“It’s not easy to hear that you may struggle to have children, especially when people around you fall pregnant so easily…”
As a 27 year old woman, it’s not easy to be told you suffer from unexplained infertility. At any age, it’s not easy to hear that you may struggle to have children, especially when people around you fall pregnant so easily. This is the reason we started fertility treatment.
We had been trying for almost a year when I was misdiagnosed with endometriosis and keyhole surgery showed nothing but a healthy uterus. You can imagine the disappointment, as all we wanted was an answer as to why we couldn’t fall pregnant.
When we began our Fertility Journey, it became apparent that it was going to be difficult financially, emotionally, and physically. As a teacher in a Catholic school, I was very limited in what I could say at the workplace, so telling my boss was incredibly hard. It was challenging to be able to verbalise the fact that you were requiring fertility treatments, and work in an environment that appears very against this sort of thing.
I was lucky that when I shared my Fertility Journey with my boss, they were incredibly supportive, letting me have as much time off as required.
I scheduled all appointments for 7 AM, I would line up for bloods 15 minutes before the pathology centre opened to make sure I was first in line, and where possible, I tried to limit my absence from work.
We chose to tell immediate family as I wanted support and a shoulder to cry on when needed. Unfortunately, they found it hard to understand anything I was going through, so at many points, they said the wrong thing, which made me feel worse. I found an IVF support group through social media which provided me with the kind of support I definitely needed during this time.
Unfortunately for us, our IUIs were not successful. When we made the decision to go through with IVF we were fully supported by our clinic with no judgements made. This was everything I needed and more. After a difficult and emotional journey, we welcomed our identical twin daughters into the world after a single embryo transfer.
If I could give one piece of advice to anyone going through fertility treatments, it would be talk to someone. Whether it be a psychologist, your partner, or someone who has or is currently going through fertility treatment, they are the ones who will listen to you and be there for you. A support network is everything when you feel alone and like the world is against you.
