My PCOS Is Out Of Control

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When Kieran was 2 weeks old, I went in to check how my c-section scar was healing. I hopped up on the scale and was please to see that I had lost all of my baby weight, plus a few pounds. "For once," I thought, "my body is doing something right!"

Fast forward a few months and I've gained all of the weight back, plus some. The 40+ pounds I worked so hard to lose before getting pregnant are not-so-slowly creeping back around my midsection, and it's painfully obvious by how my clothes aren't fitting anymore. I'm also growing a beard faster than my husband, which results in him having to wax it every week.

My body is out of whack and I can feel it.

I know that Metformin and a low-carb diet (even going so far as a low-amylose diet) works wonders to get my hormones back in line, but I was told that I shouldn't be on Metformin while I'm breastfeeding. Truthfully, breastfeeding Kieran is more important to me right now than fitting back in my jeans, but I'm afraid of how letting my hormones run rampant right now will affect us trying to conceive baby #2.

It took me about a year to lose those 40 pounds, and that was on a fairly strict low amylose diet with exercise. Let's be honest, even if Kieran weaned himself tomorrow, I barely have time to throw some spaghetti in a pot, let alone try to make noodles out of carrots. Thankfully exercise isn't too difficult; Kieran loves to go on walks in his stroller, so I try to take him out when the weather is nice.

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If we're lucky to have another child, we'd like to have them fairly close in age. The current plan is to start trying again when Kieran is about a year old. After three cycles au natural, we'll go back to our RE. I'm afraid that if I start back on the Metformin again when Kieran is a year, it'll take me another year to lose the weight and get my hormones in check enough to sustain a pregnancy. Who knows how long it'll take for us to get pregnant this time around. We could looking at the kids to be 3, 4, 5 years apart (obviously my mind is great at imagining the worst case scenario.) Of course we'll take another baby any time he or she decides to join us, but it would be nice for one aspect of our family making to go as planned.

I'm not ready to stop breastfeeding, but I'm wondering how long I should go before trying to get things ready to TTC again. It's a strange pull between wanting to do what's best for my outside baby, while also trying to prepare for the baby in my dreams.