It’s funny, at first when my period stopped I felt relieved, as if I was free from it all, the cramps and headaches. Then, after 3 years I became concerned and visited my OB.

They told me to see an endocrinologist to determine the cause. I was diagnosed with post-amenorrhea, which can occur as a result of stopping birth control pills. To follow, I would spend 8 years (on and off) in treatment, after that first meeting with my doctor. To say I felt overwhelmed would be an understatement.

To start, I tried natural cycle fertility treatment for a while and then we realized it was not working. It was also determined that I was at high risk for multiples, so we turned to IVF.

We got lucky on our first transfer, after almost two years of treatment. It felt like a big win, and I thought to myself that maybe the second child would be easier. I was wrong.

We spent several years trying different combinations of medications and testing between cycles, and it added up to around 30+ procedures (including countless hysteroscopies, mock transfers, hsg, retrievals and more). We suffered four losses in one year, and then my endocrinologist determined that I needed to see a specialist.

So I did, and they determined after an exam that I had a rare issue called Asherman’s syndrome. It occurs among 200,000 women (roughly 1%), and can trigger recurrent pregnancy loss.

I had multiple procedures to address this issue over the course of a few months, to help to reduce the buildup of scarring in the uterus. After we completed our treatment, we tried one more time with our last embryo (lucky #7) and did our last IVF transfer. My endocrinologist told me before the transfer that if this did not work, he would recommend pursuing surrogacy.

We did the transfer and I got pregnant and stayed pregnant with my second child.