When I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes almost 27 years ago, I didn't at the time quite realize how diabetes would change my life, nor did I think about getting married, or even having children in the future. I just always assumed that because I had Type 1 diabetes, that I probably wouldn't have kids. Way back in the "olden" days, that's what you heard about Type 1 diabetics. I am happy to say that is one of the furthest things from the truth. It IS possible....but it doesn't mean that the path to get there was not and is not frustrating, and the whole process...sheesh! You think pregnancy is tough...add on being pre-gestational diabetic! It's a whole other world of frustration and worry....but it is possible to get through it!
So some people might look at this and think "IVF, that means you must deal with Infertility". In my case, no. My husband and I were diagnosed with "Sub Fertility". Almost 2 years ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. But that was after over a year of trying and going through surgery to remove endometriosis from my ovaries and slightly blocked tubes. After the surgery and another 4 months of trying we conceived naturally our beautiful baby girl. 3-4 months after having her we decided to go for the next one. Since that time we had 1 miscarriage (at 9 weeks), which was completely heartbreaking. No, it was devastating to me.
It's been just about a year now with no luck on conceiving again. This is where the doctors tell us that the "Sub Fertility" comes in. Thank goodness for decent medical insurance right now because we have gone through thousands of dollars worth of blood tests, immunology tests and fertility drugs. My FSH is over 10 (10.7 to be exact...and this was tested more than once), my 21 day progesterone is a little low (so they say it would make it hard to sustain a pregnancy) and some of my immunology tests were Mildly off (which means, potentially, that if I am getting pregnant naturally, it's possible that my body might be fighting off the pregnancy....seeing it as a forigen object) And oh yes! To top it off...my blood type is O negative....Rogam here I come! And fertility drugs....*sigh*. Those were even frustrating before I took them! Scared on what they were going to be doing to my insides, how they would make me act, wondering if this is too far out of the relm of not "natural"...and I haven't even gotten to the IVF drugs yet! We started with Clomid...and clomid alone. No success. Then we did another couple of rounds of Clomid with the HCG Trigger shot. (Watch out hormones! My poor husband....I was definitely not "non-emotional" throughout all of these processes). But once again, no success. So after multiple OBGYN's, blood tests, sperm tests and different opinions left and right we have decided to do IVF. Before coming to this decision for sure, we got the opinion of 2 different IVF doctors as well. They both agreed that I have Sub Fertility and that my Follicle count was lower than it should be for somebody my age. Here is a little time line of how things have gone:
- July 2008- Started tying for a baby
- May 2009- Surgery for Endometriosis
- September 2009- Pregnant!!!!!
- May 2010- Delivered Healthy Baby Girl
- October 2010- Started Acupuncture with herbs
- December 2010-Pregnant
- December 2010- Severe allergic reaction to Medicine after conception
- Feb 2011- Miscarriage at 9 weeks
- August 2011- Begin Clomid 100mg- still doing Acupuncture and herbs throughout all
- September 2011-Tons of blood work. FSH 10.7
- September 2011- up Clomid to 150mg with IUI and HCG Trigger Shot and Progesterone Supplement
- September 2011- OBGYN suggests IVF after we get blood work back
- October 2011- Clomid again with 2 IUI's and 3 HCG trigger shots and Progesterone, Acupuncture and herbs
- October 2011-OBGYN suggests IVF again- have phone consult with IVF doctor
- November 2011- still not pregnant, Obgyn suggest IVF Again
- December 2011- FSH 10.7...Again
- Jan 2012- Still not pregnant...Starting Plan 1 of the IVF process. Still doing Acupuncture and herbs.
Deciding to put myself through the process of IVF, especially because I'm a Type 1 Diabetic, definitely has me freaked out! Hormones, fluctuating sugars, moodiness...is this all what is going to happen to me?! Most importantly, how will this all effect my sugars? Also I wonder, am I just not being patient enough? Because we can get pregnant...we've proved that, but the docs say that with certain blood tests results that came back, failed IUI's, having had surgery for endometriosis, along with having diabetes for so long, that I should just go for it!
So OK, I'm going for it!! I've looked online and have tried to find websites/blogs with more info about being Type 1 diabetic and doing Invitro Fertilization. There are some, but I want to share how these drugs seem to effect me because of my diabetes! They may do nothing at all! But my purpose is to chronicle my fertility journey. I remember some things from before, but this will be a whole new adventure...and like they say, "no two pregnancies are ever the same!". So wish us luck, we start the first shots in about 8 days.... and here we go!!
Im so glad this exists-- Im starting injections now and scared too. Mostly cus my sugars have been bonkers recently.. :/ Thanks so much for "existing"and for posting :) You are brave!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you found this and it will be hopefully helpful! It's so hard to go at it alone. I understand! It's such a world of "unknown". I wish you the Best in your upcoming adventures! :)
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm happy to see you were ultimately successful! My wife is type 1, also 37, and we are starting an IVF cycle next week! We are anxious about everything and wonder if you have any last minute advice!
ReplyDeleteSome info on her: She is healthy, physically active and fit, had two healthy children in her mid 20s (struggled with her first pregnancy a little since her diabetes wasn't controlled well back then), managing her diabetes with insulin shots, her OBGYB is the dr. she uses for her diabetes, diagnosed in her early 20s, averages around 7.0 for her A1C, and is super nervous about all the medications she has to take and how it will affect her and our possible success! She works full time in an office. Thank you for sharing your story!
Hi! Good luck with everything coming up! I'm excited for you guys! My best advice is to make sure you're on top of your blood sugars. Testing consistently. If you don't have enough test strips for the month I would contact your doctor and have them send an appeal to the insurance company. Fertility drugs affect people in different ways. Some of my friends who took them had more effects on their blood sugar than I did. Just as each pregnancy is unique for every person so is it with every person who has type one diabetes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where you're located, but I have a support group for T1D moms. If you're in the San Francisco Bay area you're welcome to come to one of our meet ups. Otherwise have your wife find us online and private message me and I can add her into a private group or she can ask other type one diabetic moms any of these questions. A few of us have been through IVF.
www.facebook.com/type1diabeticsugarmommas
I hope to hear from her! And good luck! Wishing you the best!
PS- I just had my 4th baby!:)