Mindy's Story

Accomplishments, small or big, can really motivate you. I have asked members of my Facebook Group for some stories about their accomplishments to try to motivate anyone who may be struggling with a chronic illness or even depression. I want to expand my blog a little bit to include other illnesses.  I also want to share some stories to help people realize they are not alone. Here is my first story:

Mindy's Story

When I first started my period at age 13, I had extremely bad pains in both my back and pelvis. I was doubled over in pain and nothing would help. After years of battling doctors, I was finally diagnosed with Endometriosis at the age of 16. After even more years of battling pain from Endometriosis, I was told I probably wouldn't be able to have children. I refused the option of a hysterectomy because I wanted to try to have kids anyway. I decided to go off my birth control and start trying. After nine long months, I finally got pregnant. I found out I had miscarried at 7 weeks. It took me two weeks to physically recover that. I didn't give up after that, and 6 months later I was pregnant again. When I went in at 6 weeks for a sonogram, I was told we should be able to hear the heartbeat, but we couldn't. Once again I was devastated. My husband and I didn't lose hope and refused the DNC, and agreed to come back in a week. Once we went back the next week, we could hear a heart beat!!! Apparently we miscounted and I wasn't quite 6 weeks. I was so excited and couldn't contain my happiness. I had a rocky pregnancy, but nine months later, we brought our beautiful daughter into this world. The pregnancy helped my Endo, and we decided to try to have more children. A year later, all of my pain came back strong. Once again, we had to battle more doctors who didn't believe my Endo was back. After a surgery to confirm that I was right and to help the endo, I tried to get pregnant again. At 27 I got pregnant again, but had another miscarriage. This took a toll on my mental health. I felt as if it was my fault. I wanted to give up on having more kids, after all I did have my wonderful daughter. I'm glad I didn't lose faith because at 32 I gave birth to a wonderful baby boy! This proves that sometimes even doctors are wrong. Trust your gut and body because nobody knows how you feel except you. To this day, my pain still hasn't disappeared completely, but it is manageable. I take it day by day and it is way easier now that I have my kids.