You may have read that when you're trying to conceive, you need to wait before going to a fertility specialist.  The standard recommendation is if you're under 35, you try for a year; if you're 35 or older, you try for six months - then you start the process of an infertility diagnosis.  Sounds reasonable, except for some women (and men), waiting is wasting time.  Dr. Wilshire explains the ten exceptions to waiting.

The ten reasons are:

• You have irregular periods and do not know when you ovulate
• You're taking multiple medications that may impair fertility
  
• You're underweight or overweight; both extremes may impair fertility
  
• You have a history of pelvic infection, a previous STD (sexually transmitted disease), PID (pelvic inflammatory disease), or previous abdominal surgery (ie. removal of your appendix)
  
• You have painful periods or painful intercourse
  
• There are timing conflicts that will interfere with having relations during your ovulation window
  
• There are known male factor issues, such as treatment for childhood cancer, varicocele, etc.
  
• The male partner is taking multiple medications which may impair fertility
  
• The male partner is untested/unproven (semen analysis has not been done)
  
• Your time is priceless and you want to have a baby now - wasting time is not to your advantage
  

#infertility #drwilshire #ttcjourney #ttc #haveababy

Infertility treatment is never easy; in fact, it can be quite stressful.  There are things you can do each day to help yourself feel in control and empower your thinking toward the positive and not the negative.

Practice Self Awareness: Know yourself, your limits, strengths, weaknesses, and most of all your values.  When you feel run down, tired, or like you want to give up, rest and take care of yourself.  Remember, it's also okay to say no if you don't feel like doing something.

Use Positive Self Talk: Be your own advocate. You are pretty freaking awesome - make sure you REALLY know it. If you don't believe it, say it to yourself, again and again; we tend to believe what we tell ourselves, so be sure you're using positive affirmations to yourself each day.

Strive to Learn: Learn something everyday.  Lifelong learning is a way to keep our minds open, maintain our curiosity, and also not focus on negative things!

Seek to Understand People: We are all different, yet we are also all the same. So before you seek to be understood, seek to understand. 

Live in the Present: Enjoy each and every day. Don't look back, that's not the direction you're heading - your going forward, into the future!

Don't Worry About the Future: Worrying does nothing, so let it go; see live in the present!

Don't Regret Your Past: Own it. Learn from it. Use it. and Let it go. Simple.

Don't Run Yourself Down: See Positive Self Talk above - you are AWESOME. End of Story.

Believe In Yourself: You've got this!

#wednesdaywisdom #loveyourself #selfcare #infertility #columbiamo #missouri

​Hello, everyone. My name is Heather, and I work at Missouri Fertility with Dr. Wilshire. I have a little girl I had at 20 years old. Her name is Genevieve. After having Genevieve, I was told by my ob physician that it was going to be super easy to have another child, but at that time I was not ready, so I had the Mirena IUD placed in my uterus. A few years later, my husband and I discussed that we would like to make our family a little bigger. So, in 2015 I had my IUD removed and we began trying to have a baby; however, we were unsuccessful for a while. The job here at Missouri Fertility came to my doorstep, and I gladly accepted it in 2016. Once I began working here, I began to see other patients' journeys, and it made me realize that something was wrong. I discussed this with Dr. Wilshire and he suggested some options that might help my husband and I, but he said that it is not a good idea to wait, and we should get the answers we need, then decide what we want to do from there. I am glad that I received the answers we needed, and we are super excited to be able to choose the route we wanted to take from there. So, if you want to get the answers for your journey, then come to our Infertility Awareness Conference. It will be held on April 27th here in Columbia, at the Country Club. We will also be having lunch, and it is free to come. So come to our conference to get your answers for your specific problem. We look forward to seeing you. Of course, we are always ready to help you in our office. Just call and make an appointment to see Dr. Wilshire. You will always be thankful you did.