I dealt with irregular periods through most of my teen life, but it increased dramatically when I was in college. From my freshman year until my senior year (2006-2009) I was in and out of doctors offices and hospitals due to intense cramping, irregular bleeding, and excruciating pain. I would have periods that would last several weeks with cramps so bad I couldn’t go to class. Doctors had no solutions and constantly asked me about my sexual history (I was not sexually active). I tried so many birth controls to try and regulate it. It mostly helped, but my periods would still be long and painful if I was on a pill form. I was given multiple ultra-sounds and every time they’d say yeah, there are some cysts around here and a lot of blood, but we can’t figure it out. My senior year the show John and Kate plus 8 was popular and I wondered why in the world she’d go through that to have kids and read she’d been diagnosed with PCOS. The symptoms sounded JUST LIKE MINE! I took it to my doctor and asked for a diagnosis. She said I wasn’t overweight or dealing with much extra hair or balding. I insisted and she ordered a blood test. It came back positive. It took another 2 years to finally find a combination of birth control (Nexplanon), Spironolactone, and Metformin to finally get my periods and symptoms in order.

A few years later and I was married and actually wanted to have kids. I found a gynecologist who specializes in PCOS and started my fertility journey. It took another 3 years to get pregnant. Going off Spironolactone, BC, and Metformin was havoc on my body. I tried two rounds of clomid and still nothing. I could see why Kate was willing to risk getting pregnant with multiples to get pregnant at all! My doctor ordered an HSG, one last thing before we contemplated IVF. It worked! Just a couple months later I got my first pregnancy. I feel very lucky that I’ve now become pregnant twice (currently 32 weeks) and had no miscarriages.