April 25, 2022

1 in 8 women struggles with infertility. So many women are walking around silently struggling with emotions, pain and relationships. That needs to stop. We need to open up the conversation and support one another. Every loss is worth talking about! While every pregnancy and birth is different, there are a few main reasons why couples struggle to conceive.

• Ovulation Disorders
• Age
• Male Infertility
• Blocked Fallopian Tubes
• Endometriosis
• Underlying Medical Conditions

At FIT4MOM Billings we want to support you throughout this journey. Whether you are struggling to conceive or finally have your rainbow, we know that a community is key! Read some of the stories below from a few of our members.

Virginia & Son, Sawyer

From the time I was young I knew I wanted to be a mom. When people would say the proverbial “what do you want to be when you grow up” I would say a teacher because saying a mom wasn’t an acceptable answer. I never really had much ambition to do anything else. A few months after Chase and I started dating I found out I was pregnant. I was scared but elated, I was finally going to be a mom. 9 weeks later I had a miscarriage. All the "what did I do wrong", "why did this happen" flooded my brain. We worked through it, as best we could together. July 14, 2012, the day Chase and I got married was the day we started trying. People around me were getting pregnant with such ease. I mean it’s supposed to be easy, or at least that’s what we were led to believe as teenagers. With each pregnancy announcement my frustration and jealousy grew. “just stop trying” “it will happen when it happens” blah blah blah. Those were the things that enraged me. All I wanted to say was shut up. I would feel like not getting pregnant was a punishment for mistakes I had made in the past. Month after month of temperature checking, ovulation tests and all the negatives took a HUGE toll on my mental health. I felt like a failure. I was reading my Bible one day and came to the story of Hannah (1Samuel). All she ever wanted to be was a mother and she prayed that if the Lord would give her a son she would give him back to him (the Lord) for the rest of his life. So I prayed that every day. After 4 years of negative tests and countless prayers. I went to see a doctor. I had what seemed like a ridiculous amount of blood tests only to find out I had PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian syndrome). My Dr put me on 3 months of birth control and on September 26, 2016 I got my first positive in 10 years. When I told Chase, he didn’t believe me and didn’t want me to get my hopes up. So I took a few more tests and when they were all positive he said “oh shit” and went into the garage for 2 hours. A couple years later I asked what he was doing in there and he said praying. I felt horrible for being so annoyed with him. He’s a realist and he knew our nomadic lifestyle was about to change drastically. The fear of miscarriage lingered in my mind long after the “safe point”. We always had a feeling he was going to be a he and on December 18th it was confirmed. On May 23, 2017 we finally got our baby. The birth and frankly the first year was dramatic but I felt like he is our miracle. I wanted to name him Samuel, just as Hannah did but my sister in law named their son Samuel just a year earlier. I’m trying to keep my promise and have dedicated these last almost 5 years to teaching him about the Lord. Some days seem so much longer than others but these days are what I prayed for. To those struggling I’m not going to tell you to “just relax” I’m urging you to get every test you can, read all the articles you want. If your jealous of other people’s announcements it’s normal but DON’T allow anything or anyone make you feel less than the incredible woman you are. I am praying for you daily.

Becka & Daughter, Raelee

So my story is a lot (ha). My hubby is a lot older than me and has two older boys. When we met we knew we wanted to have children together, but he had had a vasectomy previously. So we tried to reverse it twice… ouch. It worked but then either scar tissue developed or antibodies to kill the sperm happened. Sooooo… IVF was our only option. They had to do a sperm retrieval which worked, and we had extra to freeze. Our first cycle of IVF produced two embryos but they weren’t as high quality as we would have liked and they did not take. The doctors said that my body didn't respond to the medications like they thought it would. So we took a little time off and then did a new round with a different regiment of meds and got 7 embryos! We froze them and let my body chill a couple months and then transferred 2 and one stuck! That is my 4-year-old daughter Raelee Amarí. The things that helped me the most going through the whole process were definitely my faith, my family, and having mentors who had been through the process before. That is why I am so open about our story and offer to talk, listen, answer questions, mentor, etc. if you are going through infertility, I would love to offer support along the journey.