazy!

 

Ok, enough for now. Just wanted to share the new purpose of the blog.
Get ready for some baby makin' good times!
Yeah, I went there.

 

XOXO

 

Lauren