Sponsored By :: Austin Regional Clinic

By :: Asia Shah

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Getting Pregnant: A Challenge I Had Not Considered

Lying on my back in the exam room at Austin Regional Clinic, I scanned the hundreds of photographs that lined the walls. Elated parents of squishy new babies smiled back at me. These babies owe their existence to Dr. Maya Bledsoe, I thought. As I waited, I wondered if my family’s photo would someday join the others.

My journey to motherhood began in 2012 when I saw Dr. Paul Bushart, my Ob/Gyn at Austin Regional Clinic, to verify that my body was ready for pregnancy. Instead, I received distressing news—I was not ovulating with each cycle. Dr. Bushart reassured me that this did not mean I couldn’t have kids. It only meant my body needed a little help. Still, I was freaked out at encountering a challenge I hadn’t considered.

Dr. Bushart referred us to reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Maya Bledsoe. I became a frequent visitor to her office for ultrasounds, blood tests, and discussions about my body’s progress. Dr. Bledsoe put me on Chlomid, an oral medication that succeeded in getting my body to grow egg follicles and to ovulate.

Once the follicles were the ideal size, I had an intrauterine insemination or “IUI.” First, I was given a shot in the stomach to make sure that my eggs would be released. The next day, my husband’s sperm was inserted directly into my uterus with a syringe. After that, I spent 15 minutes laying still, gazing longingly at the photos of happy families.

My husband, Kamran, and I were told that I could take a pregnancy test in two weeks, but this method takes an average of six cycles to work. “Seeing how things go” doesn’t come naturally to me. Rather, obsessing, worrying, and fearing the worst is more my style. I began to question everything I did, from running to drinking coffee.

I am a lifelong runner and, because I had Dr. Bledsoe’s okay, I figured that running would be a perfect way for me to counter the anxiety-filled—yet hopeful—balloon swelling within me. One day after the IUI, in the middle of a 20-mile run with Kamran, I stopped suddenly. I began to cry. “I must be killing it!” I told Kamran.

Ten days after the IUI, I was at home alone, working on a two-thousand-piece puzzle when I decided to go to the pharmacy and buy just about every type of pregnancy test they had. Kamran still teases me about how many tests I took that day to confirm what I thought I saw. Two lines. Faint little lines that I knew I saw, but maybe I didn’t. Finally, one test’s bold little letters “P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T,” convinced me. Elated, we calculated the due date and marveled at the idea of our new baby. On September 8th, 2014 at 4:41 AM I pushed our daughter into the world.

Eight months later, I got my first post-partum period. To me this meant one thing. We could try for a second baby. My son was conceived after three IUI cycles. The addition of a mere two cycles multiplied my anxiety and impatience at least tenfold. To many couples who have gone through many months—or years—of infertility, it probably sounds laughable that having to try for three months caused me to go nutzo. And yet, it did.

In hindsight, our experience with IUI pregnancy was as ideal as it gets. The most frustrating part for me, was the biological reality of the female body—you get one go at it each month, and that’s it. This is something all young girls learn, yet it only sinks in when you find your hopes soaring at the beginning of a cycle only to come crashing down when the next one begins.

Sharing our pain makes us feel exposed so people tend to keep their stories hidden below the surface, like an iceberg.

Yet, sharing is important because learning about others who have faced similar struggles can be comforting. Knowing you are not alone isn’t a cure for the pain and disappointment of infertility. Rather, it functions like a little icepack for your heart. You will still bruise, and after you thaw out, the throbbing will slowly return. But maybe it will be just a tad less painful as a result.

Here I sit, the elated parent of a newly minted two-year-old girl and a squishy two-month-old boy. I look at them and I am in awe that they are mine. Kamran and I are incredibly grateful to both Dr. Paul Bushart and Dr. Maya Bledsoe for their compassion and support in helping make this our reality. We will never forget their roles in helping us create our happy family.

1 COMMENT

  1. Awww. So good to come across this Asia. Congrats and very happy for you & Kamran! I have a little 6mo old boy myself, so reading this makes my heart smile. Hope all is well with y’all!

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