First Person: My 10 Year Window of Fertility

At the age of 16, I met the love of my life. By 18 we were married and trying to start a family. At 21 I was diagnosed infertile with underdeveloped ovaries and by 31, I was rendered sterile by a complete hysterectomy. During my 10 year window of potential motherhood, I proved doctors false and created the family I always wanted.

From the first years of my life I knew I wanted to be a mother. My life plan included marrying a tall, dark and handsome man that was one foot taller than me and having five children. There was nothing that could change my mind about this life path, and everything started according to plan though nature gave me a few bumps along the way.

By the age of 16, I had met the tall, dark and handsome man and he was exactly one foot taller than me. The first stage of my life plan was in place. After dating for a few years, we married at 18. Two years later we decided to start our family. Six months went by and we were still trying with no luck. We enlisted the help of a fertility specialist who told us we would never have children. An internal ultrasound revealed my ovaries had only progressed to about 11 years of age, which mean I was permanently stuck pre-puberty.

My menstrual cycle had started at the age of 10. By the time I was 18, I was having only one menstrual cycle a year. As an active athlete, I thought the lack of menstrual cycles was due to sports, but the fertility doctor revealed it was due to my underdeveloped ovaries. But, I had a life plan and no one was going to stop me from living that plan - this was in August, 1996 and I was just about to turn 21.

Proving Medicine Wrong

In October I had my first menstrual cycle in a year and we took every advantage of that sign. Six weeks later we found out we were pregnant with our first child. The pregnancy was very hard, but in the end we were blessed with a healthy, premature 10 lb. 13.9 ounce baby girl. We sent an 11 X 13 photograph of our daughter to the fertility specialist.

After the birth of our first child in July 1997, we were plagued with the same problems. I had no menstrual cycle until April of 1998 and again we took this as a sign so we attempted to conceive and we were blessed with another 10 lb. baby girl born in January, 1999.

It seemed as though things were going perfectly. My menstrual cycles were even and regular after baby number two. Little did we know that I was releasing multiple eggs every cycle, diminishing my egg supply faster than normal. Three years later, I found a lump in my abdomen that doctors diagnosed as a hernia. The surgeon found no hernia, but he did find a cyst attributed to external endometriosis. The cyst was the size of a golf ball. The only way doctors could ensure no additional cysts would form was to perform a hysterectomy. I was only 27 years old and I was three children short of my ultimate family goal so we chose to take a chance on faith.

And Then There Were Two More

Two years after the surgeon's suggestion, we found out we were pregnant for the third time. After having a blood test for pregnancy, the doctor's office called for an emergency appointment. An ultrasound revealed twins. We were overjoyed and scared at the same time. The twins were born premature in January, 2004 - I was 29.

About one year later, I started having terrible pains on one side during my normal menstrual cycle. The pains were followed by the development of a lump on that side. I put off going to the doctor for about two years until the pain was so bad I could not bear it any longer. I was afraid of the outcome but little did I know my dreams of child number five would be stolen forever.

The End of My Fertile Days

The gynecologist listened to my health history and advised me to set up a complete hysterectomy to be performed just two weeks later. He also ordered a CAT scan to see what was causing the pain in my abdomen. The CAT scan came back clean, but medical diagnostics are far from perfect.

Two weeks later, I received a complete hysterectomy including removal of ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus. The doctor was nice enough to remove some scar tissue build-up from the side of my abdomen that was causing pain.

Post surgical testing revealed that scar tissue was a little more than scar tissue. Endometriosis had eaten away my uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Adenomyosis was found in every layer of my uterine muscle and that scar tissue was an external endometrial cyst that was hemorrhaging with every menstrual cycle.

What is the moral of the story? Regular pap smears and yearly gynecological visits are important to woman's health. Pap smears should be performed every year up to age 30. If you have had three clear pap smears, you may be able to move the annual Pap smear to once every two to three years, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

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