Alyssa

At the age of 25, a few months after I got married, I was told that it would be “difficult to impossible to ever have children” and was labeled infertile. It was devastating. Two years later, I was finally diagnosed with PCOS after four months of continuous bleeding, numerous test, and three doctors. I first participated in the Jumpstart program in September 2012 when I was 30 years old. Six months later my cycles spontaneously started again after a 3 1/2 year absence. A few months later they became totally normal for the first time in my entire life!

Prior to my Jumpstart experience, I had experienced years of infertility,18 months of failed fertility treatments, a miscarriage & three failed adoptions. I was at my highest weight ever, more stressed.  I hated my body. It had failed me in so many ways & hoping for anything better seemed foolish after so many difficult years. Jumpstart literally changed my life & the way I thought about myself. For the first time in years, hope seemed like something I could grasp.

As I began to help Amy with Jumpstart, I heard stories of women who lost 40 pounds in six months or got pregnant right away. I was happy for them, but discouraged for myself. Why were their bodies working so well & mine was so slow? It took me awhile to learn that every woman’s body heals at its own pace & I constantly reminded myself of my favorite quote, “It doesn’t  matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.”

For me, it took longer to see results. It took one year for me to lose 30 pounds but I continued to work at it and didn’t give up. A year and a half after my first Jumpstart (now age 32), my husband I learned we were expecting! Our sweet little baby is due October 2014 and was conceived completely naturally and quite by surprise! (It’s amazing what your body will do when it’s working as it should!) You can imagine our joy after the years of difficulty we had experienced. My favorite part about participating in the Jumpstart Program is encouraging women that they really can make this happen! If PCOS has lead you on a difficult & painful journey, please don’t lose hope. Change can be right around the corner when you commit to investing in your health & life.

If you’d like to read more about my story, I started blogging in 2012, after years of feeling alone and not really knowing a lot of other women who were struggling the same way I was. In a few short years I had simultaneously dealt with miscarriage, PCOS, infertility, failed adoption attempts, health issues, and the unexpected death of my only brother. I started my blog, My Heart Ever Changing, as a way to share my story so that I wouldn’t feel alone anymore and now I’m amazed and grateful at how sharing my own experiences has touched other women’s lives. I write about miscarriage, infertility, marriage, and faith and how it’s changed my heart and my life. You can find My Heart Ever Changing on Facebook and at www.myhearteverchanging.blogspot.com