This describes a Mira customer’s personal experience and/or was sourced from a review or interview. Mira cannot guarantee the same results for everyone. Results will depend on each individual’s health conditions. Mira is not intended to diagnose or treat any diseases. Please consult with your doctor.
Introduction
"My partner and I always knew we wanted kids from very early in our relationship. Since we were both entering our thirties, we knew time wasn’t on our side but we never expected to have any issues conceiving. After a year of trying we knew something wasn’t right, which led us on an infertility journey that ultimately ended in the best way possible - pregnant! This is our story of the struggles we faced with fertility and how we navigated this journey with Mira."
Trying to get pregnant
"We started our TTC journey in 2021 and never expected to have any issues conceiving. After a year of trying we knew something wasn’t right so we asked our GP to look into our fertility and perform infertility investigations. Unfortunately, the results were devastating. I had suspected PCOS and my partner had issues with sperm motility. On top of this, I also had uterine polyps which had to be surgically removed.
Growing up, all you hear is that if you don’t want to get pregnant, make sure you use protection since unprotected sex leads to pregnancy right?! What they don’t tell you is that it doesn’t happen all the time, and isn’t even that likely. Ovulation is never mentioned and sperm health is an afterthought. I understand why they tout this narrative, but I was completely uneducated about the issues we could face.
The pressure women (in particular) face to have a family is often very high, and I certainly felt that. When it doesn’t happen easily, you naturally think it must somehow be your fault, or that there’s something wrong with you. It doesn’t help when it feels like all of your friends and family are easily getting pregnant and having babies while you’re stuck in a cycle of testing and negative results. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking, but it can also educate you about your body and things you never knew were connected to fertility.
After the results of our fertility investigations, we thought it meant we could only have a family through IVF. We were able to secure funding for one round of IVF through the NHS, but we knew we couldn’t afford additional rounds. The initial investigations took over a year to be completed and my partner is still on the waiting list to see an endocrinologist for his issues.
With the clock ticking away, I started doing a lot of my own research to see what could help and what we could do from our side of things. Neither of us wanted to get to the point of needing IVF so I went down a rabbit hole of how we could improve fertility without expensive treatments. I read up on vitamins we should both be taking, and diets and exercise to improve fertility. I specifically looked for vitamins and supplements that could help with sperm motility and I also started taking prenatal vitamins to ensure my reproductive health was up to par.
Finding and using Mira
During my research on how to improve fertility, I discovered Mira while scrolling social media. We were 2.5 years into TTC at this point and I was tired of the unclear results I got with OPKs. Given that I may have PCOS, this makes sense now. I could never predict my period and had very irregular cycles. It was hard to know if or when I was ovulating so the thought of trying to time sex with ovulation (that I wasn't even sure was happening) made me want to give up. I did a bit of research on the device before taking the plunge but I wasn’t convinced it was going to work.
I’d always struggled with OPK results due to my own hormonal issues, so when I tried Mira for the first time it was like a revelation. I could finally see the rise in my hormones and track my LH levels to give us a hint on when my fertile window would be. Mira showed me exactly how my hormones were changing throughout my cycle. As I found out with Mira’s data, I don’t always ovulate in my cycle and since OPKs only track LH, it was never clear when or if I did actually ovulate. With Mira I could see every little change, day by day, so I could make sure we knew when I was fertile. It confirmed my anovulatory cycles and helped me predict when my period was due. In the past it had always been a guessing game since I have very irregular cycles. Sometimes they were 21 days and sometimes they were 50 days long, with no rhyme or reason it seemed. Knowing when my hormones had peaked and seeing the changes through my cycle was amazing.
To be honest, I thought it was just going to be another expensive gadget that would lead to more false hope, but it turned out to be one of the best investments I could have made. After almost 3 years of trying and just 4 cycles using Mira I’m excited to say that we are finally expecting. I know that without Mira we would have spent many more months TTC and may have had to go through IVF. Mira shined a light on my cycle and what was actually going on so we could use that information to strike while the iron was hot so to speak."
Advice for others
"Women are under a lot of pressure to procreate and to others facing that same pressure I would say that I see you and I understand you. It can be frustrating and heartbreaking to face infertility, but it can also educate you on things you never knew before. I know more about my body now than I ever have and certainly more than I learned in school.
If you’re TTC and you’re facing infertility I recommend three things.
- Talk to your partner or someone you are close to about how you’re feeling. I can’t tell you enough how important this is. Not only does it help them understand where you are emotionally, but it can stop them from saying the wrong thing.
- Prioritize your health and talk to a healthcare professional about your fertility as soon as you need to. Don’t wait until you’re months into TTC only to discover that there are a myriad of issues that will take time to solve. There are so many things you can take control of, like diet and supplements, to help your reproductive health.
- Invest in a good hormone tracking system (like Mira). Once I could see my hormones tracked on an easy to understand chart, I knew exactly when to try and when it wasn’t going to happen.
Final thoughts
"Trying to conceive can be a journey of emotions whether you have fertility issues or not. But throw in some reproductive health challenges and you’ve got a real rollercoaster on your hands. Once I started using Mira though, and could see my actual hormone data, everything felt much more manageable. Not only could I see what was going on with my cycle, but my partner and I could plan for my fertile window with 99% accuracy thanks to testing with Mira. Buying the device was an investment, but I’m glad I did because I know that it helped me learn more about my body and get pregnant."
