I am SO thrilled to present this week’s Warriors in the Wait story! Jennifer is one of my good friends who I met through Instagram thanks to the #naprotechnology hashtag. We connected sometime in 2018 and it turns out that we were at the same place on our infertility journey. In fact, we had the exact same surgery exactly one week apart! (With different NaPro doctors.) You all will love her story and I’m so excited as to how she and her husband’s journey has ended up!
The Beginning of Our Trying to Conceive Journey
My husband, Jesse, and I were married in August of 2010. Shortly thereafter, we purchased and began renovating my great-grandparents’ family farmhouse. Because of the renovation, we decided to delay starting a family and used Natural Family Planning (specifically the Sympto-Thermal method) to avoid pregnancy for the first few years of our marriage. However, three years into the renovation (that we were doing almost completely ourselves), we realized it was going to take much longer than originally anticipated and we decided to go ahead and start trying to conceive before the renovation was complete.
My husband is a union pipe line welder, so he travels all over the midwest U.S. for work. He’s usually away from home for six to eight months a year and he works six to seven days a week. As you can imagine, that leaves little time to try starting a family. However, throughout the next three years, we were actually able to time things pretty well and make an attempt to conceive most months.
Because we spent a lot of time apart and we weren’t able to try every single month, we didn’t grow concerned about not conceiving until we were a few years in to our journey. But around year three, I started to feel like we should have seen at least one positive pregnancy test. Since we hadn’t, I started to look into it more.
Getting Initial Help
I mentioned my concerns about not conceiving to my regular OB/GYN. I was open to him about our Catholic faith and our desires to stay 100% within the Church’s teachings. Thankfully, he was completely understanding of our values. He was very open about the fact that there were limited tests he could perform for us, but he did recommend an HSG to ensure my tubes were open. I moved forward with that in the summer of 2015. Everything looked normal and both tubes were, in fact, open. I was told by the technician who performed the procedure that oftentimes, couples are able to conceive simply after having an HSG, though there was no scientific evidence as to why.
Despite the lack of evidence, that was all I needed to hear. After the HSG in 2015, my hopes of starting our family were somewhat restored. I continued charting and we continued trying.
When 2016 rolled around and we still hadn’t conceived, I became really concerned. By this point, I had given up testing (and temping). Counting days and seeing a negative result each month was just too draining, so I told myself I wasn’t going to test again until – and unless – my period was late.
Looking into NaPro Technology
In December of 2016, feeling incredibly lost and frustrated, I began to look more into NaPro Technology. NaPro had been mentioned during the Pre-Cana classes Jesse and I took before we were married, but I honestly didn’t know much about it. A quick Google search to learn more told me there was a practitioner near me, so with a huge leap of faith, I emailed her to set up a meeting to learn more.
Unfortunately, I received a quick response back that this particular practitioner was unable to accept new clients at the time. Looking back now, I know this was all part of God’s plan, but in the moment, I was crushed. The little bit of hope that reaching out to her had given me was gone. There were no other practitioners anywhere near me and I had no idea where to turn. So, for the next year or so, we continued on as we had for the last several: trying as we were able, timing everything around my peak days, and praying, always praying.
Spirits Crushed
By early 2018, Jesse and I were both beyond frustrated. I finally gathered enough courage to reach back out to the practitioner local to me. Once again, I was told she was unable to take on new clients, but she was more than happy to refer me to someone several hours away from me who could. For whatever reason, I really wanted to work with someone local. I didn’t realize at the time that working with someone long-distance could be just as effective.
In any case, my spirits were again crushed. Both times that I gathered enough courage to reach out for help, I was turned away and I honestly had no idea where else to turn. None of my friends or family were familiar with NaPro. I knew it was the next step for us, but I couldn’t figure out how to get started.
Then, in spring of 2018, a social media friend made a post about her successful experience with her NaPro doctor. Feeling brave, I immediately reached out to her and asked her who her doctor was and how she found them. Not only was it such a good feeling to finally have an idea of where to turn next, but just having someone else to talk to about the infertility experience and how NaPro had helped her was so refreshing.
A Glimmer of Hope
A few weeks after we chatted, I finally made the call to the NaPro doctor my friend recommended. The earliest I could get in was a few months out with the nurse practitioner, and I took it. Even though I had some time to wait before my appointment, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere.
My first appointment went well. Everyone I met there was so kind. Considering it was my first appointment, I didn’t expect to get all the answers. But I did get what I was looking for: direction.
We spent a few minutes talking about my medical history (which is relatively, and thankfully, uneventful). She asked me if I was talking any supplements, specifically prenatal vitamins. My answer? I was… but I stopped several years ago because I didn’t see a point. She smiled and shook her head and I felt like she genuinely understood.
Then she asked about our current form of family planning, NFP (Natural Family Planning). “Oh, good! So you’re charting your temps and everything?” she asked. My response? “I was… but I stopped several years ago. It was too depressing. But I did recently start tracking everything except my temps again.”
“That’s great!” she said. “That data will be very helpful as we go through this process.”
Feeling Validated with NaPro
There was something so surreal about having this discussion out loud, with someone who actually understood. It was as if my emotions were finally real. For YEARS at this point, I’d pushed all the emotions I felt about our inability to start a family to the side. I buried them deep. I busied myself with other things so I didn’t think about it. I told myself it didn’t bother me, that the timing just wasn’t right yet, that I was okay with it, that it would eventually work out, that I really didn’t care. (This is my go-to defensive action: pretending I don’t care. It lessens the hurt. And if I tell that story to myself long enough, I actually start to believe it.)
But talking with that sweet NP – out loud – caused the emotions to come to the surface and be real again. I didn’t get emotional with her. Goodness knows I was emotional enough the night before. But sitting in that office with the NP, the feelings were there and they were real. But in a helpful way. A way that drove me to give completely honest answers and share anything and everything I thought might help her determine what the issue was.
Starting NaPro Technology Treatment
After our discussion, there was nothing that stuck out in my medical history or any other obvious “signs” of what might have been causing our difficulty. I left the office with orders to have extensive blood work and an ultrasound done, both at very specific times in my cycle. This is where we would start.
Over the course of the next several weeks, I had the labs drawn and ultrasound completed, and returned for a follow-up appointment. The ultrasound revealed a small cyst on one of my ovaries and the blood work revealed low thyroid, low progesterone, low vitamin D and an MTHFR mutation – heterozygous C677T. I’m not a doctor or a medical professional, but the MTHFR mutation is a basically a gene mutation that puts me at an increased risk for blood clots and makes my body unable to process folic acid. So after that, I was placed on supplements (bio-identical where possible) to raise my levels to ideal for conceiving and baby aspirin, plus a pre-natal with methylated folate (instead of folic acid) for the MTHFR mutation.
Investigating Endometriosis
In December of 2018, I had my third appointment with the NaPro office. About three months had passed since we raised my hormone levels to ideal, yet we still hadn’t conceived. It was at this appointment where I brought up my concerns regarding endometriosis.
I have had severely painful and heavy menstrual cycles with lots of clotting for as long as I can remember. I had mentioned my concerns about it to my regular OB/GYN for several years, but he never seemed concerned about it, so I just assumed it was normal. However, I felt it necessary to mention to my NaPro doc, too. After hearing my symptoms, she completely agreed that it was possible I had endometriosis and she immediately referred me to a NaPro surgeon for a consultation.
The NaPro surgeon’s office was a three-hour drive (one way) for us. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us (Indiana in January, you never know what you’re going to get) and we were able to make it to the consultation. Again, I was completely blown away by the office. Everyone was just so genuine and caring. The surgeon we met with was fantastic. After lots and lots of question, he agreed and recommended exploratory surgery to check for endometriosis.
Diagnostic Laparoscopy for Endometriosis
Eager not to lose any more time, I had them schedule me for the soonest time possible: March 8, 2019. Finally finally finally finally, I felt like we were really getting somewhere. It’s not that I wanted to have endometriosis. I just wanted answers of some kind. I don’t believe in unexplained infertility and what I absolutely love about NaPro is that it works WITH your body to determine the underlying cause of an issue. It doesn’t mask anything or simply treat the symptoms. The NaPro doctors really work with you to get to the root of a problem.
The morning of my surgery, we left our house at 5:00 am to make the three-hour trek once more. We arrived at the hospital early, made it through check-in and they almost immediately took me back to start prepping. My husband was more nervous than I was and about 20 minutes before my scheduled time, they wheeled me back to the OR.
Results of the Surgery
The next thing I knew, I was waking up and being wheeled back to my family. I remember asking my family if anything was found. They told me that my surgeon did find three spots of endometriosis, but I didn’t actually get the full details until I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon a few weeks later.
Three spots of endometriosis were found. One of those spots was a large, fluid-filled cyst that my surgeon had to drain inside my body before he could get it out through my incision. There was also one polyp inside my uterus that he removed and what appeared to be an infection in my uterus.
He was able to excise all of the endometriosis, remove the polyp, and he put me on antibiotics for the infection. Praise the Lord, we were getting somewhere!
An Unexpected Complication
While the surgery was a success, I had a totally random complication. Before I had even left the hospital that day, my right leg started to swell below the knee. The nurse wasn’t concerned about it, so we were discharged and started our three-hour drive home. By the time we were halfway and stopped for food, my entire leg was swollen and puffy. I called the nurse on call, but she wasn’t concerned. The day following surgery, my leg was so swollen it was painful to kneel at Mass. I called my local ER and again was told not to be concerned. On Monday, after talking to my surgeon’s office, he was concerned about blood clots and suggested I go to the ER right away.
When I got to the ER, they tried to do ultrasound on my leg to check for blood clots. Unfortunately, there was so much gas in my leg that they couldn’t get a clear ultrasound. As a precaution, I was placed on blood thinner injections until the gas dissipated and they could get a clear ultrasound. It turns out, the gas that was pumped into my abdomen during surgery somehow managed to travel into my leg where it swelled up everything from my buttocks to my calf. It was so very weird, but the gas finally started to dissipate. A week later, they were able to get a clear ultrasound and confirm there were no clots. Hallelujah!
My First Cycle Post-Laparoscopy
About the same time that I received the good news about my leg and lack of clots, I started my first period post-surgery. I had some anxiety about starting a new cycle, as I had been told it would likely be worse than normal since it was my first one post-surgery. Ironically, it was lighter, less painful, and shorter than usual! I was thrilled and so excited that the surgery seemed to have “worked”.
As my cycle progressed, I also noticed a drastic increase in the amount and quality of cervical mucus, which was another really good sign that we had addressed a major issue. A few days post-peak, my surgeon sent me for another ultrasound and some blood work to ensure that everything looked good post-surgery.
Everything checked out with the ultrasound and the blood work, and as the “end” of my cycle approached, I found myself reverting to all-too-familiar feelings and habits from the past: the anxiety…the counting of days…wanting to take a test but not wanting to feel the sadness of seeing yet another negative one.
The Shock of a Lifetime!
A few days before my new cycle was due to start, I was surprised to see some spotting. My cycles are normally super regular, so I was a bit surprised, but thought it must have been because of the surgery. The spotting continued for several days, but my period never actually started.
Five days after I was officially “late”, I finally broke down and took a pregnancy test. After six long years of trying to start a family, I saw my very first positive pregnancy test. We were pregnant!! Before I even sat the test down on the counter it was already showing positive. I could not believe it. I was in total and complete shock (and so was my husband). I honestly wasn’t sure I would ever see a positive test, so now to see one (two, actually) that was unmistakably positive, it was just the craziest feeling.
So, here we are. At the time I’m writing this, I’m currently 7 weeks and 1 day. (It seems crazy to even write that.) I had a lot of cramping that started just a few days after we received the positive test results (at about 5 weeks), so my local OB scheduled me for an early ultrasound. Everything showed fine and we are currently due December 20, 2019!
Trusting in God for This Pregnancy
As thrilled and excited as we and our families are, there is still a lot to figure out with this pregnancy. I meet with my NaPro doctor in a few days and we’ll be discussing progesterone injections (mine is still too low) and blood thinner injections (due to the MTHFR mutation I have). If I’m being completely honest, I am terrified something is going to go wrong. When I had the cramping shortly after getting the positive test results, I thought for sure I was miscarrying. It just seems too good to be true. And having the MTHFR mutation puts me at an increased risk for miscarriage, too.
But, despite my paranoia, I am doing my absolute best to give this all up to God and allow Him to lead me through these uncertain waters. It’s been a long journey to get to this point. Simply knowing that we were able to conceive a child of God is a miracle in my book, and regardless of what happens, I am going to do everything in my power to cherish this time, this season, and this baby.
Biography:
Jennifer Tunny is an online health and wellness coach and Human Resources professional. She graduated from Indiana University in 2007 with a B.A. in Communications and Geography. She and her husband Jesse live in small-town Indiana on her great-grandparents’ family homestead where they are nearing the end of a nine year DIY renovation. She is a fur mama to their cat Lilly and loves hiking, backpacking, and anything adventurous. You can find her online at her blog Jennifer Tunny and on Instagram @jennifertunny
Diane says
Hi, Jennifer! I loved reading your story! I especially loved the last paragraphs where you talk about trusting in God. That is so true for so many things… well, probably EVERYTHING… in our lives. I’ve been going through some challenges in my own life recently, and this was a good reminder for me.