After years of infertility, treating my hormonal imbalance helped me finally get pregnant
Reviewed by Health Guide Team,
Written by Jennifer Blossom
last updated: Apr 16, 2020
3 min read
Fertility could be top of mind or on the back burner for now — but it has the power to impact everything. We’re sharing your stories to both celebrate and create space for the many ways we navigate our careers, relationships, and finances in relation to our reproductive health. If you have a story to share,
30-year-old wellness blogger and occupational therapist
My husband and I always wanted kids, so when we were about to finish grad school, it felt like the natural time to start trying to conceive. But the stress of school led to me picking up some unhealthy habits — overexercising and under-eating had messed up my period. I had been overdoing the “healthy” lifestyle.
From start to finish, between us trying to conceive on our own and eventually seeing a specialist, it took about two-and-half years to get pregnant with our first child. There was a lot of “hurry up and wait” — testing for both of us, waiting for my cycle, waiting for the results. I had a lot of anxiety during this time: The “big unknown” was a struggle for us, and people just don’t talk about these things. It felt like everyone around us had to walk on eggshells — there was this unspoken tension. How do you celebrate joyfully about your friends’ pregnancies when you aren’t getting pregnant? It felt like everyone around us was pregnant — including my sister. She didn’t tell us at first because she didn’t want to make us upset. Thankfully, my husband was my sounding board during that time and helped me process everything.
I decided to create my own action plan, which had a positive impact. There are endless blogs and books that tell women with fertility issues where to begin, but they were all so overwhelming. The information pulled us in a million different directions, so I took matters into my own hands. I figured out what to do to simplify the process, instead of letting us get bogged down by it.
Being in a negative mindset was not going to be conducive to my health and to growing a family, so I tried to scale that back and get healthier. I tried to balance my diet and exercise — something that hadn’t been healthy for years. It hadn’t been pertinent before then because we weren’t ready to have kids. By the time I saw a fertility specialist, a year and a half into the process, I had begun doing my own research and implementing my own new lifestyle practices.
It was around this time that I took the Modern Fertility test and found out I had a hormonal imbalance. Seeing my results all in one place gave me a better understanding of where I was at and what needed to be done. Thankfully, it was super simple to address my hormonal imbalance — I talked with my doctor about both my Modern Fertility and clinical results and we started a medication and supplement treatment plan. After months and months of testing and treatment, I was finally able to master my reproductive health and get pregnant.
When my husband and I started trying for our second baby, I felt much more in control of my body and my reproductive health. I knew what I had to do — I didn’t feel as overwhelmed as I had before. All of the lessons we learned the first time around helped make the second time much simpler. It only took a couple months to get pregnant.
I didn’t expect to walk through a wilderness season of infertility, but I’m thankful I did. It taught me so much about myself and my body. Sharing my experience trying to conceive online eventually evolved into my website and personal brand. I learned that so many moms and women are walking through the same season that I had. I want to bring health and wellness tools and strategies to moms who are underserved or underprivileged. I want to help people lead healthier and simpler lives — and another way I do that is through occupational therapy two days a week.
The best decision I ever made about my reproductive health was to surrender, trust the process, and trust the journey. Knowing that we would eventually become parents, whether through having our own biological children or adopting, helped me maintain a positive mindset. It was so important to me to be optimistic and do everything in our ability to achieve what we wanted. I didn’t feel responsible for the outcome — I just showed up every day and did the best I could do. Even as hard as some days can be, I could always find joy and delight in the journey.
Personal essay by Jennifer Blossom
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