I wanted to share our story so that you can see where we started and how far we have come. Our story starts when I had been in Texas for 2 years after taking a leap of faith with God's direction for my life. I was feeling lost and wondering why on earth had God sent me to Texas for 2 years. My husband Andy and I met through e-Harmony in the summer of 2008. When we were matched I acutally got on to close my account. I was preparing to move back home to Illinois to be with my family. I was in the process of accepting a great position in St. Louis where I could be close to my childhood best friend who was expecting her first child. I was setting myself up to return to those I loved the most and the ones that loved me the most.
Then comes Andy. He changed my life. I knew from our very first date that this was going to be the man that I was going to marry. He charmed me, wooed me, and loved me for me. He truly is my best friend and my soul mate.
We married in the summer of 2009 and immediately started trying to start a family. As I was 28 and fixin on 29 we were anxious to get started. We both married as we were older and knew that we wanted a family right away.
After 6 months of not being successful we sought help from a local OBGYN. I was immediately given a low dose of Clomid without any testing. I took Clomid for one cycle and was not monitored. I was given no information about the medication side effects so you can imagine my surprise when I ended up in the ER with hyper-stimulated and in incredible pain. Many tests later and 900 miles away from home and my OBGYN I was told to rest and be very careful not to do too much so I could avoid losing an ovary. As you can imagine this was all very traumatic and I was left hurting not only physically but emotionally. I was scared and confused not really understanding why I was going through all of this.
That was when I decided I was going to take control of my infertility decisions. I was going to become informed and ensure that I educated myself on infertilty and treatments and my options. When I made that decision I unconsciously made the decision to push God to the backburner and rely on myself to "fix" my fertility issues.
When we got back to Texas from visiting my family my husband and I talked to a friend and his wife who had infertility treatments in Houston. We made an appointment with a Reproductive Endocrynologist right away and went to see her. This doctor ran several tests and stated that physically everything looked great with the exception of my weight. My husband's test all came back great. When she sat us down she told me that I was too fat for her to help me get pregnant. She told me that I was not healthy enough and she would not help me get pregnant until I had lost weight.
As you can imagine this was crushing. So many things went through my mind. My feelings were incredibly hurt and I was devestated. Talk about a blow to your already less than pristine self image. I had every opportunity to give up but instead I got stubborn. :) Those of you who know me know that I don't often back down from a challenge and I'll bend over backward to make accomplish something I've set my mind to. I hired a personal trainer and worked for 3 months at 2x/week in the gym and at home in addition to that. I gained 5 pounds. Instead of giving up again I was angry. I hated my body and had a hard time understanding why my body would not cooperate with weight loss and with getting pregnant. I made the decision that my weight was NOT going to prevent me from the deepest desire of my heart and in November of 2010 I had a vertical sleeve gastronomy done. 3 months after the surgery I started with a new OBGYN.
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