Self Care

Welcome to the new series of Fertility Blogs! As a Mom and a woman who had some of the most excruciating experiences with my infertility treatments, I can empathize and sympathize with every woman, man and family during these emotional times. A friend once asked me to describe myself, using one word, starting with the letter of the alphabet. This gave me 26 ways to describe myself and I felt compelled to accept the challenge; knowing it would be simple, right? I began to ask other friends, family and colleagues to use a word that best described me in their eyes. Some were hilarious, others poignant, and still some even stung. As a columnist, I began a series on life from A-Z and it… [more]

            When dealing with infertility, a couple needs to practice a great deal of patience. Sadly, I was born with very little patience for waiting for exciting things to happen. For example, I’ll purposely hide Christmas presents in horribly obvious places in hopes that my husband will find them. He now makes me wait until around the 21st of December to start my holiday shopping.             When the doctor told me that I was going to need to wait until specific days to have blood tests performed, I almost went crazy. I hate needles, but I wanted to start figuring out my hormone levels. I’d try and find ways to distract myself but it seemed like the days dragged on forever. Then… [more]

Anyone who has struggled with infertility has inevitably been given "advice" or opinions completely unsolicited and often shockingly rude. As my husband and I discussed some of the inappropriate comments we heard when we began to tell people that we were having trouble conceiving (something we started talking about in response to the unending questions about when we were going to have children), a top ten list, of sorts, emerged. Here are the top ten things NOT to say to someone enduring infertility - just the opinion of one (admittedly often cranky) woman! 1) Just relax, or just stop trying so hard and it will happen. Believe me, I heard this one enough times to "try"… [more]

As badly as I wanted a baby, fertility procedures had taken over our lives vigorously for the past six months, and I needed a break - badly. I insisted upon taking a break from fertility procedures as the holidays rolled around again. I could not bear another disappointment right at Christmas.

My husband was baffled by my need for a break. By this point, he was determined to "get this monkey off of his back." He was determined to try repeatedly until we achieved our goal of conceiving.

The problem was that it was not his body that was being manipulated repeatedly. He was not the one experiencing migraines and hot flashes (although I am sure that he would tell you… [more]

Have you ever hear of Ten on Tuesday? It is a blog that puts up a prompt for each Tuesday and then you complete it and link your post to it. And they have been doing so since 2004. Today the list of ten has to do with bragging about yourself. I completed the list and then thought that this would be a great activity for anyone going through the self abusing minds that infertiles have at times. Or, anyone, for that matter. Here is my list: Time to Brag: 10 Awesome Things About You 1) I love my freckles 2) I love my age 3) I recycle with a passion, especially clothes 4) I am emotionally dependable 5) I am extremely supportive and open minded 6) I cherish my friends and… [more]

There are a couple of sites that I have been frequenting lately that have to do with making a wish. I have linked before to the absolutely incredible blog from The Town Criers called, "Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters". Along the sidebar she has a link that says, "Make a Wish" that shows a photo of her wishing stone. Here is the story: Titled, "Have a Wish on Me" Josh bought me a wishing stone this weekend at a store called Mud and Metal. I verified its powers as a wishing stone by checking with my palm pilot's Magic 8 ball prior to the purchase. I am happy to report that according to the Magic 8 ball, this is a true and working wish stone. So I'm granting everyone… [more]

I can't seem to get enough of the FertilityPlus site. In fact, it is one of the only sites that lists a page for infertility humor. FertilityPlus First of all, here is their disclaimer: These jokes may not be funny to some and they are not politically correct. If you're not in the mood please don't read . . . No offense is intended But the following was pretty tame, so I thought that you might like to read it. Although it is out of season, it is pretty cute. The 12 Days of Christmas (for the infertile) On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a sperm sample to spin and clean On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 post-IUI foot rubs and a sperm sample… [more]

Trying To Conceive Slang Terms I stumbled upon this extensive list of fertility slang terms to keep in mind while reading blogs, or writing your own. Although I'm only going to reprint the ABC's the list goes all the way through Z. With a ton of terms that I hadn't ever heard of, it sure give me ideas for new posts to research! The provided list A-C ACA Anti-Cardiolipin Antibodies ACTH Adrenal Corticotropic Hormone AF Aunt Flo (Menstruation) AFNW Aunt Flo Not Wanted AH Assisted Hatching AZH Assisted Hatching AI Artificial Insemination ANA Anti-Nuclear Antibodies APA Anti-Phospholipid Antibodies APTT Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time ART Assisted Reproductive Technology ASA Anti-Sperm Antibody ASRM American Society of Reproductive Medicine ATA Anti-Thyroid Antibody AVA Anti-Ovarian Antibody BBT Basal Body Temperature BD Baby… [more]

Time for some (color) therapy In this tip from the MomSpa team, they suggest wearing pink sweats. You'll have to read the full tip to get the idea of what they are talking about and it makes a lot of sense. The part of this tip that I found most helpful is their color list and the feelings that can be invoked by seeing a certain color. Periwinkle blue is my favorite color and not listed with their suggestions, but I'm sure with a little research that I could figure out why I enjoy it so much. Here is their list: Pink Pink soothes and nurtures the wearer and those around her. It disolves anger and encourages unconditional love. Red The color red stimulates the appetite. Perhaps… [more]

How Stressed Are You? Again, with the Beliefnet! I am addicted to quizzes. But only self-awareness type quizzes that I like the results to. I really don't care to much for pop quizzes of the scholarly type, but anything about self-learning will get me to clicking away at the keyboard. This quiz is about how stressed you are. Now, there is research that suggests that being stressed isn't beneficial to becoming pregnant, so lowering our stress can only be a good thing. Let's try to get these levels down! I did notice a mistake in the wording of one of the questions though. At least I certainly hope that it is a mistake! Instead of question #22 about alcohol. Instead of the answers reading… [more]