Story Contributor: Dana
TL;DR
My name is Dana. I never knew that preparing for pregnancy was such a hard road. It took me three long years of trying to conceive before I finally got pregnant with my beloved baby.
In the past three years, I have gone through trying to conceive naturally, going to a Chinese medicine clinic, and then IUI. All without any success.
When I was about to give up and make an appointment for IVF, I came across the Eveline OPK, and finally got pregnant!
I am so grateful to have this opportunity to share my story with you.
I believe there are many other mothers-to-be on this difficult journey of pregnancy preparation.
Whether you are just starting your journey or have been trying for years like me, I hope my story can motivate you to never give up!
Our full TTC story
My husband and I got married when I was 32 years old, and it was one of our big goals to start a family together.
I was still quite young and my periods were regular, so at first we tried for pregnancy the natural way.
Essentially, we followed the basic “get pregnant advice” that almost everyone knows, like counting 14 days before the next period day, and checking cervical mucus.
We didn’t specifically calculate my conception period or take ovulation tests.
The process of preparing for pregnancy through natural methods lasted for about a year, but my belly stayed flat.
At that time I was not anxious yet, but my friends and relatives were starting to get worried.
Therefore, one of my friends recommended a Chinese medicine clinic to me.
When I went there, the doctor took my pulse and said that my period was regular and everything was fine.
He gave me some herbal medicine to take and told me to have intercourse according to the schedule.
We also continued trying the “have sex every two days” method recommended by many people on the Internet.
However, after another year, there was still no sign of pregnancy at all.
Getting older meant more pressure
After two years without any TTC success, I suddenly found myself 34 years old and getting anxious.
Friends and family kept asking me about my progress, and even though they meant well, they ended up stressing me out even more.
I doubled down on researching all kinds of TTC advice and desperately tried to find new approaches.
I also decided to give up on the Chinese medicine sessions I had been taking for a year. Instead, I went to an OBGYN doctor for a full preconception checkup, which showed that both my husband and I were in good health.
Although my physical health condition showed no problems, I felt increasingly sick mentally. I was getting older and older, and my monthly pregnancy test results kept coming back negative.
I decided to start seeing a fertility specialist and go for an artificial insemination procedure since I had never been reluctant to have an artificial pregnancy.
At first, I tried to take ovulation pills and the doctor would use internal medicine to calculate when my eggs would break.
He explained that we should have intercourse on both days, before and after. We still didn’t succeed in getting pregnant, though.
Then I was given ovulation-inducing injections directly and did IUI twice. It was the end of the year and we were about to prepare for the new year, so we were really nervous, you know!
At that time, I was already 35 years old and in a state of despair, so I decided to have my eggs retrieved and start IVF.
However, because the clinic said that they would not accept any more patients until after the Lunar New Year, I was told to TTC on my own for a month or two and take some nutritional supplements.
If I was still unsuccessful in getting pregnant, I could just come back after the Lunar New Year for another appointment.
Then I found Eveline
I’ve always listened to my doctor’s advice to have regular intercourse, but then I heard from my relative that she got pregnant by taking an ovulation test, so I thought I’d give it a try as well.
I visited a pharmacy and saw the Eveline OPK. It caught my attention quickly as it looked very high-tech compared to the other alternatives in the store.
I bought a pack and started using it while waiting for my potential IVF appointment after the New Year.
I found the Eveline app was really cute, and every time I saw the big smiley notification that implies peak fertility, I felt like saying, “Yes! I’ll keep going!
And then…it finally happened: We actually got pregnant, OMG!!!
I was so happy that I even kept the ovulation test strips I took at that time.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw the results of the pregnancy test, so I went to the OB/GYN department of the nearby women’s and children’s hospital for a checkup and it was confirmed that we were really pregnant!
This feeling is really exciting to say the least, and the emotions are very complicated. Our TTC journey was so long, we had tried all kinds of methods, and then suddenly it feels like you are catching a life ring.
Being pregnant came with its own challenges
After I got pregnant, the pressure didn’t get any less, though.
As I wasn’t super young anymore, I was worried that my baby would have a higher chance of suffering from congenital defects.
Every checkup was very stressful, and we went to the OB/GYN department of a smaller maternity hospital every week to make sure everything went smoothly.
Although the reports were all normal, I was still concerned that I would lose the baby somehow or that something bad would happen to it.
However, in hindsight, all the worrying proved to be unnecessary. I ended up having a smooth C-section and delivering a healthy baby!
Seeing how cute and smart our now already one year old baby is, it really makes me feel like the years of trying and hard work were totally worth it.
Understanding ovulation and timing matter!
When I was preparing to get pregnant, I didn’t know yet how my body really works.
I had no clue about how to find my ovulation date. I always thought that after marriage, having a baby would just happen naturally.
My mother and many of her generation thought so, too.
She believed that if she did her homework about 14 days before the period, she would naturally get pregnant. She never had the required medical knowledge that she could have passed onto me when I was TTC.
Therefore, I am really glad that solutions like Eveline exist. I only wish I had known about it earlier!
I hope that every expectant mother reading this article will know that you are not alone and that all your hard work will eventually pay off!
Do you have any questions about Dana’s experience or the Eveline OPK? Or would you like to share your own success story?
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