How it Started

It was around 4pm in the evening while I was reading my book Above Average by Clara Jay when I realized I had started my period. That’s how our 2nd attempt at IUI started to come to an end and I decided to start The Hopeful Mommy.

Not long after my husband, Jason, and I decided we were ready to become a family. We pulled the goalie and just decided to see what happens. The deal was this:

• NO STRESS – no “intentional” tracking (unless your tracking your period on an app and your app happens to tell you that you are ovulating 😉 shh) and no “hey babe it’s time, let’s do it.” We wanted to enjoy our newly formed marriage and just see what happens.
• Deadline – (this was more me then him, hello. biological clock.) we decided that if we were not pregnant by the end of 2022, we would go to a fertility specialist and just get everything checked out.

Well, needless to say, 2022 came and went and month after month I had my period. Meanwhile, I’m sitting on the couch scrolling through endless baby announcements on social media. It felt like all around me my friends were getting pregnant and while I was so happy for them, I struggled because it also made me sad for our own journey.

Finally, it’s 2023… This was going to be our year, we were going to become a family this year!! January 2023, I set our appointments up at Aspire HFI, a fertility clinic in Houston, Texas.

♥ Check out my post: 5 Helpful Tips to Consider When Picking a Fertility Clinic

On the day of our consult, we just planned on chatting with our doctor and telling him everything I mentioned above and that we just wanted to make sure both my husband and I were healthy and actually able to make a baby. He asked us all the standard questions, how long have we been trying, when was my last cycle and so on.

♥ Check out my post: 7 Questions To Be Prepared To Answer At Your Consult With The Fertility Specialist

Well, I just so happened to have started my period the day before our appointment so they were able to start testing immediately. Thus our fertility journey had officially taken off!! 

**Ladies, these appointments are all based on your cycle, so keep that in mind.**

Testing

Day 1, consult appointment, we start testing. That meant, I was getting blood work and a pelvic ultrasound right then. oh fun!!!!

It was during my pelvic ultrasound that I first learned I might have PCOS aka Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

From there we discovered multiple polyps via a procedure called HSG (Hysterosalpingogram) and also confirmed their suspicion of PCOS. Next step was to get those pesky polyps outta my baby maker.

After I had my polyps surgically removed, we made the decision to do IUI as a fertility option. We were so excited but of course, like everything else, we had to plan around my cycle.

I had never been so excited to get my period but it never started. What?! Yep, you guessed it… PREGNANT!

Pregnant

Immediately, I called my fertility doctor and he scheduled for me to have blood work which confirmed my positive HPT (home pregnancy test). Jason and I were over the moon with excitement.

It was 7 weeks in when we got to hear, for the first time, our babies heartbeat. You really couldn’t describe our joy, and thankfully, Jason recorded the whole thing.

Unfortunately, our excitement didn’t last long.

Our doctor explained to us that our baby’s heartbeat was only 90 BPM and even though we were 7 plus weeks in, baby was measuring at 5 weeks 6 days. We were having an “inevitable miscarriage.” Basically that meant that our baby was still alive but was going to pass. We just didn’t know when and with new laws, our doctor couldn’t do anything about it until our baby’s heartbeat stopped.

So again, we waited and week after week the heartbeat slowed ever so slightly but was still there. It wasn’t until almost 11 weeks that our baby passed. Those weeks waiting, were some of the hardest weeks of my life.

On one hand I just wanted it to be over but on the other hand I was praying for a miracle. I didn’t want to just let go of our angel baby so soon.

We had a D&C and we were ready to try again. AGAIN the waiting game (man I hate the waiting, it never ends) and this time it was waiting for my period to come back. It took forever but finally about 2 1/2 months later it started. My doctor wanted me to go through a full cycle before we started our first round of IUI (Intrauterine insemination).

IUI aka Intrauterine insemination

Round 1 of IUI came and unfortunately, the medicine worked too well. There was a chance of us having 4 maybe even 5 babies.

It’s an awful decision to have to make when you are struggling to create a family but now you have to turn down the opportunity because it just wasn’t the smart decision. It would have been not just dangerous for me but for our future babies as well.

Round 2 of IUI came and sadly so did my period. It just felt like hit after hit.

Next up was Round 3… and again we were hit with another negative pregnancy test from my blood work. I was completely numb, I thought for certain it would work this time.

Present Day (November 2023)

So here we are, present day and currently in the TWW (2 week wait) after our 4rd round of IUI. This will be our last attempt at IUIs but I am hopeful and confident!

♥ Check out my post: 20+ Healthy and Fun Ways To Survive the 2 Week Wait

♥ Check out my post: 31 Fertility Affirmations For Hopeful Mommies To Be

Update: 11.20.2023 sadly, we are not pregnant but THIS IS NOT THE END OF OUR JOURNEY! I will update present day in the coming days! STAY HOPEFUL, STAY POSITIVE!

Ladies,

We can do this and I really pray that you get everything you could ever dream for. God has a plan and one of the most important lessons I have learned through all of this is that He only gives you as much as you can handle. I know, he definitely pushes it close but he knows you can do this! We are bad ass women. We are strong women. We are incredible women. We are positive women. We are BEAUTIFUL women.

Love,

Kylie Mohn
The Hopeful Mommy