http://bananatomic.org

The Basics
Name: Amy
Age: 24
DOB: 07/18/1985
Favorite Color: Yellow
Piercings: Two in each ear and my tragus (right ear).
Tattoos: Two. Both on my back. (A daisy & the quote ‘The worst of all fears is the fear of living.’ – Theodore Roosevelt.) More on the way.

I’m 24, married to my best friend, and definitely a cat lady. I have two wonderful step children– Ethan who is 9 and Andreah who is 5. I’m currently pregnant with my first child and very excited. Baby is due April 20, 2010. I believe there aren’t very many suprises in life and so I’ve decided (and got my wonderful husband to agree to it!) to not find out the sex of the baby. It’s been a crazy road, but I know I can make it. I cant wait to finally meet our little one and hear the doctor say “Its a…” My gut feeling is that its a boy… we’ll found out if I’m right in April. Well.. my husband decided at the last minute he wanted to find out. And I haven’t let him make a lot in terms of the decisions for the baby. So we found out the sex.. and man, gut feelings dont mean anything! Haha.

TTC
My husband and I tried to concieve for a very long time. In fact, we were trying to concieve long before we were even married. In June of 2007, I stopped taking monthly birth control (I’d been on the Nuvaring for 2 years). The year and a half that followed was hell emotionally. Failed test after failed test, but no period coming. I stressed out, gained weight, and that stressed me out even more. My family became concerned as not only had I put on quite a bit of weight, I just wasn’t happy any more. I went to a doctor in May of 2008. I was hopeful to find out why I wasn’t getting periods. The doctor never gave me an answer, but gave me some medication to “jumpstart my period” (his words) and then Clomid, a fertility drug. The medication didn’t jumpstart my period, so I was back in his office in early July. The pill he gave me worked that time, and we tried with the Clomid to concieve. It didn’t happen that month, but I was hopeful because I finally had a period. My period stuck around for about 3 months, but by our wedding in September, it was gone again. I still had no explanation. I went from September till February without a period. I was so discouraged. One day, I was searching online about my issues and discovered PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). It fit perfectly. A friend of mine had the same problem, and got me in touch with her doctor. I made an appointment with her doctor who did the required blood tests for it, and it was confirmed. We discussed options– she wanted to get my weight down and get my periods regular. She put me on an oral contraceptive and also got me on a water pill. The water pill made me sick, so by the following month she stopped it and got me on Phentermine– a weightloss pill. From March till July I’d lost 30 pounds and gained a lot of self esteem back. In June, she took me off of the Phenermine and the birth control. In July, I got a regular period without birthcontrol (Yay!!) and so I started Clomid. I didn’t figure anything would happen– especially when I was tracking my basal body temperature day to day. Nothing was changing and I became so discouraged. I stopped tracking and just let nature take its course.

My period was a week late. I cried because I figured things were back to the way they were. My boobs ached. I craved chocolate and pretzels. Lower back pain. Normal period symptoms, but none was showing. I finally broke down and bought a test. I figured, if it came back negative, I knew to call the doctor. As the results came back, I was full of emotion. It came back positive. I started to cry. I texted my husband– who was over an hour away in training for work. “Call me ASAP.” Less than a minute later, he called me… I’d caught him on break. I told him the news and he was suprised. “Wow. Really? Already?” was his response. He had to get back to training but vowed to get home as soon as he could. My next call was to my mom. She was at work and screamed so loud with excitement I think people in the next city knew what was happening. And so began my adventure…