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So who out their used their blog to vent out infertility frustrations? As for myself, it's really helped me learn to talk about it, or at least be more open. I have an anomyous blog, and posting intimate details (ex my hysterosalpinogram exam gone Twilight Zone bad, ect.) has help me. While still struggling, and not preggers, it has been an enormous outlet.
We have only been struggling for 6 months but like you, I have received confirmation that I am not crazy with this whole baby making business and it has also brought me comfort from other bloggers when our immediate family doesn't always seem to understand. I've tried keeping my blog stickly to TTC and somewhat anonymous but NaBloPoMo is breaking me of that.
BTW, our anniversaries are 4 days apart, exactly. 10.18.03 :)
I personally am frustrated because I can't really talk about wanting to have a kid at work or with many of my friends. Since I am still a student, I am not allowed/supposed to have kids... since I will be on the job market next year, I am not allowed/supposed to have kids... It is really frustrating and lonely.
That's why a private blog comes in handy. A lot of my friends and family do not understand the struggle of trying and it not happening. My fellow bloggers do. The support has been huge for me. I hope you find a way so that the journey is no longer lonely for you. If you start a TTC blog, let me know! I'd love to read your story!
I know what you mean about being discovered. I've been struggling with infertility for a little over a year and am an avid reader of infertility blogs. When it came time for me to start my own blog, I decided to steer away from this very personal topic since there was no way for me to keep my blog private. NaBloPoMo is giving me the opportunity to talk about it more openly, but only in groups like this.
Well, today I just got some results back from my doctor on my Thyroid levels, and the TSH and Free T4 are approaching normal levels. That is one of [probably] my many infertility problems. Hopefully I can start going to the infertility specialist again.
Basically, my infertility Dr. wouldn't continue with me until the thyroid was in check - but it took 8 months of testing and waiting and adjusting medication levels just to get to this point. It is so frustrating that I have to wait just to START getting things going. Hello? The clock IS ticking. Bashirs_Momma isn't getting any younger!
BTW - Bashir is my dog. I have never had kids. I am 37. Tick tick.
I suffer from the classic "unexplained" infertility. After an HSG, blood tests, and sperm test, all results came back normal. That was back in April. I'm now going to acupuncture to see if that helps. I would like to avoid the IUI as long as possible.
Good news about your tests. Hopefully this will help get you closer to coming up with a treatment.
I'm 31 but the doc told me that my ovaries are degenerating rapidly and that if we don't act quickly, we will lose our only chance. So we're on our way to insemination, which, if all goes well will start with my next cycle. I can't believe I wasted all those years of birth control !
Good luck. I don't think birth control in my past as "wasting years." There are so many reasons why we delay these things. I could never have had a kid earlier in my life - finances were really tight, and I only have a husband recently.
It is sometimes frustrating to see teenagers who really have no clue with kids. It makes me sad that people like me (who wanted to be responsible and wait until the finances and home situation was better) will be missing out.
Isn't it funny? I spent about 18 years petrified that I was going to get pregnant. If I only knew, I would have at least stopped using BC with my husband long before we did.
That's terrible news to hear at such a young age. It does make the decision to go for IUI a little more obvious though.
I would say my blog is 90% fertility issues. Particularly after my miscarriage last November, it became absolutely critical for me. Having to put it all down in words made me really have to process my thoughts and feelings, and express them in a way that, if you just got me into a verbal conversation, I probably wouldn't be able to do them justice.
Plus, it's shown me how not alone I am - the support I've gotten from other women out there, like you all, has been invaluable. I've made some very good friends through my blog, with people who understand just what I'm going through.
I just turned 30 in July, and for the most part it's been the "Unexplained Infertility", although there is a bit of question as to my egg quality. My fertility doc says I have an "ovulation dysfunction" and hormonal imbalance, but that he's confident that with some meds (Follistim, Clomid), I'll be able to get pregnant again. We're on to IUI (we did one back in March that was unsuccessful and then took the rest of this year off), probably starting in January or February.
I blog about a lot of things, but truly, being open to the point I have able to be on the blog has helped me in real llife. Not that long ago, I hadn't even told my closest friends and family what we were struggling with, afraid that they wuld make insensitive comments and I would be hurt at their ingorance. It's true that hearing other's stories gives you a real push to go on, and at least we can laugh or cry at ourselves outloud, without the risk.
I remember after my miscairiage the words well meaning people said and how much I was hurt by them. They couldn't understand my loss. Even my husband at first, had a hard time connecting to what I was going through and why it took me so long to begin healing. I don't know that it will ever be over.
Blogging has helped me not take these kinds of words seriously. Pople can't help what they haven't had to endure and I don't want to blame them for that. On the other hand, I'm extremely grateful to see that there are others out there being 'real' about this whole subject.
By the way, I'm blessed to live in France, where fertility treatments are completely covered by the health care system. My heart goes out to thise of you in the U.S. and other places where it is so costly.
Lucky, Sassy... I think the main reason I have waited so darn long to even start the process is that the state of insurance coverage in the US is AWFUL! Absolutely awful.
We started the process last February when my husband finally got health insurance that would cover it... but he lost that job, and our new insurance doesn't cover it.
I am hoping that we will be able to argue that it is a GYN issue (which in many ways it is!) and get the insurance companies to cover it. They will cover the thyroid tests, and other things which may be related. But anything very specifically infertility related won't be...
It is terrible. They would cover me if I got pregnant.. but not if I want to get pregnant.
Yes, can you believe it? The author is Julie from alittlepregnant.com. If you haven't checked our her Website yet, go now! She is one of the pioneers of infertility blogging and it wonderful.
I don't know if you'd heard this buit this week is National Infertility Awareness Week. Juile at the Intertility Diaries on Redbook writes about it here
I only talk about it here and there. I try not to let it consume me. I did and it was damaging to me and my relationship with my husband.
We have been trying for six years. I've had the HSG test, fertility pills, blood drawn to test for PCOS, Thyroid problems, and ovulation, sperm has been examined. I had an exploratory surgery nearly two years ago for the doctor to see if my tubes looked good. They DID look good but he found a small bit of endomitriosis, which he removed. But there is no cure for that so I'm sure its back by now.
This last July I got pregnant for the first time. But sadly it was a tubal pregnancy and I had emergency surgery to have the pregnancy removed along with my right fallopian tube.
So, now we are just getting back to normal and getting ready to start trying again. I've cried and screamed and asked 'why me'. I've turned it off and felt nothing, not wanting to talk about it and trying not to think about it. I've held it close and held it far away. My husband and I have found comfort in each other and have also argued about it. I've been through the roller coaster ride lots of times.
But, I am still hopeful. The doctor said to try for the next six months and if we aren't pregnant again by then to go back and see him. I'm crossing my fingers for all of us here...that in the next six months we ALL have what we want.
Jinny,
I think you just summed up the feelings of any one going through infertility. The frustrations, the hopes, the disappointments. I get so frustrated when people tell me not to think about it. How in the hell do you not think about it? Isn't not thinking about it, still in a way thinking about it?
You have been through so much more than I pray I ever have to go through. It sounds like you and your husband have a very strong foundation, which is the most important thing during this experience.
Maybe if we think of each other instead of ourselves we will get what we want!
All this discussion goes to show that everybody needs a little support. By support, I do not mean "Just try and relax" or "Just stop trying, then it will happen" or "Try not to think about it" or "Why are you taking your temperature?" or "Just let it happen on it's own." Sometimes we need understanding and real life doesn't always give you the support you need.
