Real-life stories from OvuSense users and essential information from fertility experts
Since a young age, Lana from Goodland, Kansas, believed she knew how she wanted to start her family: through adoption. She had been struggling with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) since she was a teenager, a hormonal disorder that affects a woman’s reproductive system. She and her husband, Andy, were excited about the future and welcomed the prospects of being parents.
In September 2017 at 36, Lana was shocked and excited to discover she was pregnant - something which seemed a very low probability during her 20s and early 30s. Because of her PCOS and her age, Lana was put in the high-risk pregnancy category, which meant she would need frequent doctors appointments and ultrasounds to make sure the pregnancy was progressing as it should and monitor for any risk factors.
When Sarah was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) at 23, she didn’t think much of it immediately. She was told that it might cause her some difficulty when she wanted to get pregnant, but at the time she wasn’t engaged to her then boyfriend (now husband) so trying to conceive was far from her mind. After getting married and talking with her husband, Rob, about beginning their family at 27, she spoke with a friend who encouraged her to talk with a reproductive endocrinologist right away.
Taking her friend’s advice, she connected with a local Orlando reproductive endocrinologist to learn more about what getting pregnant would entail. Because she had a mild case of PCOS, she was put on supplements and letrozole, a common fertility medication for women with PCOS. Sarah also began undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI), a fertility treatment that involves placing sperm inside a woman's uterus to facilitate fertilization with the goal of increasing the number of sperm that reach the fallopian tubes and subsequently increase the chance of fertilization.
Research has shown that in the US – and across the world – women are waiting longer and longer to have children due to a number of reasons including wanting to save up money in advance to finishing advanced education. But what does this mean on a personal level? For one woman – Stephanie, who is 37 and lives in North Carolina – it meant quickly understanding her fertility and educating herself about her ovulation cycle.
After taking birth control on and off throughout her 20s, Stephanie was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in her mid 20s through. During her annual OB-GYN exams, her doctor would often find cysts on her ovaries. To help control the symptoms of her PCOS and stop cysts from forming, Stephanie was put on a low-hormone birth control pill.
Your doctor may have suggested that you have a progesterone test to confirm ovulation or to assess your progesterone levels in the luteal phase.
The main test to determine whether a woman is ovulating is by a blood test, which assesses the level of the hormone Progesterone. Progesterone increases in the blood stream following ovulation and reaches it’s peak at 7 days before the next menstrual period. This test is termed a 21-day Progesterone test and is performed on day 21 of a 28 day cycle.
My wife and I wanted a baby and so we started looking for a donor in 2011. As we are a same-sex couple, obviously our only choice is to use donor sperm in order to conceive. It’s hard work to find the right donor and with AI (artificial insemination) but we are proof that miracles can happen!
Obviously, timing it all is really critical with a donor as you have to know exactly when you are ovulating and you only get one chance each month and you don't want to waste it! We found OvuSense and bought it thinking it would help us to get pregnant (and it did!). Just 3 cycles and it happened for us!
