Shelby Eckard, known as PCOS Support Girl to her 55,000 Instagram followers, began to cry when she received a text message showing a photo of a friend’s ultrasound.
Though she now has two beautiful children, Shelby was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome following the birth of her first son, meaning the journey to have another child was far from easy.
Eckard has since been told she has secondary infertility, which is why her friend’s picture hit so close to home.
When her eldest son walked into see his mother upset, he asked why she was crying before spotting the picture on her screen. Too early for the “where do babies come from” talk, she simply told him that the blurry image showed a baby.
“But momma – I don’t understand. Why are you crying? Babies are awesome,” he replied, according to Shelby’s lengthy Instagram post.
It was a question she wasn’t quite sure how to answer.
“How do you explain to a seven-year-old the emotions and challenges of infertility?” she tells.
“I mustered up my strong mom voice and told him, ‘yes, babies ARE awesome. They make hearts happy and homes feel full and are the greatest present a person can ever get.
“Having a child is like looking forward to a birthday. You know the time for it is coming. And for some reason, for some, those ‘baby days’ don’t come when they’re supposed to. Or ever’,” she says.
Later that day, Shelby couldn’t find her son. She eventually tracked him down where he sat on the floor, surrounded by crayons.
When she asked what he was doing, he replied: “I want those ladies to be happy, too. I want them to get their presents. I can’t give them a baby. And I thought maybe they can borrow my sister for a little, but I can’t drive and I’d miss her.
“So I am drawing them pictures as presents. Maybe you can send them to them for me? When they’re sad? I don’t want them to give up. I want them to be happy.”
She finishes her post on a note of pride. “There’s moments when I think I’m failing as a momma, but these moments? I know I’m not doing so bad.”
What is PCOS?
PCOS is a complex endocrine system disorder. Women with PCOS may have enlarged ovaries that contain small collections of fluid in each ovary, which are often called cysts. However, not all women who have PCOS have multiple cysts and not all women who have multiple cysts have PCOS.
In fact very few women have the same set of symptoms. These symptoms include infrequent or prolonged periods; excess hair growth; acne and darkened skin patches; and they may experience mood changes and sleep apnoea later in life.
