These people are so full of shit! From October 2, 2014:
https://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_storie ... ory-video/
When did you find out about having endometriosis?
Endometriosis is an awful disease. I knew something was wrong when I was about 15 years old and was in constant chronic pain, but it was hard finding a doctor to take me seriously. They all just told me ‘it’s normal,’ ‘it’s part of being a woman and growing up.’ I knew in my gut that it WASN’T normal.
I finally found a doctor three years ago that said she suspected endometriosis and she sent me to a surgeon to get diagnosed. It could have been caught so much earlier if someone would have just listened to me.
Because of my experience I will know exactly what to look for in my girls and I will NOT let it progress as far as mine did. No one should have to go through years of physical pain to years of emotional pain with infertility. It’s time to start talking about this more, get women better educated and to find a cure! It’s nothing to be ashamed of and no — you are not crazy for feeling like something more is wrong with you when everyone says it’s normal!
Can you share with us about the years you were trying to conceive leading up to IVF?
We decided after being married for a little over a year to start trying. We didn’t think getting pregnant would be an issue, but it was — for years. The doctor told me ‘sometimes it just takes time’ and that I am young so there was nothing to worry about. Since I was never properly diagnosed with endometriosis it was just labeled as ‘unexplained infertility.’
I fought and fought for an answer and no one could give me one. They just kept saying things like ‘diet and exercise,’ ‘just relax,’ — like that’s a real medical treatment for infertility and if I just relax it will magically happen! Let me tell you, never getting a real answer makes you go CRAZY! You feel like you are failing at something every month that you have no control over. You just know that you want something so bad and no one is giving you a reasonable source to get to it.
Finally getting a diagnosis was a relief, but it was also bad news. Having stage 4 endometriosis and the amount of scar tissue I had meant they couldn’t remove as much as they wanted to. The plan with the surgery was that I was supposed to be able to get pregnant within four months of having it, which came and went and nothing. I felt lost again.
Tell me a little bit about affording infertility treatments:
This is the part that sucks the most because insurance pays NOTHING for infertility. Not a dime, not even for medications! Apparently your reproductive organs not functioning properly isn’t a medical issue, and both intrauterine insemination (IUI) and IVF are considered elective surgeries.
We met with an incredible fertility specialist and made a plan (finally!) but it was just SO expensive! After 4 failed IUIs and lots of emotion (thanks in part to Clomid) our last step was IVF. If IVF didn’t work we would move to adoption, but that’s scary too. After eight incredibly long years of negative after negative I was so scared to try the adopt route. Were we ever going to get picked? Some people who would be incredible parents have been there for years and not even a nibble.
People say all the time ‘just adopt’ as if it is only that easy. Like I just walk into an adoption agency and look at all those sweet babies and say ‘yes, I’ll take that one!’ And walk out. It’s A LOT more than that, and I admire people who have done it.
We finally got enough money to make the big jump into IVF in May. Between all the medication and procedures and tests that go into it, we were looking at about $12,000! A small price to pay to make our dreams come true, though. We cleaned out our savings and happily handed it over.
What, if anything, surprised you about IVF?
IVF is rough! If you know someone going through infertility treatments give them a hug!
We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we were unified and ready to stand up to the beast called infertility. Three shots every morning and pills and medication and doctor appointments sometimes every day. It literally consumes your every waking moment.
I was surprised that my endometriosis had compromised my eggs. We had hoped that we would have enough to freeze so that if IVF didn’t work we could do it again and have it be about a fourth of the cost. We were wrong. We had NOTHING to freeze. Just our 2 little fighters that held on strong. It was our last shot, and a 4o percent chance of even getting one baby and those are not odds you like to hear when you hand over that amount of money and you have out your body through so much, but it was all we needed.
RIP Mom 3/16/2019 - Cancer Sucks 
