A Fertility Story: Cassie M.
Cassie M. was my first fertility client. She and her husband had decided to start trying for their second child a few months previously and she wanted to enlist my services as a fertility doula. Their first child had taken a year and a half and a little help from medication to conceive. The stress and worry about the possibility of repeated unwanted periods, each of which can feel like a loss, was etched on her face and voice.
We discussed BBT charting, types of discharge, and other fertile tracking methods for her to send me first thing every morning as well as nutrition and relaxation. Her charts were beautiful, with a clear ovulation, incorrectly estimated by her fertility app by six days. Now, normally I would want at least three months of consistent charting before I felt comfortable estimating a future ovulation but her chart was dead center for average.
It was wonderful watching Cassie learn her body the longer she tracked. It was like she started to trust it again and to become more in tune with its cycle. After the first month, we sat down to go over her chart and the next month we didn’t need to. Cassie was pregnant, her due date was Harry Potter’s birthday, and she wanted me to support her during her labor as her birth doula.
We hugged and cried together in happiness. I was thrilled and excited to continue to be a part of her family’s story through her birth.
Seven weeks later, Cassie called to tell me the baby was measuring small. Six weeks instead of nine. If she hadn’t been completely certain about her conception date, they would have pushed her due date back by a few weeks. My heart stopped even as I told her not to worry, there was still a heartbeat even if it was a bit slow and ultrasound measuring is an inaccurate science at best. The moment I got off the phone I was praying.
I continued praying when the bleeding started, when her HGC levels started falling, and even after she had her missed miscarriage. Praying for healing, praying for peace, and praying for her little baby. Her HGC levels continued to slowly fall and I continued to be a phone call away. The moment her midwife gave her the okay, Cassie was bravely ready to try again.
Photo Credit: Kara Vorwald Photography
Cassie and her husband announced the gender of their rainbow baby on their lost baby’s due date. She has become an amazing, open advocate for the 1 in 4 women in the United States who have experienced miscarriages. It has been an honor to support her through her fertility journey, her loss, her following conception, and her birth. Her strength was and is incredible and can be seen further in her labor story that I will cover in a future blog.
As Always, Thanks for Reading and God Bless!
