Emma
Firstly thank you to all the lovely ladies in this group and to those who took the time to personally say hello when I first introduced myself.
Recapping:
I am Emma, 27 years old.
I was diagnosed with POF in Feb 2007 after experiencing irregular periods and hot flushes, night sweats the works! I have a couple of other auto immune disorders so this was given as the reason why I have POF.
I previously had given birth to a healthy baby boy, Oliver, in May ’06 after two miscarriages and we had decided that we would try for number two. This was why we fortunately got onto finding out what my body was up to. After I was given the diagnosis I had a referral to the fertility clinic in Christchurch to discuss any options I had available. I was still getting the odd period and was determined that there were worse things and that this would not stop me expanding my family one way or another. After numerous blood tests for FSH levels etc (mine being 50+ when first tested and over 75 the last time at all different times of the month) I was told there was very little chance I was producing any viable eggs and so was looking into egg donors.
The year was rushing by with appointments and researching into all the terms and bits and pieces you get told. At the end of September / beginning of October I had been telling my husband how I was feeling sick off and on during the day. He encouraged me to go to the doctor and sort it out as it was probably to do with my coeliac disease and something I was eating. The only way I could describe it was like the morning sickness I had had a little with Olly.
The day of my appointment with the doctor I thought I might as well do the pee on the stick – you’re always hopeful. I figured that the doctor would make me do it anyway and I had some lying around from when I had first started missing periods. Sure enough, within a matter of seconds there were two blue lines winking back at me. I was truly gobsmacked as I had not allowed myself to dwell on the small percentage chance they had given me. (I was told that due to my blood test levels I probably had a less than 1% chance of conceiving naturally). I just tried to focus on the positives, like I could still experience being pregnant, and this diagnosis was not the be all and end all of having a family.
I had had only one period in the past 6 months, approximately 3 months earlier which had been light and lasted for just over two weeks, so I was booked in for a scan to find out how far along I was. As I had had two previous miscarriages this was another worry. I had defied the odds and fallen pregnant, so now I desperately wanted this pregnancy to continue! I was just over 8 weeks pregnant at the scan so had a few nervous weeks before I felt I could breathe easy.
All of a sudden now I am just 9 weeks away from my due date! We decided to have a surprise and not find out the baby’s sex as the pregnancy was such a surprise. I will keep anyone who is interested to hear updated with how the end result goes!
I never got to find out what the specialist had to say at the fertility clinic when I told them I was pregnant as the receptionist lady simply said congratulations and that she would remove my file. A couple of weeks ago I had to see some other specialists at the main hospital and they seemed to almost laugh at me when I told them I had been diagnosed with POF. But when I told them of my prior symptoms they said that my body must have just switched itself back on and that we will just have to see how things go after the baby as to whether my symptoms return or not. So I am enjoying feeling a little more normal at the moment and who knows what the future holds!
Reading the different experiences people have shared on this web site and other places has really reinforced to me that although we all have a big sticky label with the same name printed on it, we all have so many varying symptoms and experiences and are dealing with POF in many different ways depending on our own lifestyles that there really are no hard and fast rules. You really have to listen to what your own body is telling you and keep looking for solutions until you find what you yourself are happy with.