Part 3: Has Crohn’s Robbed Us From Starting a Family Naturally?

And for my third installment of this series, I bring you... but first a quick recap. In Part 1, I talked about having a geriatric womb and opening a Pandora’s Box by meeting with the Reproductive Endocrinologist. In Part 2: I had a surgical procedure called a D&C (dilation and curettage). My doctor didn’t find cancer. Thankfully it was just uterine polyps and polypoid tissue. But I was filled with anger after my follow up appointment.

The possibility of how two decades' worth of untreated Crohn’s inflammation contributing to needing this surgery left me dealing with many feelings. So, when my doctor said the count-down to intervention clock could reset to six months, I felt a small wave of relief roll over.

Feeling against the clock to get pregnant

It quickly evaporated when my doctor remembered I was 39 and had a geriatric womb. And then she reset that clock to 3 months.

Due to COVID-19 numbers in Central Florida ticking back up, I knew that 3 months wasn’t really realistic. After a small discussion with my husband, we resolved ourselves to the fact that it would be more like six months anyway.

I didn’t cover much about the recovery from the D&C. It was physically hard for me. Going to the bathroom after a D&C is rough. My girlfriends had prepared me as much as they could.

But to go through that with Crohn’s disease, regardless of being in remission, it still is different. At least in my opinion it was different.

Symptom onset with a delayed biologic

My next dose of biologic that I use to treat Crohn’s, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis was due. However, my specialist told me to delay things for two weeks. I usually inject every six weeks.

That two-week delay was rough. I had symptoms from Crohn’s, psoriasis, and even psoriatic arthritis hitting me all at once.

After a checkup with one of my doctors, she prescribed an antibiotic used to treat Crohn’s and inflammation issues. I hate taking it, but it worked and pulled me back from the brink, thankfully. My next injection helped stabilize things further.

Focusing on Crohn's rather than pregnancy

Due to all of my conditions’ symptoms flaring up at the same time, I’d almost completely given up on trying. We figured whatever would happen was going to happen and there’s always the next month. The most important thing for both of us was getting ahead of the inflammation and taming my Crohn’s symptoms.

The two-week wait, also called the TWW, can be brutal for women. Because I was juggling with the little flare-up, I wasn’t paying attention to the dates.

A surprising positive test

The weekend of our wedding anniversary, we had plans to have dinner and drinks with friends in our bubble. They had just had a baby and we are each other’s support system. Something told me to take a test, before committing to drinks.

I ran into the bathroom to take a test. My husband who never bothers me while I’m in the bathroom started nagging me about what I was doing in there. I told him I was taking a test, so I could drink with a clear conscience later.

So this should come as much as a surprise as it came to us. The test was positive. Not just one test, but two. I guess you can say that the D&C did everything it was supposed to do and then some.

We are cautiously optimistic as this next chapter unfolds. But I’m also realistic due to my having a geriatric womb. For now, my doctors are happy, so we are happy.