Bobbi always wanted a family. But after years of trying and multiple miscarriages, she feared that might just never happen. Before giving up all hope, she started tracking her menstrual cycles with a fertility app. She learnt a lot about her body, and, ultimately, got a very happy surprise.
When Bobbi and her husband started trying to conceive, her dream of having a baby began to dissolve into feelings of despair. Months of failed pregnancy tests turned into several years of struggling to both get pregnant and stay pregnant.
Bobbi decided it was time to take more control over her fertility. She traded her spreadsheet for a fertility tracking app.
“I got the idea after seeing a friend do something similar and realised it would give me a greater feeling of control,” she explained. “We visited a fertility doctor for a few months, so it was useful to have something to show.”
Faster and simpler tracking with the app
The amount of information needed for the fertility treatments went beyond the information about menstruation that she was keeping in her spreadsheet. “At some points, I was tracking my temperature four to five times a day,” she says, “but with the app on my phone, I could pop to the bathroom at work, take my temperature, and record the result in just a few moments instead of having to remember the numbers to put into my chart on the computer.”
Bobbi found that the app was helpful, not just in tracking her cycles and temperatures, but also other symptoms like her mood. She remembers, “I knew that I would feel down at certain points, and with the app, I was able to go back and compare to previous cycles. Right now, I’ve got data going as far back as 2013; that was invaluable.”
I knew I needed to push for answers
“When everyone was saying that there wasn’t a problem, the data that I had backed me up through a lonely time,” she says. “Even when the tests came back saying that my thyroid was fine, I felt able to stand up and say, ‘No, you need to do more tests’. Eventually I got my diagnosis and suddenly everything made sense.” Indeed, this data meant that Bobbi was eventually diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, after tragically losing her first few pregnancies in early miscarriages.
As Hashimoto’s affects almost seven times as many women as men, Bobbi found herself in a more supportive community with vital knowledge that clarified her infertility. The miscarriages she experienced were due to the untreated hypothyroidism, which is associated with a high risk of miscarriage during the first trimester.
Knowing when to test
Enlightened by her diagnosis, she continued to use the app, so – importantly – she knew exactly when to take a pregnancy test. Identifying the pregnancy early, her doctors were able to adjust her thyroid medication to support the pregnancy and prevent miscarriage.
Finally, last year, Bobbi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Aurora. Bobbi is now using the app to help her with her natural fertility goals and hopes to use the app to continue building her family in the near future. “I know that I’m approaching 40 now, so I’m on the wrong side of the cliff edge, but I feel confident that, with the help of the app, I’ll be able to tell exactly what my body is doing,” she said. “It’s like having a friend that remembers everything.”
For more information, to learn about your body, and track menstrual cycles with an app, visit www.kindara.com
