Part 1: I’M PREGNANT! Behind The Scenes Of The Hardest 2.5 Years of My Life.
Today I am sharing a story that is profoundly different from the usual entrepreneurial discussions we have here. This one is deeply personal.
Before going further, I want to extend a trigger warning. Throughout this post and the subsequent one, I’ll be referencing pregnancy loss, the journey of IVF, mentions of suicide (related to someone else in my life), and an extensive conception journey.
The past two and a half years have been a rollercoaster of emotions, experiences, and realisations guided by my journey towards pregnancy. I’ve wanted to share this story with you for so long. And now, finally, we’re here. We’re pregnant.
My journey, though marked with some of the most challenging moments of my life, has taught me so much about resilience, determination, and hope. It’s been a process of healing generational trauma, physical hardships, spiritual discoveries, and emotional extremes. I feel an intense vulnerability unveiling this story, but it feels like the right time.
You don’t have to be on an extended conception journey or an IVF route for this story to resonate with you. If you’re a person facing a hard time, I hope my story offers you strength, insight, and courage. Especially, if you’re running your own business, I hope my story inspires you, just as it has inspired me, despite the hardships.
The Beginning of our Journey
Our journey began in March 2021. Chay, my husband, and I had just married after seven years as a couple. Having a family was not just an aspiration for us; it was an inherent longing, especially for me. Around the time of our marriage, we decided to go the extra mile to ensure our health was in optimum condition for conception. Little did we know about the rollercoaster ride that lay ahead.
By the end of 2021, after months of tests, disappointments, and gaining few answers, I was feeling extremely isolated and defeated. Despite the arduous journey, my hope stayed constant. I had been visited by a little girl many times in my dreams, and I intuitively knew she would be earth side someday. But it was incredibly challenging, especially when the joy of our extended family was centred around pregnancies and new babies at that time.
During this time of an extreme sense of longing, both Chay and I decided that we needed to bring some extra joy into our lives. In November 2021, we welcomed a new member to our family. Olive, our Groodle puppy brought invaluable rays of happiness to our lives and to say this dog has filled a void would be an understatement. Olive has been an absolute ray of sunshine, a source of comic relief and was a source of light in a dark time.
The Turn to Western Medicine
2022 marked our decision to involve Western medicine in our conception journey. The environment around us was very challenging, with bouts of COVID and the world in a pandemic. This presented new isolation issues. By the way, if you’ve been through extended conception during COVID, my heart goes out to you. We faced round-the-clock testing in an IVF clinic, and the physical load of the journey was incredibly draining.
Yet this year also brought some answers. Our fertility doctor diagnosed me with genetics-induced PCOS, providing a sense of relief. Now we knew that nothing we were doing was hindering us, but it was an inherited health issue I needed to address. Looking back at 2022, it was one of the most taxing years of our lives.
The Support System
Throughout this process, I’ve had unquantifiable support from Chay, my husband, my amazing friends, my acupuncturist, and, of course, my fertility doctor.
Chay’s unwavering support has gotten me through my darkest times. Even though he was right there with me absolutely devastated at every new hurdle, every negative pregnancy test, Chay was there for me. He did every injection, provided moral support, held space for all my emotions, and reinforced our strong bond as a married couple.
Sharing my story so far has been a whirlwind, and there’s still part two to come where I’ll talk to our IVF journey, a story of loss, and the happy ending. I can’t wait to share that with you very soon.
LINKS:
Naturopath: Natalie Douglas https://nataliekdouglas.com/
Acupuncturist: Queenie (Yanshan) Wu https://bqacupuncture.com.au/
Fertility Dr: Dr Tamara Hunter of Monash IVF https://monashivf.com/specialists/dr-tamara-hunter/
LINKS:
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