Recently we reposted a video to our Instagram feed which was originally shared by Dr Ali Rodriguez on her personal TikTok Account (@alirodmd). The video garnered great engagement and it’s from the comment which Meah (AGF Fam) left that prompted us to request the fuller version of her journey to motherhood and have it home here on our blog.

Meah requested to remain anonymous

In the viral facetime style video posted by the OB-GYN, she addressed her audience stating:

“This is a reminder that if a doctor has ever told you can’t have kids and you obviously still have like your ovaries and stuff, don’t listen to them, get a new doctor. I’m an OBGYN and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen patients in the office be like ‘oh no my previous doctor said I can’t get pregnant because I have PCOS or endometriosis or because I’m fat or because whatever reason……. don’t tell women that…Unless I’m physically the one to remove your uterus, you can get pregnant.”

@alirodmd Big pet peeve #gyntok #pregnancy ♬ original sound – The Latina Doc

The sincerity and conviction behind  woDR Ali’s words moved hearts. To date, the video has received over 10 million views and thousands of comments; many of which are from women on their journey to conception thanking Dr Ali for offering hope, and others sharing their various health complications that led to doctors telling them they would never have children but went on to conceive a child (ren) naturally.

Similarly, when shared on our feed, the comment section quickly became a source of guidance and inspiration for women trying to conceive.

Meah was one of the women who responded in the comments to share that pregnancy can still be possible with PCOS as she was able to conceive naturally despite the odds being against her- read on for her story.

Meah’s PCOS journey to motherhood

Well to begin with I’ve had irregular periods since I started my cycle at 15 years old (I’m 37 now). Because of that I had been on birth control for years to regulate my cycle. My husband and I are high school sweethearts who started dating at 16 and married when I was 20. We were married about 4 years before we decided to try for children.

Meah’s decision to seek help

I was under the impression that all you had to do was have unprotected sex to get pregnant, but I soon discovered that was not the case for everyone and after a year went by with no pregnancy, I decided to seek help from a fertility specialist which is how I found out I had Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

I’ve worked with several fertility specialists and the first one that gave me my diagnosis of PCOS attempted to give me clomid to help me conceive which didn’t work for me. Time went by, we moved, and insurance changed and I ended up going to two other specialists, the last one ended up helping me conceive my first child.

Treatments she was offered

It was an extensive process between trying different methods including a drug that was not intended for fertility but was found to help in maturing egg follicles. It was called Femera and was often used for women with breast cancer. I had to take a drug called Provera which would bring on a period and then on a certain cycle day I would take the Femera which would bring about a mature egg follicle and then I would get a shot of HCG hormone which would then release the egg and it was at that time my husband and I were supposed to baby dance in the hopes of getting pregnant.

I did this for several rounds with no success. We also tried Intrauterine insemination (IUI) twice with no success as well and I became discouraged. I took a break from it all for about a year and tried to get my body in better shape as well as to take a break from the stress. It was a year before I returned to my specialist. During the time I took off, I was not getting a period and I knew that wasn’t good and I was right.

I got a biopsy of my uterus and my doctor found precancerous cells. Because of the PCOS it is a higher risk for uterine cancer if you don’t have regular cycles and I had to find that out the hard way. I didn’t want to accept that I couldn’t do things naturally. I ended up having to get treatment for the precancerous cells before I could continue my fertility journey which took about 3 months but after that the cells were gone and I had a DNC (Dilation and curettage procedure) which gave me a fresh start.

Improving her chances of conception

From there I followed my doctor’s orders to the letter and I began the Provera and Femera and HCG shots again to improve my chances of conceiving. This time I was about 20 pounds lighter from losing some weight and I managed to get pregnant the first round of returning to my treatments.

Sadly, that pregnancy ended in miscarriage. There was no heartbeat at 6 weeks, and I had to get another DNC. I continued in the journey anyway and got pregnant a second time but that one seemed to be a chemical pregnancy. I continued anyway. The 3rd round I conceived my son who is now 4 years old!

Taking control of her health

A couple years after he was born, I began to gain a lot of weight and decided to work on my health again. I did keto for a year and lost over 40 pounds. It was at this time that I decided to kick birth control and I started taking the Inositol supplement and using the Natural Cycles app to track my periods. I gave myself 3 months to see if I could regulate my cycle naturally that way and if I couldn’t, I would get back on birth control because I didn’t want a repeat of the precancerous cells. Well, it turned out that worked for me. I started to get regular cycles after that first month and the Natural Cycles app showed me that I was having a 35–38-day cycle which means my ovulation time was later than most women.

When preparation meets opportunity!

I used that information as birth control but the month I conceived my daughter, my ovulation week fell right around my anniversary weekend. My husband and I took a risk and honestly because of my history I didn’t think the risk was too high but turns out that wasn’t true, and I got a positive pregnancy test 2 weeks later to my total surprise! I worried about miscarriage because of my history too but 9 months later we have our beautiful baby girl!

It’s been a journey to be sure but now I know what my body is capable of and I’m glad I didn’t give up on my dream of being a mom because I have two beautiful children as a result of my constant prayers and endurance!

My husband was very supportive during all the ups and downs and so was my mother, I appreciate them both so much!!

 

Image courtesy of Canva