Ellie had endometriosis, PCOS, cysts and polyps, which stopped her from getting pregnant

Ellie: What was really hard emotionally was seeing other people get pregnant, or hearing about other people.

It did feel like the pressure was on. You think, we’ve been waiting long enough. And I think everyone thinks it’s going to happen quite quickly, but at the back of my mind, I think I knew it was going to take some time and I always had this nagging feeling that there was going to be a problem.

I remember seeing my GP and really it was a case of “Come back when you’ve actually hit the two-year mark”. Which I think was a really, really long time, when you want something quite badly.

They sent me for an ultrasound scan and I’m pretty sure that’s when they found some cysts. I remember a GP saying to me, well, you’ll be a good candidate for IVF and left it at that. And I felt really crestfallen. I just felt like it didn’t matter at all and that my health generally didn’t matter.

Yes, so that’s when I got in touch with Rachel. You had mentioned to me about Michael, the herbalist. I gave him a copy of the results from the scan and he said, well it sounds to me like you have endometriosis.

And seeing a gynaecologist, he said, well you have PCOS, but he wouldn’t listen to me when I said I have endometriosis, I have all the key signs, it runs in my family.

Seeing Michael felt like quite a turning point really. I really felt like he was a big positive step for me because he really improved my cycles and my wellbeing. Making all these changes that felt right, it felt like it would work. I felt like I had something of a team behind me.

When I had a second appointment he did a scan and he admitted that it looked like I had endometriosis. Because he could see quite clearly I had big endometriomas, which are blood-filled cysts, on my ovaries.

I was referred to have a laparoscopy, having been told that would only take, they said maybe, up to twelve weeks, so I thought it would be done by Christmas, it took six months. That period of time, especially over winter, was a horrible waiting period.

After the operation, it took me quite a long time to recover. I listened to Rachel’s advice and I just sort of took it down a bit when I knew my body needed more time to just relax or just recoup.

The biggest difference was just being able to talk to someone about it, and the fact that it felt very sort of two-way. You were really listening to me. Not having a particular agenda or some sort of prescription of what was going to work for me in mind before I started saying something.

It was just great having that sort of support and knowing that there was a plan in place.

It was really just helping my body to heal and prepare. Not thinking about, at least not for the month or two, that OK I’m going to start trying now. It’s about sort of laying the groundwork, making sure everything is in a really good place. That sort of emotionally, mentally I felt ready and that my body felt like it had time to recover, because you know it’s quite a procedure having a laparoscopy.

I remember thinking, right OK then I can start with Clomid, and if I don’t take it today then it’s kind of a month wasted. So I spoke to someone at the clinic and they told me to not go ahead with it, and I just went ahead with it anyway. Four weeks later I took a test and it was positive.

When I had the results from that first scan. I remember sitting on your sofa with you and just crying. The culmination of three or so years, and then all of a sudden, it was just amazing.

[Ellie’s Husband And Baby Boy Join]

Ellie: This is Benji, he is five-and-a-half months old. He’s our little miracle baby.

Husband: Initially it was all about when to start trying for children. I wasn’t expecting three-and-a-half years and what we had to go through.

When we eventually got round to, sort of, having the tests done I really hoped it would be me because I didn’t really want you to go through it. I thought it maybe easier for me to carry than maybe yourself. Yeah, it was quite difficult.

So after three years and it happened, it was great really.

Ellie: He’s such a happy smiley baby. He makes it easier and I think we’re really lucky.