Infertility 101, Period.

Maybe this is the teacher in me, but I feel it's important to start at the basics regarding infertility. Honestly, I almost titled this post Fertility 101 because so many women have periods. Still, so few of us understand or feel comfortable talking about them, even without infertility as a factor. If you are getting ready to conceive, are TTC (Trying to Conceive), or want to know how the hormones in your body work, this post is for you. This post will help you see if you need to talk to your doctor about your menstrual cycle. Hopefully, for those going through infertility, this will help prepare you for educational materials and discussions with your doctor as you are TTC. This post will also be foundational if you are trying to support a friend going through infertility, as the menstrual cycle is fundamental to everything fertility related.

What I wish I'd Known

I'll share more about this in a few weeks, but I honestly didn't understand how my menstrual cycle worked until I tried for baby #2. In high school health class, my teacher talked about the menstrual cycle in one of the modules. But I feel that there was so much focus on contraception and abstinence that they skimmed over the deeper fundamentals of how hormones work in the body. Understanding the menstrual cycle is fundamental to understanding everything about fertility, such as finding your fertile window. It also plays a huge role if you are doing fertility treatments, be it medicated timed intercourse, IUI, or IVF.

While I wish I didn't have hypothyroidism, infertility, or PCOS, I'm honestly thankful I do. Having these conditions has brought me to research the hormones in my body and how they work together. Without these health conditions, I probably would have continued my life oblivious to the marvelous things our bodies do every single cycle.

Educational Resources

Dr. Natalie Crawford, MD, has played a massive role in my coming to love hormones and understand my period. Dr. Crawford is a board-certified Reproductive Endocrinologist who aims to educate women about their bodies and reproductive rights. Being a Reproductive Endocrinologist means that she has studied both OBGYN and endocrinology to specialize in infertility diagnosis and treatments. She has a blog, Instagram, youtube channel, and podcast where she advocates and educates us about infertility-related issues. Below I have several of her youtube videos and a podcast as resources, which I've found helpful as I've come to understand my menstrual cycle.

The first video I want to share is for understanding your menstrual cycle. If you don't have time for the full version, Dr. Crawford has done a 60-second version:

Understanding Your Period #shorts I prefer the more extended version as it is more in-depth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYoXDf1aHI0

Now that you have an overview of the menstrual cycle, the next piece is to understand what is a regular period so that you can know what is not normal. In the following video, I realized that what I had considered normal 6-week cycles were irregular and heavier than expected. In the later part of the video, Dr. Crawford briefly describes some conditions that may be causing irregular or painful periods, such as luteal phase defect, PCOS, endometriosis, and more. If you are trying to conceive, finding out what might be causing the problem is the start to finding the solution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrBvQWPIVmg

If you have more time than just the above videos, Dr. Crawford goes even more in-depth in a 35-minute podcast, which I highly encourage you to listen to at some point: As a Woman Podcast - Episode 007: The Menstrual Cycle, Period.

Takeaways

I'm so thankful for Dr. Crawford educating us about how our bodies work, and I'll be sharing more information from her because she does an excellent job at breaking it down. Because of her openness on social media platforms, I could find the courage to advocate for myself to get a diagnosis of PCOS. As you watch or listen to her resources, I hope you can learn more about your body and fertility.