I've been fairly public about our journey for a few reasons. The first being that I'm rarely silent about anything and the second being that it's helped me cope. On top of that I've made it my mission to spread as much information I can. If the stats are right I'm not the only person I know who's struggling with this and if I can give them hope or information... well it can't be a bad thing.
We've been actively trying for three years, and on and off for five. That's a lonnnnng time of negative pregnancy tests, long cycles, tears and frustration. Throw in the medication and I'm a walking time bomb of sadness and guilt and rage most days. But I'm coping, mostly by sharing that sadness/guilt/rage with the rest of the world.
I try to share things like "things not to say to someone" and "how to support your friend" a lot because I'm really trying to promote education here.
And still... I have conversations like this from yesterday:
Friend: "how are the appointments going?"
Me: "nothing exciting"
Friend: "maybe I should come by and you can get good vibes from me now that I'm expecting another one."
I will say she probably didn't mean it the way it came off but I found it to be incredibly insensitive. How am I supposed to react? Congratulations of being fertile but sadly, it doesn't spread like a cold? I don't want people to hide their pregnancies or babies from me. I love babies. But... sensitivity people. I'd rather you just say "hey, I'm pregnant" not "you should come let me give you pregnant vibes to help you get pregnant cos I'm pregnant with my third accident kid"
Another conversation I had today:
Friend: "hey how's the baby trying going?"
Me: "not great but hoping we can get started with the meds soon."
Friend: "why don't you just adopt?"
This always feels like a punch to the gut. Yes, I am considering adoption. Yes, we even have a kid we might want to adopt and I'm crazy about him. But it's not an answer to infertility. Adoption isn't a cure. Pregnancy isn't really even a cure but it drives me crazy how people think adopting is so easy. It's not like the SPCA where you go point to the kid you want, spend an hour in a room and then take him home. It's a long, invasive process and it's not an easy answer. So while most infertile couples consider adoption..... it's not really either or thing. It's not oh I can't get pregnant, give me that kid over there. There's a mourning process and then there's the whole adoption process.
I don't know what my point is here other than to half rant and half promote education. Friends, if you have a friend who is infertile.... just don't. Don't say things like that. It's incredibly upsetting. Avoid phrases like "it'll happen when it's meant to" or "why don't you give up?" or "just relax" or "I know so and so and they did such and such and got pregnant the next day!" just don't. If you want to know how things are going, by all means ask, but be sensitive to the struggle.
Not to mention all the reasons we are lucky. Yes, I'm so grateful I don't have a kid in kindergarten I have to help with school. It's just delightful I've never had to change a diaper or stay up all night with a screaming baby or any of that.
I'm going to let you in on a secret. Infertile people? We know. We get it. Poop is gross. So is puke. We like sleep too. We know kids are messy, frustrating, exhausting and WE WANT THEM ANYWAY. It's not helpful, it's demeaning. It basically says, "hey, you're sad you can't have kids but kids are awful so lucky you."
Imagine for a second, if you couldn't have a kid. Didn't have one. After five years of trying. Maybe you can't imagine it but that's all the more reason to really try and be sensitive to the struggle.
Well said, Christy!
ReplyDeleteYou're a strong person and I'm glad you're able to write this and put it out there so (hopefully) people learn a lesson on how to talk to women who are struggling to have a family.