Thriving Beyond

At the age to 15, Tanjila started to notice that she was experiencing heavier than normal menstrual cycles. She experienced immense pain to the point she could not go to school. When Tanjila was in college, her symptoms started to worsen. With the stress of being a college student balancing academics, extracurriculars, personal, and social life, Tanjila developed polycystic ovary syndrome or commonly known PCOS. PCOS is a hormonal disorder, and in Tanjila’s case, it was triggered by stress. Tanjila’s signs and symptoms of PCOS included hair loss and weight gain (although she was very active).

Tanjila also has stage three endometriosis. Endometriosis is a gynecologic disorder where the tissue that normally lines the uterus is misplaced. The tissue can be found on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, or the intestines. Women who have endometriosis are more likely to experience difficulties becoming pregnant.

Prior to 2020, Tanjila and her husband spent a few years trying to become pregnant. After exhausting all other options with no success, the couple decided to start in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. IVF is a form of assisted reproductive technology which involves the fertilization of the egg(s) in a lab and subsequently transferring them to the uterus either within 3-5 days of egg retrieval (fresh transfer) or at a later time (frozen transfer). Tanjila is a patient with PCOS, so her ovaries overproduce follicles compared to patients without PCOS. Tanjila had 26 eggs retrieved and fertilized. Due to the excess number of eggs retrieved, a frozen egg transfer was planned. However, in March 2020, all non-essential treatments including IVF were stopped due to the pandemic. This changed some things for Tanjila, and her husband and some important conversations surfaced.

Tanjila’s husband is a doctor and was on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tanjila and her husband had a conversation regarding exposure to COVID and potentially him passing away and what that would mean for their family planning. An important question the couple discussed was he would be okay with using the frozen embryos. During this time Tanjila was in Oklahoma and her husband was in New York.

In July 2020, her husband moved to Oklahoma and the couple’s focus was settling their lives together. They sought out a doctor to provide guidance on their next steps. To her surprise, Tanjila found out she was pregnant at 9 weeks, which meant she got pregnant a week after her husband’s return.

In December 2020, Tanjila tested positive for COVID-19 and had to quarantine for a month. She was monitored closely and when her oxygen level dropped to 88%, she was admitted to the emergency room where she was hospitalized for a week. Tanjila received plasma transfusions and was discharged with an oxygen machine which she used for a week. During this time, the baby was completely fine. After Tanjila got COVID, she sought support from a doula to support her and her husband.

At 37 weeks, Tanjila developed preeclampsia and had an induced delivery at 37 weeks and 3 days. During the delivery process she has a severe panic attack because of a vasovagal response triggered by the insertion of a catheter. Post-delivery, Tanjila experienced hemorrhaging. She mentioned that the pain she experienced from the endometriosis was more than the pain from PCOS.

Throughout our conversation, Tanjila acknowledge how privileged she was as she received support from her husband and family throughout her pregnancy and was able to seek additional services to support her mentally, emotionally, and physically. She was able to take 6 weeks of paid maternity leave and an additional 6 weeks of unpaid leave. Tanjila expressed her concern for the lack of maternal support in our country. Tanjila shared postpartum and maternity leave differs for every woman and should take into consideration their unique health needs. Tanjila’s son is now three months, and she is still recovering from the complications related to her pregnancy. She said, “unfortunately, society doesn’t measure things in that way”. Through her own independent research, Tanjila learned about compression lymphatic drainage therapy to help monitor her symptoms related to PCOS. Tanjila said, “these are considered as ‘extras’ but should be a part of routine care and it is not the case for a lot of women”.