The Stats
According to Don Miller in A Million Miles in A Thousand Years, "a story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it." Everyone knows that a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and I want this to be a good story. One of the best. We all know how this is going to end--with the characters triumphing over the conflict--but I'm not sure what that's going to look like yet. Phil and I are still in the middle of this particular story, and we'd love for you to follow it with us as the rest unfolds.
Here's the beginning.
We started our investigation into what is wrong in December '14 when we went to visit a midwife. Her name was Jill, I saw her twice before she retired from midwifery, and I cried when she told me she was moving on because she was my best friend. I know that's crazy but she was REALLY REALLY good at her job--she was warm and fuzzy and you could tell from the moment you met her that she really cared about women and families. She was the perfect midwife. We'd been temping and charting for a while, but she recommended using OPKs (ovulation predictor kits) for three months before doing anything else. After three months and no dice, she wrote us a script to visit a fertility clinic.
We hesitated at first. I am still in school, and we talked about God's timing and what we were hoping to gain from visiting a fertility clinic. After a lot of prayer, we decided that we wanted to go and get all of the tests done just to see what we were dealing with. We would decide from there what to do next.
Phil went in for his tests, and I went in for mine. As with everything else in this process, Phil's tests was slightly less painful. Phil's test station had red velvet pillows and smooth jazz playing in the background (at least, I imagine that it did). Mine had crackers and orange juice for when I passed out cold after the sixteenth vial of blood was drawn. Then followed some slightly (and by slightly I mean extremely), ahem, invasive tests. I had to go for something called an HSG test, which checks the shape of your uterus and whether your tubes are open or obstructed. To all my friends who are going through this process: DO NOT, whatever you do, DO NOT google this test before going in, and DON'T watch any video testimonies on youtube. If you do, you might find yourself hyperventilating on the bathroom floor and telling the nurse that you'll have to reschedule. Take it from me, the rescheduling thing gets inconvenient. I know that this test is different for everyone, but it was actually not a big deal at all. If you have to do it, please text me and I'll tell you more about it. I barely felt anything! (The hyperventilating was way worse.)
Here are the results: I am stressed. SURPRISE!!! Who knew that a full time job, a full time academic workload, a house, and a family could stress you out? Here's the thing though: it was interesting (and depressing) to see the actual, clinical effects of stress on the body. Back in April during finals season when I underwent testing, I was in adrenal fatigue. My thyroid was (is) sluggish. I was severely deficient in many key vitamins, notably Vitamin D and Vitamin B12--both extremely vital for achieving and sustaining a pregnancy. My blood was of "poor quality" and I had an "insufficient amount". My cycle had shortened from a normal 26 days to 21 days due to the effect of stress on my hormone levels. And although I was ovulating regularly (and confirming through temps and OPKs), the doctor stamped my chart "ANOVULATORY" due to the poor quality of my eggs or some other reason that I didn't understand when he tried to explain. Ouch. Everything else, including the results from the HSG, came back normal.
Phil's tests were better. They test for three things, mainly: shape (morphology), speed (motility), and sheer number (count, in millions). The average numbers are as follows: 50% motility, 14% morphology, 20 million count. Phil's numbers are as follows: 40% motility, 1% morphology, and drumroll please...............................600 MILLION COUNT. That's a LOT of swimmers!!! The doctors were 1) shocked by the factory production level and 2) concerned that motility and morphology were on the low side. But I can do math, so I'm not worried (ha). If 14% morphology and 20 million count is normal, that means you are left with 2.8 million normal swimmers. 1% of 600 million is 6 million normal swimmers. So once again, Phil's factory wins medals for churning out quality product. (But let's take a minute to appreciate that Phil's factory also produces 594 million two headed monsters for every 6 million normal swimmers. Let's just say I'm glad I don't work there.)
So now you know a little about what we're dealing with. I'll update tomorrow with the steps we've taken so far. I'd like to take a second to thank everyone again who has reached out to let us know that they're there for us during this difficult and confusing time in our lives. It really means everything to hear that. Thank you also to the people who have come forward to tell me that they're in the same boat as we are, and that this blog has helped you, even just a little bit. I am blessed to be able to see God working wonders through my weakness already!!! I am humbled and overjoyed that I can actually help others by writing about this uncomfortable topic. Keep your chins up, ladies. He's listening.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8
Here's the beginning.
We started our investigation into what is wrong in December '14 when we went to visit a midwife. Her name was Jill, I saw her twice before she retired from midwifery, and I cried when she told me she was moving on because she was my best friend. I know that's crazy but she was REALLY REALLY good at her job--she was warm and fuzzy and you could tell from the moment you met her that she really cared about women and families. She was the perfect midwife. We'd been temping and charting for a while, but she recommended using OPKs (ovulation predictor kits) for three months before doing anything else. After three months and no dice, she wrote us a script to visit a fertility clinic.
We hesitated at first. I am still in school, and we talked about God's timing and what we were hoping to gain from visiting a fertility clinic. After a lot of prayer, we decided that we wanted to go and get all of the tests done just to see what we were dealing with. We would decide from there what to do next.
Phil went in for his tests, and I went in for mine. As with everything else in this process, Phil's tests was slightly less painful. Phil's test station had red velvet pillows and smooth jazz playing in the background (at least, I imagine that it did). Mine had crackers and orange juice for when I passed out cold after the sixteenth vial of blood was drawn. Then followed some slightly (and by slightly I mean extremely), ahem, invasive tests. I had to go for something called an HSG test, which checks the shape of your uterus and whether your tubes are open or obstructed. To all my friends who are going through this process: DO NOT, whatever you do, DO NOT google this test before going in, and DON'T watch any video testimonies on youtube. If you do, you might find yourself hyperventilating on the bathroom floor and telling the nurse that you'll have to reschedule. Take it from me, the rescheduling thing gets inconvenient. I know that this test is different for everyone, but it was actually not a big deal at all. If you have to do it, please text me and I'll tell you more about it. I barely felt anything! (The hyperventilating was way worse.)
Here are the results: I am stressed. SURPRISE!!! Who knew that a full time job, a full time academic workload, a house, and a family could stress you out? Here's the thing though: it was interesting (and depressing) to see the actual, clinical effects of stress on the body. Back in April during finals season when I underwent testing, I was in adrenal fatigue. My thyroid was (is) sluggish. I was severely deficient in many key vitamins, notably Vitamin D and Vitamin B12--both extremely vital for achieving and sustaining a pregnancy. My blood was of "poor quality" and I had an "insufficient amount". My cycle had shortened from a normal 26 days to 21 days due to the effect of stress on my hormone levels. And although I was ovulating regularly (and confirming through temps and OPKs), the doctor stamped my chart "ANOVULATORY" due to the poor quality of my eggs or some other reason that I didn't understand when he tried to explain. Ouch. Everything else, including the results from the HSG, came back normal.
Phil's tests were better. They test for three things, mainly: shape (morphology), speed (motility), and sheer number (count, in millions). The average numbers are as follows: 50% motility, 14% morphology, 20 million count. Phil's numbers are as follows: 40% motility, 1% morphology, and drumroll please...............................600 MILLION COUNT. That's a LOT of swimmers!!! The doctors were 1) shocked by the factory production level and 2) concerned that motility and morphology were on the low side. But I can do math, so I'm not worried (ha). If 14% morphology and 20 million count is normal, that means you are left with 2.8 million normal swimmers. 1% of 600 million is 6 million normal swimmers. So once again, Phil's factory wins medals for churning out quality product. (But let's take a minute to appreciate that Phil's factory also produces 594 million two headed monsters for every 6 million normal swimmers. Let's just say I'm glad I don't work there.)
So now you know a little about what we're dealing with. I'll update tomorrow with the steps we've taken so far. I'd like to take a second to thank everyone again who has reached out to let us know that they're there for us during this difficult and confusing time in our lives. It really means everything to hear that. Thank you also to the people who have come forward to tell me that they're in the same boat as we are, and that this blog has helped you, even just a little bit. I am blessed to be able to see God working wonders through my weakness already!!! I am humbled and overjoyed that I can actually help others by writing about this uncomfortable topic. Keep your chins up, ladies. He's listening.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8
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