She called Dr. Bellow back. Doctor, I need to ask you something specific about my test results. Based on my fertility markers, what are the chances I would have conceived naturally over the past 3 years if we’d been trying properly? Given your excellent fertility indicators, I’d estimate roughly a 90% chance of conception within the first year of trying, assuming normal male fertility and proper timing.
What would prevent conception in someone with my fertility levels? Poor timing, male factor infertility, or deliberate interference with the conception process. Deliberate interference, what kind of deliberate interference? Birth control without the partner’s knowledge, sabotaging fertility timing, providing incorrect information about ovulation cycles.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen cases where one partner secretly prevents conception while the other partner believes they’re trying. Austin had been sabotaging their attempts to conceive while convincing her that she was the problem. She thought back to all those months of tracking her cycle and how Austin had been the one managing the timing, how he bought the ovulation kits and interpreted the results, how he’d scheduled their intimacy around what he claimed were her fertile days.
Austin had been deliberately mistiming everything while making her believe they were trying their hardest to get pregnant. For three years, she’d injected herself with hormones, undergone painful procedures, and blamed her body for failing to do something Austin was actively preventing from happening.
And when he’d gotten tired of the charade, he’d secretly confirmed that she was perfectly fertile, then used their infertility struggles as justification for leaving her for a woman who he felt was more his speed, someone who offered an escape into a different kind of life. She called Maria immediately. Maria, I need to tell you something, and it’s going to sound insane.
What happened? He told her about Dr. Bellow’s call, about the test results Austin had hidden, about the realization that he’d been sabotaging their conception efforts while making her believe she was broken. Maria was quiet for a long time. “Amanda,” she said finally. “That’s not just cruel, that’s psychological abuse. Austin didn’t just lie to you.
He systematically destroyed your sense of reality while causing you physical and emotional harm. Maria, what if Austin never wanted children with me at all? What if he just liked the idea of being married, but when it came time to actually start a family, he realized he didn’t wanted to be with me? Then he should have been honest instead of torturing you for 3 years.
