Kimmy’s Tips

Been There, Done That...

I researched the definition of "preconception" and it read as follows:

"A conception formed in advance of adequate knowledge or experience".

For me, this definition prompts me to remember all the events I experienced prior to eventually becoming pregnant and giving birth to my first son, Jayden.  It also is a sharp reminder of the many years (5 years to be exact) that my husband and I spent running around in circles trying to achieve a successful pregnancy.  Before I go into detail, these are the most important 5 words to live by if you experience any delay in successfully falling pregnant or have any possible or confirmed fertility complications...

Here they are...

"GO STRAIGHT TO THE TOP!!!".

Which simply means go to the most qualified, experienced private infertility specialists in your town (don’t bother with the public system as they’ll have you taking your temperature for the next 2 decades and any additional examinations will be subject to long drawn out processes before any possible conclusions) and book in for a consultation.  From personal experience and opinion I will explain why.

After marrying in 2000, my husband and I decided to go off the pill and as most couples do after marriage just “let nature take its course”.  Well after a period of some time, it became apparent that this indeed simply wasn’t happening, so after some preliminary blood tests and an ultrasound later, it was determined like a growing percentage of the female population, that I now had PCOS Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.  It is a condition which occurs in five to ten percent of women of reproductive age.  It is associated with a hormonal imbalance that can cause a variety of symptoms.  More information link: http://www.managingpcos.org.au/content/view/13/26/.

So not being covered in private health care we entered into the public system and were introduced to a long and tedious process of mailed appointment letters resulting in 10 minute rushed appointments where little more than my temperatures were monitored and minor drug trials initiated.  Very soon it became clear that this was not going to be the answer we were looking for.

We then heard about an amazing clinic promising increased fertility by using the daily ingestion of a tonic like supplement (which turned out to be a foul tasting brown mixture), we too tried this but weren’t prepared to leave our baby making to fate when we were again being warned it could take up to a year to see results...  We soon abandoned this option also and reserved ourselves to the fact that maybe we weren’t meant to have children as ‘private IVF etc” would be too far out of our price range.

Than destiny stepped in... I had been given the number of an acclaimed “fertility specialist” by my sister, who claimed had been helping couples to realise their baby making potential.  I had become reserved to hope by this point and filed his number away but eventually decided to give him a call.  We visited Dr Warren De Ambrosis, founder of the QLD Fertility Group in the city and it wasn’t long before we were pregnant!

Through in depth discussions and analysis, not only on myself but on my husband also, our strengths and weaknesses were diagnosed.  We commenced drug therapy, almost immediately and after diagnosis, and through meticulous, precision like monitoring and participation, we were successfully pregnant within 2 months of our first visit!!

Now I here you say that it must have cost a small fortune, but the fees were well within our modest incomes and separated into easy to pay invoices that were very manageable so it didn’t feel like we were suffering a financial burden.

Understandably, all cases are unique and different people experience different results but the most important advice I can give anyone is, “ don’t waste time going in all different directions trying to make a baby happen”, instead, “go to the best at the start” and you could save yourself years of disappointment in a preoccupation where age is a relevant factor.