Catholic dealing with infertility

[onawishandaprayer]

My husband and I have been married for 5 years and I'm really struggling to come to terms with the idea of possibly not being able to have my own biological child. My faith and being blessed with a wonderful husband have kept me strong through a lot but I can't help but feel I am losing hope and faith that God will grant me the gift of a child.
Has anybody had any similar experiences? I would really appreciate any advice, recommended reading, prayers and bible readings that would offer hope and comfort.

Have you looked at NaPro technology?
Not a Catholic but I tried it for a while and did conceive but unfortunately had to tfmr.
Now have a beautiful DS through ICSI, but as I say not we are not Catholic.
I found the NaPro doctor and practitioners kind and supportive.
HTH

After 5 years, you might be needing some tests to see where the problem lies. It could be either of you, possibly something easily fixed.
Are you fully aware of the best times of cycles to conceive, etc?
There's natural remedies worth trying of you doing want to go down the artifical assistance route?
But also, why not that route? If its against your Catholic convictions, would you rather remain childless for ever out of respect to your god? Or is it also against your very personal views of how a baby should be conceived? Reason I ask, is I know plenty of people who call themselves Catholic who ha assistance in the form of iui or ivf.
They still go to mass. Not sure if they had to confess their sin or not, but they are very happy now and also bringing up their children in the Catholic faith.

@Chrisinthemorning
I haven't heard of Naprotechnology after a quick google I'm familiar with Natural family planning, temping etc. What other help did they offer you? So glad to hear you found a way to have the family you wanted

@Nettymummy
We've had lots of test DH is totally fine but I have PCOS and irregular annovulatory cycles. Tried NFP for first 18 months and realised we might need some help. Was referred via our GP and saw a specialist who put me on metformin and then had a follow up a year later after still not conceiving. We are soon to start our last cycle of clomid but not really sure what the next steps are. That's so lovely to hear that you know of people conceiving with help and still being accepted by the Catholic Church, my mum is very conservative catholic and is in total support of IVF for anyone that needs it.

NaPro follows Creighton method charting of cervical mucus to work out fertile times. I was given clomid and HCG injections to aid ovulation. It isn’t great for male factor though. We had a bit of both- I have endometriosis and DH has variable SA with low normal forms, but as I say it did work and the reason we had to terminate won’t have been caused by the method of conception- it was trisomy 21 so could happen to anyone.
I told the NaPro clinic I mc rather than tfmr as I thought they might disapprove or something but I am now quite open about it as it’s not something I am ashamed of.
As I say they were lovely so it’s worth looking at unless you have severe male factor. I was under 35 at the time and it does take a while so if age isn’t on your side I’m not sure I would waste time on it.

It's good you've considering IVF as an option as that's probably the next step. As somebody who grew up catholic but left the church I remember there being a lot of babies and baptisms etc that would make not being able to conceive feel very lonesome. Prayer helps and God will be listening even if it doesn't feel like it. Sometimes having your own baby isn't in god's plans, have you considered other options if it doesn't work out? My friends adopted 2 boys several years ago and they have Matthew 18:5 printed on their bedroom wall "Whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me". Or there's also Romans 9:8 "This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring." God is always listening and can surprise you in more ways than one.

@Chrisinthemorning
I've seen that they have a clinic about an hour away from me and have called to make a few enquiries and I'll have a chat to my OH about it later. I've got a follow up appointment with my consultant in August so will probably see how I feel after that. Really appreciate you sharing your experiences though

@merlotmummy14 yes it does feel like Catholic Churches are filled with babies more than any other! Adoption is definitely an option, my OH and I planned to adopt even before we realised having our own might be more difficult. I've made a few enquiries to Barbados and our LA but my OH would like to exhaust all our options to have our own first.

Onawish- I had a similar struggle with pcos, having tried for 2years with no success- did some research and tried a low carb diet- like ketogenic or Atkins.
Pcos is usually linked to insulin metabolism, so sugar causes hormonal disruptions.
Buy a book on managing pcos they’re are some great ones available. There’s so much you can do to help this,
I had fertility tests too, but having found the problem, changing my diet, my periods, having been absent for 6 months, came back and I was pregnant in 3 months. Never made it back to next fertility appointment!

@Missymoo100
Wow that's amazing. I've changed my diet recently, I was doing slimming world and was eating lots of potato and pasta and realised this wasn't helping my pcos even though I lost 7lbs. I'm now reducing my carbs significantly and only having one small carb based meal a day (a big change for a carb lover) have also cut out sugar and alcohol. I have read lots about keto but think I would find it very hard to stick to, if it would get me a baby it'd be worth it though! X

It really is worth giving a persevering with. I didn’t find the diet too bad to follow- try a cookbook for some ideas. I also found doing the diet helped my mood at the time because it gave me something to focus on (other than babies) and I didn’t feel as powerless anymore.
The book had lots of tips like eating cinnamon which can help insulin resistance, as does something called inositol, plus increasing activity levels too.
I hope this helps you, please don’t get down hearted because there’s a lot you can do to help with this.

www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-Solutions-PCOS-Marilyn-Glenville/dp/0230763839/ref=asap_bc?tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

This is one of the books I had, as I remember was very good.

I have polycyclic ovaries and endometriosis. I have had children.

My vitamin levels tend to be low occasionally, my hormones don't do well at those times, have you had blood tests?

I also think it is OK to not have children. You have found someone to love and share your life, you are blessed already.