How Eating Healthy Has {Probably} Helped My Fertility.


My husband can remember many events from his childhood but ironically, can’t remember an important conversation we had the night before. I, however, can’t remember much about my childhood but I can recall current events in my life pretty well.  After all, I am a woman.
What I do remember is that ever since I was a child, I was obsessed with babies. I would play house all the time with our Treasure Troll baby that was ironically named “Jack”.
  
When my younger sister was born, I was barely 19 months old and as my mom would nurse her, I would nurse my baby dolls. For Christmas, I would beg for a Baby so Beautiful and to this day, I still remember the jingle. You’re my Baby so Beautiful, you look just like me!
So after the ectopic pregnancy, I’ve had to cross so many emotion-bridges that I didn’t ever want to cross. What if I can never have kids again? It’s true, I still have both of my ovaries and my right tube but I have no way of knowing, month to month, which side I am ovulating from.  Most people who have had an ectopic pregnancy and have had their tube burst now have, what they call, intermittent infertility.  Some months, it will be almost impossible for me to get pregnant while other months, I have just as good of a change as any other woman. That is, if my tube is in good working order and not blocked. The doctor may have mentioned something about that tube after the surgery but everything that happened in those 24 hours is mostly a blur.
Then, if I get pregnant, I have a 10-25% chance of having a second ectopic pregnancy. The good news is that about 85% of women, who have ectopic pregnancies, go on to have a normal pregnancy thereafter.  There is hope!
Even though we’re not trying right now, I am preparing my body for when the time will come. We’ve decided that while I am still doing my internship and while we have yet to hear back from the University of Utah for Tyler’s hopeful Master’s program acceptance, we should wait for a few more months until we have some idea as to where we will be living. So for the time being, I am preparing my body for the awesomeness of morning sickness, sore hips, and leaking boobs.
As I’ve said before, my choice to eat wholesome and healthy foods was to get myself in the best health. However, besides the weight loss, I haven’t really noticed a difference in my overall health. I still smell non-existent smells (I call it my brain tumor acting up again even though I’ve never been diagnosed with a brain tumor) which is pretty much my only “out of the norm” health maladies. But now something has changed and I think it’s because of my diet.
My periods have always been pretty normal except that they were a bit longer than what was accepted as average. I would have a 30-32 day cycle where I would ovulate on day 15 or so. Not too far off from the usual 28 day cycle and 14 day luteal phase that most women have.  Then, after having Jack, I had significantly heavier periods. I could soak through a super-plus tampon in an hour on my heaviest day but the good news was that my periods only lasted 3 days.  Now, they have completely changed and I attribute it to running and my diet.
After the ectopic, it took a while for my period to return. Actually, it took 6 weeks (which is average).  After that, it was all over the place! One month, I had a normal 32 day cycle, one month it was a 36 day cycle (this was because I was running 10+ miles some days for training and I’m pretty sure it screwed it up a bit), the next month it was a 27 day cycle (I’m not completely sure, but I think I may have had a chemical pregnancy then) but then it began to consistently be a 28 day cycle.  Huh?
In all my years of womanhood, my periods have never been perfect. Never! But you can’t ignore Aunt Flo and her calculations. I looked over the last months and it was true; I am now on a perfect cycle ovulating on or somewhere near cycle day 14. I don’t use tampons anymore and instead, I use the DivaCup. Oh the glorious DivaCup! That thing deserves its own review post!
It’s too early to know if I will be able to get pregnant but I can tell that my body has improved and healed itself. 

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I am amazed on so man different levels! I love your openness and spirit. And quite frankly I am so impressed with you knowing that accurately your cycle days and whatnot. I don't even really know how all that works!! I just know every month or two I get mad at David and have a period. Haha

Stephanie Lynn said...

My friend had an eptopic pregnancy and then got prego 6 weekes later ( altho she wasn't suppose to have that happen so fast) and now has a healthy 5 month old. :) I'm sorry for what you went thru but I know there's hope and eating healthy is always positive. :)

Jenna said...

I'm glad you're feeling better! I think it's SO IMPORTANT to take care of ourselves so nature can work its course. Gooooo Jessica!