PREGNANT naturally in 3 months! Being told she needed IVF but she did THIS!
Transcription :
Dr. Marc Sklar:
She had been trying for eight years without any success. And she did not give up hope, but she was told that the only way it was going to happen was if she did IVF or if she did adoption. And certainly, she was told she needed to do donor egg and potentially even donor sperm. She really heard it all and she never lost hope. Does this sound familiar to you? Today, I’m bringing you a real case study from a member of my HOPE Coaching Program, who after three months of joining the program, she was able to get pregnant and have a healthy child.
But for the seven years prior, she was told it was never going to happen. If you’ve been diagnosed with unexplained infertility, and you’ve been trying for a while without success, and you’re on the brink of giving up, I want to ask you not to lose hope, and I want you to stick with me and watch this success story, because this could be the motivation that gets you going in the right direction and gets you the results that you deserve and need.
You’re not just going to gain hope by watching this, you’re also going to learn what she was able to do and how we were able to guide her through that to get the results that she was able to get. So I want to ask you to keep watching. And the little extra bonus is that in the background, you’re going to hear her little baby crying and giggling and laughing, which hopefully also gives you more motivation to keep going.
Hi, my name is Dr. Marc Sklar, also known as a fertility expert, and I’ve been working with couples for over 19 years through my online coaching programs and right here in San Diego and my clinic. And hearing success stories is one of the most amazing things that continues to keep patients and members of my coaching program going and motivated. So that’s part of the reason why I’m sharing today’s story with you. And the other reason is because I want you to learn from it. So keep watching to learn more about how you can improve your fertility.
All right. So now let’s hear a little bit from her and I’m going to start commenting on her plan and what we were able to do for her.
Bradleigh:
My husband and I have been married almost eight years and we’ve always wanted kids, we’ve always loved the idea of kids, always wanted kids. And we started just casually trying, we weren’t crazy serious about it, but we really hadn’t been careful the whole time we were married. And when we started trying, we were about four years into marriage. And we started trying, and I immediately was like, “I feel like something’s off,” because now we’re intentionally trying. And we haven’t been careful at all up until this point. And now we’re intentionally trying and it’s not happening. And I immediately just had a check in my spirit. I’m like, “I think this is going to be difficult for us.”
But I still was like, “You know, it takes a while and this is the first time we’ve intentionally tried.” So we just kept trying, and months just went on, months turned to years.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
I want to stop here and just comment on what she said. She said she had a gut feeling that it was going to be more difficult than she expected. Now, often what we do when we have these gut feelings is we actually push them aside. We bury them because we don’t think that they’re right or we don’t want them to be right. She didn’t do that. But she probably could have listened to it a little bit more clearly and moved forward to get a little bit more support a little bit earlier.
So I want to encourage all of you, if you’ve got a gut feeling inside that something’s wrong, not just right, that you are going to need a little bit more support, be proactive. It doesn’t hurt to seek out that support now and get the support earlier or at least to rule out anything that might be in your way. And then you know that you can be move forward and start trying without any additional issues. So I want you to listen to your gut and I want you to be a little bit more proactive a little bit sooner.
Bradleigh:
I don’t remember how far into, it must have been like two years into it where I was… Well, I had always been in contact with my OB-GYN about it. I had always been like, “I think we’re struggling with infertility.” She ran some just the minimum hormone testing you could do. It was identified that my testosterone was a little bit higher, but she offered to put me on Clomid and Femara, stuff like that.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So I want to comment again here. This was the first issue that I see and that I learned about her cases that they found elevated testosterone levels, elevated androgen levels, and they did nothing about it. They tried to recommend Clomid and Femara, which are not going to lower testosterone levels and regulate that, those are going to allow her to ovulate hopefully more regularly, but she wasn’t having that issue, or at least she didn’t express that she was having that issue. So that’s another piece is like sometimes, they find things, but because they can’t do anything about them, they ignore them. That doesn’t mean you have to ignore them.
Bradleigh:
I need to go on those things because… Like I knew my body was still working. I was testing my ovulation. I knew I was ovulating.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
I told you, we hear her.
Bradleigh:
So I knew all that was working. I was like, it doesn’t make sense to go on this and mess around with ovulation when I know that’s working, like something else is off.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Right.
Bradleigh:
So I held off on that.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Good for her.
Bradleigh:
And let’s see. Gosh, I did so many different things. I went to a naturopathic person and she was really helpful. My gut has always been kind of off, I’ve had some issues for as long as I can remember. And so she wanted to really focus on that, like let’s get this in order.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
You’ve always heard me talk about digestive issues and gut health. So I do think that that was a great approach for her. She was able to seek out someone who can help her and support her to improve her digestive health. So that was always a great idea. But they weren’t also wrapping in the other things that needed to be addressed.
Bradleigh:
Well, different people thought maybe I had PCOS because I had the elevated testosterone. So I did everything that that person recommended. I started eating paleo. I switched up all my stomach stuff, went on a bunch of supplements to help address my gut issues, got that really improved. So did all of that. Still didn’t get pregnant, but I do think that laid a good foundation. I don’t want to say that that didn’t pay for.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Absolutely did. It did.
Bradleigh:
I think it was really good work that I was doing, but I think it just took a little bit longer. So I had done that for several months. And then I had always watched Dr. Sklar’s videos. Like I love to research things and I wasn’t getting plenty of answers at my OB-GYN. And…
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Here it is again. Little one.
Bradleigh:
There is my baby. So I knew that I needed to do more than what was just recommended. And I had already spent a good amount of money on naturopathic stuff. I had gone to OB-GYN and I was like, “You know what? I don’t know how much this is going to be, but I’m going to do it because I really like the way that he approaches this.” There was kind of an advocate in him to some extent. I felt like his heart was very much to advocate for people who had unexplained infertility. And he wasn’t satisfied with taking this is unexplained as an answer.
And I liked that he would do digging because I felt like, apart from the naturopathic person, I felt like no one was doing that. I was just getting pushed off. When I really felt like I had a chance for it, I just needed the right person to help me figure out why this wasn’t working. So I met with Dr. Sklar’s other person Lonika.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So sometimes, when you work with me and my team, you’re working with Lonika as well. And so it’s wonderful when that actually happens, which is what happened for her, because she was able to get both of us viewing her case and supporting her. Because I review every case, even if I’m not the primary person overseeing or managing that case. And so that was the benefit of her working with Lonika. But it’s also to just inform all of you that we work as a team. And so when you join my HOPE Coaching Program, you get both of us. Let’s keep listening.
Bradleigh:
The name is called the HOPE Consultation or something. And I did that with her. And my husband and I had done all the lab work that they had asked beforehand. And I remember doing the lab work. And I went to my primary care. I was like, “Who can I get to do this lab work?” And she really pushed back on it. She was like, “You know insurance isn’t going to pay for this? This is really extensive lab work.” And I was kind of like, “I do not care about what insurance will pay for at this point.” I pushed and I did that, did all lab work. And then I met with Lonika.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So this is an important piece to mention. We need detailed lab work. We need to understand what’s going on in your specific situation. And we can’t keep guessing. You can’t keep guessing. Which is why we ask for the type of investigation that we do. It’s not uncommon to get pushback. It’s not uncommon to get the comments that she got. That is the norm. But one way or another, we need to get that testing done for you, because that is vital to us understanding what’s going on for you and getting the results that you deserve.
Bradleigh:
It was really helpful. And I feel like just meeting with someone that approaches it the way they do was immediately just like giving hope, because her, on the other end of the Zoom call, wasn’t like, “[inaudible 00:10:16] you’re probably never going to get pregnant at this point.”
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Oh no.
Bradleigh:
She was just like, “Okay, we can do this.” And she was full of hope. And I mean, up until that point, I really hadn’t met anybody that was full of hope for us other than that, the naturopathic person I had seen. Just kind of like it’s unexplained. People had mentioned adoption, they mentioned egg donors. And people in my family [inaudible 00:10:43] for adoption. And adoption isn’t bad, but I wanted to figure out what was going on. So I met with her. She identified a couple different things, like potential PCOS. My blood sugar’s always been wonky. So she targeted that. So I remember she gave me a massive treatment plan-
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So I want to be clear here. She does have a variation of PCOS. It’s an atypical form, but it is still a PCOS pattern. And what was ignored in the past when they supported her is they ignored the androgen levels and they ignored her blood sugar or dysregulation of her blood sugar. So they didn’t regulate either one of those things. And that was one of the bigger things that we actually did both with her diet, her lifestyle and with her supplements. So that was key to getting her the results that she got. So let’s keep listening.
Bradleigh:
… with like, it had lifestyle changes that I could do. There were supplements, a bunch of different things. And they had always said like if this is going to work, you probably need to give it up to three months. You need to give it up to three months to figure out. They checked my vitamin D level.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Actually I want to comment here as well. Three months is the bare minimum that we need to make change. Sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes we hear that differently like she heard it, like we need up to three months, but we need at least three months to see change.
Bradleigh:
They got that up. It was lower, and they increased it a bunch. So I think around month three, I was just like, at this point, I just spent so much and we’ve just spent like a bunch of cash on stuff. Everything we’ve done at this point is out of pocket, like all the supplements, all the naturopathic stuff, all the labs. And it was around month three, I was just so discouraged. I was like, “Nothing is working.” And after I’d gone to see Dr. Sklar and Lonika around month three or two, I was just like, “Gosh, nothing works. I just can’t do this anymore.” So I went to an actual reproductive endocrinologist-
Dr. Marc Sklar:
Fertility clinic. Yep.
Bradleigh:
… and OB-GYN person that they specialized in IVF and stuff. So I met with her. I did like two consultations with her and she told me, “Yeah, you’re pretty much never going to get pregnant naturally based on all of these numbers.” My husband’s numbers came back and it really wasn’t looking good at all.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So we often talk about checking both. In her case, it took too long to really check her husband. She’s going to tell you that Lonika had recommended some things for him, but most importantly, we also recommended that he get tested. And that is really important because we need to check both sides. And in their case, we needed support on both sides. He needed support and she needed support. And without that, I don’t think we were going to get the results.
Bradleigh:
So she was like, “This doesn’t look good.” And she talked about sperm donation, not egg donation, sperm donation. And I was just like, it was just really, really depressing news. So I was like, you know what? And she told us there really wasn’t much chance of even IUI working. But she was like, “You can try it if you want. These numbers just don’t look good for that.” And so I was like, “You know what? We’re going to do it anyway.” Like, we’re not about to do IVF.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So even though that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, sometimes we do have to talk about those topics that just aren’t ideal and comfortable conversations, because we want to be real with you, we want to be upfront with you. And even though we have a lot of hope in the process, we don’t want to give any false hope. So we did believe in their case that they would’ve gotten better results if they did or faster results, although that wasn’t necessarily the case, they got faster results. But that if they did actually look at some of those processes, that maybe things would’ve happened a little bit sooner for them.
Bradleigh:
Do not want to do sperm donation right now. I thought I want my baby-
Dr. Marc Sklar:
My I’m glad you didn’t.
Bradleigh:
… to look like my husband please. So we were going to do IUI. I had the prescriptions filled for that. I had them in my hand and I was ready to take those. I was just waiting on my cycle to start, and then I was going to do all that. And I was journaling about that process. And I was just like, “This feels really weird. I don’t want to get my hopes up. I don’t want to just put all my eggs in this basket. I know what this feels like, and I really don’t want to do that.” And we had just prayed so much throughout this journey too. And I was just talking to the Lord about all of it.
And I was like, “I don’t want to get my hopes up.” And I felt like the Lord was like, “You can get your hopes up.” And it was just a really interesting thing. And I was like… It was, “You can trust me. You can get your hopes up. And if it falls through, you can trust me with that too.” And so it was this leap of faith where I was just like, “Okay, I’m going to believe that this is possible.”
Dr. Marc Sklar:
She just mentioned something that was really important here, that she was going to believe that it was possible, that she could do it. And I can’t tell you how often I hear that, that I didn’t believe that it was possible, that I didn’t have the hope, and that once I started to bring back that hope and once I started to believe again that it could happen, that it was possible and things shifted. And that also shifted for her because she restored her belief in herself and her abilities. And that is key as well to this. It’s believing in yourself.
Bradleigh:
I’m going to let myself get my hopes up. And if they come crashing down, I know the Lord is big enough to take care of me in that. And so I had journaled that day. And I was three days late for my period, and I was really frustrated. I was like, “This is so stupid.” I was like, “Every time we’re about to do something, this is late. And it’s a big tease to me and it always ends in disappointment.” So I was like, “You know, I’ll just take a pregnancy test. This is stupid.” And we had, I guess, at that point, been trying for three to four years actively.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
But also more time before that.
Bradleigh:
And I took a pregnancy test, and second line came up and I was like,-
Dr. Marc Sklar:
It was positive.
Bradleigh:
“Nah, that’s not real. Nope.” And so I did it again. It was exactly three months after we had seen Lonika. And yeah, that’s how I got pregnant. It’s such a small investment.
Dr. Marc Sklar:
So you can listen to the rest of her story. But I want to mention a couple things here that I think are really, really key things to her process. One is, she did do some preliminary work because she was trying to dig deeper and she wasn’t satisfied with the answer that we don’t know. She knew that she needed more and she sought out more, and her and her husband were really keen and actively involved in following our recommendations. And that was also essential to the process.
Things that were missed prior were the fact that no one focused on some of the real things that were right in front of their faces that were just ignored, like her androgen levels and her blood sugar. No one checked her husband until we did. And we were able to support that. So these are things that I don’t want you all to miss. I want all of you to start to address those things. And sometimes, that might mean that you need the coaching, that you need the guidance, that you need the support that you’re not getting from your OB-GYN or your fertility clinic.
And lastly, I want you to trust your gut and believe that it’s possible. Because we’ve seen so many places and so many examples of where people were told it can’t happen and it does. Or that they won’t and they need donor or sperm or adoption, and then they do get pregnant. So I want you to believe that it is possible, believe that you can do it, and trust your gut to get the results that you’re looking for. If this story sounds familiar, if you’ve been trying longer than you want, if you’ve tried all sorts of things and you’re just not getting the results that you want, and if you’re just not getting the support that you deserve, then I want to invite you to apply to join my HOPE Coaching Program.
This is where you get me and Lonika and our team supporting you and guiding you through the process to get the results that you deserve and just like she got. So it might take three months, it might take longer, but if you want that same support and that same guidance, then I want to invite you to apply. I’d love to have you in my HOPE Coaching Program. And to apply, all you have to do is use the link in the description below.
What did you learn from her story? What was impactful for you? What really spoke to you? I want to hear from you. Comment below and let me know. I’d also love your questions. So if you’ve got questions about what we did for her or your specific case, also comment below, and I’ll do my best to answer those questions. If you liked this video, give me a thumbs up. If you’re not already a subscriber to my YouTube channel, please subscribe. Just hit that bell to subscribe and get notified when I put out a new video for you. And until the next video, stay fertile.