The Story So Far.
- Dec 10, 2024
- 3 min read
Mentions pregnancy and miscarriage
Our fertility story started in January 2021. After 10+ years on the combined pill I made the scary decision to stop taking it, with the very naïve belief that within a few months I'd be pregnant.
Spoiler Alert: we're still trying for our first...
I soon realised things were not going to be straightforward when I'd only had 2 periods in 7 months. I went to my GP and by October 2021 I'd had blood tests and an ultrasound scan that confirmed I had polycystic ovary syndrome and I was referred to my local NHS fertility clinic.
I'd read horror stories of women waiting 12+ months for NHS fertility appointments but I was lucky enough to be seen in February 2022 and started my first cycle of letrozole in May 2022.
My first cycle wasn't successful. I didn't respond to the letrozole.
They increased the dose and it worked, I ovulated and 2 weeks later I had my first positive pregnancy test. I couldn't believe it. 18 months of trying and we'd finally got there. Unfortunately, a week later I started bleeding and it was confirmed I'd had a miscarriage.
We tried a third cycle of letrozole that was also unsuccessful and then decided to take a break from the medication. We were getting married and the miscarriage hit me hard. Thankfully my periods were fairly regular at this point so we carried on trying naturally.
November 2023 - now married, with no success without medication and no upcoming major life events, we decided to restart the letrozole treatment. This time round I over-responded to the first cycle and with the risk of quintuplets the clinic advised me not to try that month and they reduced the dose.
In February 2024, I found out I was pregnant again. I was more cautious this time given our history but as the weeks went past I let myself believe it was happening. We had a scan at 6+5 weeks and we saw a heartbeat, we told our parents. Then I started bleeding and I knew it wasn't going to be good news. At 7+5 weeks it was confirmed I was having my second miscarriage.
I had expectant management and it took weeks.
In Oxfordshire, women get referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic after 2 miscarriages so at least it felt like something was being done. They did blood tests for lupus and antiphospholipid syndrome and some of my results came back as slightly abnormal. But not abnormal enough to confirm there was an issue so they wanted to repeat them, which meant waiting 12 long weeks to have my blood taken again. And during that time we were advised not to try again.
August 2024 - the repeat tests were all normal and we were finally able to restart letrozole. And my fertility consultant had given me progesterone pessaries to take after ovulation to try to fix my short luteal phase. We remained optimistic. We'd gotten pregnant with letrozole before and now we had the progesterone to help it stick around.
4 cycles later and no positive tests.
We'll have been trying to conceive for 4 years in January and I've had enough. The endless tracking of cycles, planning your life around your cycle and making sure you're both together in your fertile week, hospital appointments after hospital appointments after hospital appointments, it takes its toll. To be eligible for IVF on the NHS you can't have had a confirmed pregnancy in the previous 2 years, even if this pregnancy ended in miscarriage. For us, that means March 2026. I can only have 2-3 more cycles of letrozole and once that is finished there are no other treatment options. So we've made the decision to go privately for IVF and our first consultation is in the new year.
This blog is my way of documenting our IVF experience and maybe it will help others that are going through the same thing. Infertility is a dark and lonely place to be. It takes over your life and there's no escaping from it. Hearing other peoples' experiences have helped me a lot over the past 4 years so I hope this helps someone some day.
Ask questions, share your thoughts, share your stories.
L x
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