Dr. Rebecca Pareja Helps Hopeful Mother Move from Frustration to Elation
It may be difficult for those who haven’t had trouble becoming pregnant to fully understand the depth of frustration felt by couples who do.
“I was feeling very beat down, almost like a failure, because one of the roles of a woman is to have children and we failed so many times before actually being able to do that,” said New Holland resident Kourtney Bebout. “I had some depression and just some feelings of worthlessness for not being able to provide that child. Every time you take a pregnancy test at home and it comes back negative, you feel like this is never going to happen.”
Kourtney was diagnosed at 18 with polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that affects hormones and can lead to infertility, along with raising the possibility of issues arising with diabetes and high blood pressure. When she got married in 2018, she and her husband decided to immediately try getting pregnant with medical assistance from the OB/GYN she had been seeing since she was diagnosed.
The methods attempted weren’t working, and as the frustration grew and she felt her own suggestions to her physician to try other methods weren’t being listened to, she began looking for someone else to help in 2020.
“I spoke with my sister, who worked for Adena Family Medicine in Circleville about my frustrations and what I was going through and she highly recommended that I see Dr. (Rebecca) Pareja at Adena Women’s Health (OB/GYN - Blackwater Road),” she said. “I made an appointment to see her and told her everything that my husband and I were going through and she immediately got me in and ordered some blood tests and we even did a test on my husband to make sure there was no issue with him.
“After two years of trying, within three months of switching to Dr. Pareja, I was pregnant with our first child!”
The key, Kourtney said, was that Dr. Pareja really listened to her about previous methods that didn’t work and supported the couple’s desire to try other methods. She’ll never forget the day she realized the physician switch changed their lives.
“I screamed,” she recalls. “It was in December 2020 and I had become very irritable and was just not like myself, so my husband said, ‘You’ve been acting a little funny for the last couple of weeks, you should probably take a pregnancy test now.’ I immediately went to the bathroom, took the test, and it didn’t even take the full time to pop up pregnant. It was absolutely incredible.”
That success, she believes, was due in part to what she called Dr. Pareja’s uplifting and positive approach. By taking the time to smile, ask questions and really get to know her patients, Kourtney said her physician brought a comfort, positivity, and, most important, confidence to the situation that made the hopeful mother-to-be believe she would one day hold a baby in her arms.
Two years ago, she was able to do just that with the birth of daughter Elliott Mae. Then, in May of this year, the couple welcomed their second daughter, Finley Ann.
Dr. Pareja has been with her the entire way for both children, Kourtney added. That included through a diagnosis of gestational diabetes and the need for an emergency cesarean section delivery with her first child and the doctor’s personal involvement following up on her patient during both postpartum periods.
Now, overjoyed to be able to play with and care for the children she never believed she was destined to have, she has some advice for women looking for the same approach to care that made such a difference in her life.
If you are looking for a physician who doesn’t make you feel like a patient and makes you feel comfortable in whatever health issue you have going on, Dr. Pareja is the person to go to,” Kourtney said. “She has that amazing, friendly personality and everyone in the office makes it feel like you’re walking into a friend’s home. It’s a very welcoming atmosphere that’s very uplifting, no matter what you have going on.”
Visit our Women's Health page for more information on our OB/GYN services.