MY MIRACLE BABIES: Searching for a natural solution

Before I married at 30, I told my husband-to-be that I might not be able to have children, since I finally started thinking seriously about the fact that I only had periods once in a great while. But, the man that I was marrying already had two children from a previous marriage so that took some of the pressure off, though we both did want to have children with each other.

We moved to a different state right after getting married and being new to the city I asked a girl that I know from my home town for a recommendation for a good OB/GYN. I was given a recommendation for an excellent doctor, but didn't want to drive 45 minutes from home to see her. So, I picked someone from my health insurance list and started my journey with her to find out why I didn't have regular periods.

On the subject of missing periods, I felt it was strange – and extremely unhelpful – that the various health care providers whom I saw from the age of 14 barely took note of this fact. Not one felt it had any impact of my general health. I hope that there's a different approach these days. On visiting my new OB/GYN, we did the blood work, which showed that I had PCOS. Finally – a diagnosis. Then we did a vaginal ultrasound to see the follicles around the ovaries.

It was explained that it would be good to have an HSG (Hysterosalpingogram) to make sure my tubes were clear. It was my understanding that, before a medical procedure like this, the medical assistant in the doctor's office would be the one to verify insurance. At the time, I didn't know that infertility wasn't accepted for insurance in my state.

I had the HSG, and then started on Clomid. I did three rounds of Clomid, but never ovulated while on it. In the meantime, I wanted to get on Metformin but my doctor thought my hormone levels weren't bad enough to be on it. But, she finally let me start taking it after she wouldn't let me do Clomid anymore.

I was so angry, because I knew from my research that doing both Metformin and Clomid together was a better shot than taking them apart. I begged for one last round of Clomid since I was finally on Metformin, but the doctor wouldn't do it.

In the meantime, I then saw the bill from my HSG and realized that, if someone would have informed me better, I could have saved myself $1,500 by doing the procedure as a cash payment upfront. So that was the end of my relationship with that doctor. I knew it was finally time to drive for 45 minutes and use the doctor that had been recommended in the first place.

From the start, my new OB/GYN was wonderful. I found out on our first visit that she had PCOS as well. I told her that I had wondered if I might have endometrioses since I knew my mother had the condition.

Right away she said, "Okay let's do laparoscopic surgery so that we can rule that out." Insurance covered it and I was clean.

I only had the PCOS to deal with: that was complicated enough. By that point I was on a high dosage of Metformin and no Clomid. I was pregnant within a month after my surgery. It had taken me just exactly a year to finally get pregnant. The pregnancy went well until the end. I did go full term, but I developed preeclampsia at the end and had to go right to the hospital from my last scheduled doctor's appointment to have my son. Christopher Alan Jett Luke was born on August 25, 2006.

When I was ready to try for baby number two I decided to get back on Metformin for six months before doing any other steps. Six months had passed and I still wasn't pregnant. And I just didn't want to take Clomid again.

I wondered if there was something out there for women with PCOS that was more natural. That is when I found the Insulite PCOS System. I printed off materials from the website and got it okayed by my doctor to start taking the supplements, though a prescription was not necessary.

I continued to take Metformin with the Insulite supplements. Additionally, I was exercising and trying to maintain a healthy, low carb diet. I could not have had a better experience. I really felt great and did lose a couple of pounds. I had two of the best periods of my life. They were only 23 days apart. They were strong, crampy and hormonal, all the things that I had always lacked in a period.

Then, I think it was another 21 days later I felt like I was ovulating for the first and only time in my life. And sure enough, I had ovulated and two months later, confirmed that I was pregnant. I have heard that the Insulite System doesn't necessarily have that immediate effect on everyone, but it truly did for me.

My second pregnancy did not go as well as my first. I had gestational diabetes and my water broke at 33 weeks. I was able to keep my son inside me for a week before he was taken out. The part that was hardest on me was that I was contracting for seven days; of course they were not labor contractions. It was a blessing that I didn't have those, since I needed him to stay in me as long as we could wait. But, I had such awful hot flashes and night sweats for weeks after, which is what probably lead me to my post partum depression the most. Tristan Matthew Danger Luke was born on April 13, 2009. He was in the NICU for a week, but had never needed oxygen since birth.

Today, my youngest is a year and a half. It has been a harder road this time getting my body back after having the gestational diabetes and other issues I had after having him. So I still have a ways to go. But, I am back on the Insulite PCOS System and it is helping me feel better and giving me more energy once again.

Melinda Luke