A Young Military Wife’s Long Road to Hope. She never imagined she would be 23 and told her she needed to go through menopause just to have a chance at getting pregnant. It felt unfair, heartbreaking, but it was the beginning of their journey toward hope.
In 2016, just a few months before she married her husband, they believed they were expecting. She felt all the signs: sore breasts, nausea, fatigue. Even her doctor thought it might be real. They held on to hope. But after weeks of anticipation, the pregnancy test was negative. Then, the cramping and bleeding began. Her husband had to carry her to the hospital. The doctor told them it could have been a miscarriage or a ruptured ovarian cyst. They sent her home with papers labeled “spontaneous abortion care.” She was never given a blood test to confirm what exactly had happened.
That moment shattered something inside her. She thought she might never get the chance to be a mom. A Diagnosis, and a Difficult Choice Years earlier, at age 19, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which meant my ovaries rarely released eggs. Her body was full of cysts. Then doctors found she had Endometriosis: tissue meant to line the uterus was growing outside, causing pain and making it harder to conceive.
With endometriosis and cyst-ridden ovaries, my fertility was at serious risk. The doctors gave her two difficult but only options: try to get pregnant immediately, or undergo medically induced menopause. Pregnancy might temporarily suppress the endometriosis, but with her husband heading to deployment soon, that window was small. The other option: reboot her reproductive system with medication, forcing menopause for six months, a “reset.” They chose the second option. Six Months of Menopause at 23.
Starting in February 2017, she got the first injection. That was the beginning of six months during which her body was chemically pushed into menopause. She was 23, but every month, she felt like she was years older. Hot flashes.Acne. Emotional pain was so deep she could hardly bear it. On top of that, her husband was away deployed overseas, leaving her feeling alone, scared, and fragile.
They created a blog called “Journey to Baby D.” Writing helped her release her emotions, and sharing their story was a way to show that infertility, endometriosis, and medically induced menopause are not shameful. They are painful but real. When the First Plan Failed. After the six months, she hoped for a reset: a regular period, a chance to try for a baby once her husband returned. But a week before the final injection, her body rebelled. The endometriosis came back. She felt like I had wasted half a year of agony. She felt broken. She felt like she had failed her husband.
Still, she held on to hope. When her husband finally came home, she felt like she wasn’t alone anymore. We tried other treatments together: pills, injections, month after month, trying to trigger ovulation and start a healthy cycle. But her uterus and ovaries wouldn’t cooperate. No follicles. No hope. She was tired physically and emotionally. With time running out (another deployment was looming) and nothing working, we made one more hard decision: try In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). It was their only shot. Science felt like magic and hope all at once.
But IVF came with a heavy price, emotionally and financially. The cost felt overwhelming: $15,000–$20,000, like buying a car. Clothes, diapers, and all the things that come after pregnancy added up. Yet, every day, waking up and choosing hope became our survival. She knew: to become parents, we had to fight. We had to believe. Why does she Keep Fighting? Ever since she was a little girl, she knew she wanted to be a mom. She played with baby dolls while other girls dreamed of being princesses. She babysat cousins, volunteered at preschool, and motherhood was her dream. Meeting her husband made it real. She wanted a child with him.
