Falling pregnant with PCOS

How did I manage to have 3 children despite PCOS?

Are you suffering from PCOS?

Are you worried about or struggling to conceive?

This post will focus on falling pregnant with PCOS and I will tell you how did I manage to have 3 children despite PCOS?

PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a condition that affects only women.

The main symptoms are:

– irregular periods which can be happening only once or twice a year

– excess male hormones level which can be noticed mainly by the excess body or facial hair

– enlarged ovaries which can only be noticed during a medical examination

If you have 2 or more of the above symptoms you might have PCOS and you should contact your GP to get a diagnosis confirmed.

PCOS is not the end of the world and not as terrible as it sounds. Although it is important to get a diagnosis as it can be associated with type 2 diabetes, infertility, cardiovascular disease, obesity, sleep apnea, and depression.

According to NHS around one in 5 women has PCOS.

However, PCOS can cause you some difficulties like falling pregnant, excess weight, acne, or unwanted facial hair and it might be a little frustrating or annoying to have.

The main purpose of this post is the PCOS related problem with conceiving. You can also read about PCOS and weigh control in my post here:

How to keep your weight at bay with PCOS?.

Falling pregnant with PCOS- How did I manage to have 3 children despite PCOS?

My story

I have been diagnosed with PCOS when I was about 19 or 20 years old.

I had my period only once every 40- 50 days which is still considered rather regular for PCOS.

I also had a few random hair growing on my face and lower part of my tummy which was rather embarrassing.

Despite my good dietary habits and regular exercise, my BMI was 26 at my heaviest which although I was slightly overweight I should have been really slim.

My ovaries were looking typical for the PCOS and the doctor has confirmed the diagnosis after performing the scan.

I had no other underlying health conditions.

I was fully aware that I might have problems falling pregnant with PCOS. I was not rushing at this stage to have a baby, but I knew that as soon as I would meet The One I would like to have a baby early in my life. I did not want to go through fertility treatments like an IVF or adoption.

I have heard of many women who struggled to have a baby and were very unhappy and consumed by trials of much unsuccessful treatment. This breaks people, breaks relationships and makes women very unhappy. At the end of the day, having a baby is most of the women biggest sense of purpose. So naturally, struggling to conceive would be a very difficult and depressing thing to go through.

 

The miracle

When I spoke to my GP about my worries she said to me:

“You are still very young and as much as PCOS might make it a bit harder to conceive it does not mean you will not be able to have children. So just carry on with your life and when it meant to happen it will”.  That was when I was about 21 before I met my husband.

So when I have met The One and we started trying for a baby, it was not happening at the start. We then got married and were prepared that it might take some time to have a baby and we didn’t worry too much at this stage. But we had so much love to give and we both loved babies.

Related post: 20 Signs that He’s The One.

We have even bought pappy thinking to shower with our love. Perhaps the distraction of having a pappy was what let us relax a bit about wanting to have a baby and then the miracle had happened.

My period was as always late, so I did not take any notice. But I was having a little spotting for a few days and then they went away. This was not a period, so I knew something was wrong. So about a week after I have visited my GP. She has asked a few questions and sent me to the shop to get a pregnancy test and come back with the result to discuss further. So not suspecting I could be pregnant I went to the nearest pharmacy and purchased one test.

I went home and with no rush at all performed a test.

I left it for about 5 minutes and returned to check the results.

 

I fell pregnant despite PCOS!

I was gobsmacked to discover the test was positive! I sat on the bathroom floor and called my husband. We were pregnant! It was such a wonderful moment for us filled with so much happiness.

The GP had calculated I must have been over 7 weeks pregnant. And the spotting she explained happens from embryo implantation which might result in a bit of a bleed. Who knew?!

And the funny thing is that I knew of every common sign of a pregnancy- morning sickness, late period, sore breast, tiredness, funny tastes. But since I had PCOS my period was always late and I thought I would struggle to conceive- I never expected to actually be pregnant.

On my first scan, the midwife that was doing the check-up had also mentioned that my ovaries are enlarged and asked if I had been diagnosed with PCOS.

My pregnancy went well and at 39+4 weeks my beautiful baby girl Angeli was born.

The labour was easy (as easy as it gets) with no complications and I was over the moon to have become a mother at the age of 24!

 

Any more, please?

We were planning to have more children soon.

After having Angeli we did use contraception as I was in Uni finishing my course. However, about 2 years on I have graduated and we have started trying for a baby no 2.

It was not happening.

Years went by and Angeli was 4 when we have considered asking for help.

NHS has sent us away as we have already had one child. So we looked privately and found a clinic abroad. In the UK we could not afford IVF as it was too expensive. We saved up money and travelled to Jordan for treatment instead.

We have booked a one-way ticket and took our daughter with us to a medical treatment/ family holiday. We have managed to travel to Petra, visited Israel and Palestine. Although the main purpose was a medical treatment, we have had some time in between to travel around.

I was in a regular watch of a gynaecologist who specialises in the IVF. He has discovered that I had 2 large cysts in my womb or ovaries (not sure now which one was it). Therefore, the first thing he did was removing them by performing a simple procedure where he had pierced the cysts and drained the liquid. I remember the doctor was surprised at how big they were and how hard one of them was to pierce. I was given some regular injection to do by myself consisting of some hormones to grow my eggs.

And it all worked and the doctor managed to extract somewhere around 20 good eggs to be fertilised. In between, we went to Israel as the eggs were in the lab being fertilised and growing.

 

IVF treatment

Upon our return the eggs were ready and we decided to go for 2 just in case one does not implant itself.

This procedure was very quick and easy it was a matter of a minute to be all over.

We have spent 3 weeks in total abroad for this treatment and the heat was at its peak so we were ready to return to the UK.

The waiting game started. We had to wait for 2 weeks before I could perform a pregnancy test.

I was sure nothing has happened and even started doubting the whole treatment thinking it might have been a sham.

The test came back positive. I was pregnant!

 

I could not believe that I was pregnant! I was on the phone to the doctor thanking him for the whole thing. It was such an emotional journey. But we were very happy to be finally pregnant.

Miscarriage

I was already 9 weeks into the pregnancy, and I started to bleed a little. As much as I was worried I thought perhaps it is normal. I read so much about bleeds and many women do experience similar things throughout the pregnancy.

Two days after I started to bleed heavily. I knew I was having a miscarriage. I had a bit of a tummy ache, just like I was having a period. I was so sad and disappointed and disheartened. I went to A&E and the doctor had confirmed I have had a miscarriage. My husband felt sad too, but I think he was just more worried about my health than anything else. I was bleeding for just over a week and it was all over.

About 5 weeks on I had my period. This was rather surprising as I thought it would be like after a normal pregnancy and I would have to wait for several months.

I had carried on as normal and realised one day that I was feeling nauseous. This was after about 7 weeks from my previous period- the first one after the miscarriage.

I had sent my husband to buy a pregnancy test, but I knew it would come back positive.

 

I was pregnant again!

I believe that the whole IVF treatment and the removal of the cysts had “fixed” my fertility and I had no more issues conceiving.

This time the pregnancy went just as fine as the first one. At the age of 29 in August 2014, 39+6 days into the pregnancy our baby boy Arjan was born.

This time around the labour was an intense one and I had decided that was it! I am not putting myself through this again!

My husband, on the other hand, had always wanted a big family and asked me to have another baby. I was not agreeing to it for a while and continued using contraception.

My daughter was nearly 6 years old and absolutely adored her little brother.

About a year after we have been invited to a party and there was a newborn baby of our friends. And I felt broody yet again!

What is it with us woman that we do it to ourselves? Knowing how much it hurts we still want more!

We literally felt pregnant the minute we started trying.

I was pregnant yet again!

I must admit I was terrified of how the labour will go this time around.

 

Another miscarriage.

This pregnancy ended as soon as it started and 8 weeks in, I had another miscarriage.

A lot of emotions were going through my head, but I was still happy that I already had 2 healthy children, so this was keeping me sane and I got over it fairly quickly.

Only a few months after we went on holidays to Canada. Kids absolutely loved it and we spend 2 beautiful weeks sightseeing Vancouver BC, Victoria Island and many other small cities.

When we returned from the holidays I have realised I was feeling pregnant. Not sick yet, but just knew I was expecting. My period was only just due so although I have tested, the test came back negative. I have waited another week and this time around the test came back positive.

 

I was pregnant again!

With each pregnancy, I felt a little different and this one was not giving me any sickness and I did not get sensitive to smell like I did the first and second time.

This time around the pregnancy lasted until 40+2 weeks and I had to be induced as my water kind of broke, yet not enough to start the labour. So, I was lest on the ward waiting for a room for over 2 days! I have been given some drugs to speed up the labour and it did do the trick. In just over an hour from getting the drug, I went from 2cm to the baby being born.

This time I had promised myself and begged my husband not to put me thought this ever again. He had been present in each labour and he was terrified to watch the last one, hence agreed we were now a complete family.

My third child – Jay– was born in April 2017 and today (29/4/2020) he has turned 3 years old!

My PCOS today

I still have PCOS.

My period is every 31-35 days. Odd hair still appears in unwanted places and I still must watch what I eat and exercise to keep my weight under control.

However, this has not stopped me from having 3 beautiful, healthy children. The miscarriages were due to a different matter. I always had an issue with low PLT level (platelets). These are the white blood cells responsible for blood clotting. Only recently I had visited gynaecologist in Poland, and he had analysed my blood tests and examined my history and said that the miscarriages were happening due to low PLT level.

It is not a common side effect of this condition but apparently the studies have linked the miscarriages to low PLT levels.

 

Do not be afraid to talk about it.

Falling pregnant with PCOS is not as easy as it is being a healthy person.

If you are struggling with PCOS and wanted to talk to somebody please do not hesitate to reach out.

I can fully appreciate it can be rather distressing and difficult when you get a diagnosis, or when you go through infertility treatments or miscarriage. I have done it all and I am here for you if you need one to talk to. Sometimes that is the only thing you need- a person that has been through the same situation that will understand your pain.

I am here for you

Most of all, do not lose hope. I am the best proof falling pregnant with PCOS is possible.

I hope you have enjoyed my story about falling pregnant with PCOS.

It was a very personal and intimate post but I really hope you can take this as a positive one and keep in mind that PCOS is not all that bad.

 

 

Please share with those that might be going through similar struggles.

Thanks for reading