What If? (National Infertility Awareness Week 2012)

It's been a few years since Keiko came out with this video, but I'm still SO blown away by it.  I post it every NIAW, and I hope you'll share it with others too.  If you're considering "coming out" on Facebook, this is a great video to post along with it... it says a lot of the things you might not be ready to... yet. 



Hang in there.  Don't give up hope.

NIAW 2012

Circle+Bloom Sale = Awesomesauce

Two posts... in ONE DAY!  I know!!

But this isn't a real post.  Sorry!  But I saw that Circle+Bloom is doing a NIAW sale and I wanted to make sure I shared with everyone.

You know by now I'm not a big promoter of things... except Neil Patrick Harris (Call me!  You know, once the restraining order lifts!) and a couple of fertility products.  I only talk about these very very few items because a) I personally used them, b) they happened to work in my case, and c) I actually interact with the people in the company (i.e. they are real people, who really care about their product).

I heart Circle+Bloom.  I heart the women who created it... so much so that I made friends with them on my private Facebook page.  I have so many wonderful stories of them going above and beyond for their customers.

When I saw that this week they are running a 35% off sale in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week I wanted to make sure you heard about it... plus they are giving away a FREE Fertility E-Book!  See?  Awesomesauce.

They have a program for just about everyone... TTC, PCOS, IUI/IVF... even for folks who aren't TTC but just need more energy or to sleep better at night.  I used to listen to their recordings when I was getting my acupuncture treatments and/or at night before bed, so I can vouch for the sleeping better part (and I wasn't even doing one of their sleep programs).

The sale only runs through Saturday, so if you're interested don't wait.

Anyway, I know I'm gushing, I'll knock it off.  Just wanted to spread the word... go get your free e-book! 

Can You Ever Come Out on the Other Side (of Infertility)?

This week is National Infertility Awareness Week.  I have been thinking about that a lot the last couple of days. 

Three years ago, I was doing fertility treatment, struggling with the trauma of multiple losses, and wondering what our future held (IVF? Adoption? Moving on?).

Two years ago, I had just found out I was pregnant... normally an exciting event, but given my history of miscarriages a very stressful time for me.

Last year, I had just had my son... I was still in shock over my good fortune, and really sleep deprived so who knew what I was thinking?  And there was some "survivor's guilt" going on for me too.  Happy for me, but also doing the "why me?" questions when there are so SO many others who deserve it too.

And here I am today.  My second NIAW as a Mom, but my 7th year as an Infertile. 

Guess what?  I'm still more comfortable with the Infertile badge.  Not that I'm not comfortable with the Mom badge... I love motherhood, my kiddo, and I'm pretty sure if Tuckman is the most badass 16 month old 'round these here parts.  But I was an Infertile a lot longer than a Mom.  And while I was pregnant, I still related better to the Infertiles.  And as a mom, I find there are some things only other Moms who struggled with IF understand too.

I don't think of myself as in being in one specific club.  I still feel a little weird in the proverbial "Mom" club, because it didn't come quite so easily to me, and so I still feel a little out of place.  Like, maybe a sorority that's full of actually really nice, awesome ladies who see you as fitting right in, but they don't know you just recently lost 300 lbs and secretly got a nose job right before you applied during Rush Week... know what I mean?  I'm so glad I'm in the sorority because I really love what it means in my life, but sometimes I wonder if they'd still want me if they saw my senior year prom picture.  Or something.

But, the Infertile club is still a little weird too.  The Infertile Club is my Glee.  They accepted me just as I was, and while I joined because I just didn't know if I could fit in anywhere else, once I got there I found a love, acceptance, and camaraderie that I still deeply cherish.  Who cares if we got the proverbial slushie in our face ("Maybe you should just stop thinking about it so much and it'll happen?" "Why don't you just adopt?" "I knew someone who canoed up the Grand Canyon backwards and she got pregnant the next week!"), we shared a dark humor, laughs, tears, and enough love to chase even a little bit of the darkness out of our hearts that infertility created.

I could write a hundred posts on survivor's guilt... and maybe I will write one or two in the future.  I feel bad even talking about survivor's guilt, because at least I got to be a survivor... and you might be reading this post and thinking the very same thing.  I remember thinking the same thing about others... I hope it doesn't seem insincere if I magically electronically reach through this computer screen and give you a hug. 

I'm grateful the Infertiles, at least in the broad sense, haven't kicked me out.  They could say, "oh! I see you're in Ms. Fancy Pants Sorority now? Too good for us, eh?"  But they let me keep my hand in both.  They let me post pictures of my kid on Twitter without this mass exodus of followers (and the few who do go, it's ok, I understand... you're tired of all my fart comments).  They let me complain about mom stuff like lack of sleep, barf, and all manner of other mundane parent things.  But I think they know, that I wouldn't trade what I have (even if it meant nothing but barf all day every day), and that I am grateful to the Universe.  Every. Single. Day.

I'm always going to be an Infertile.  I'll never take off that badge.  I proudly display it right next to my new "Mom" badge that I wear on my Girl Scout sash of life.  Right over my heart, where they both belong.

Mush mush mush.  Quick, someone say something non-sappy.

...WHAT? Lindsay Lohan is playing Elizabeth Taylor?!?

Fertility Focus Telesummit 2012

There's an event I've been involved with for the last two years now.

And it's happening... NEXT WEEK!!!

It's called the Fertility Focus Telesummit.  In fact, I think it might only be two years old, so I might even say I got in on the ground floor!  Or something?

 
Sarah, who does the "Overcoming Infertility with EFT" which has a large fan following and a long list of success stories, pulls together some of the biggest and best names in fertility.  What I really appreciate is that it's a mixture of "western science" and newer scientific discoveries coupled with "eastern remedies" and the mind/body connection.  From my own experience, that is what worked for me... east and west together.

The online conference features experts that range from doctors who do the IUI/IVF process, yoga people, healers, nutritionists (diet and supplements), acupuncture, combining traditional medicine with other methods... and it's all stuff that you can apply to your current life (i.e. everyone fly to Chicago and participate in this expensive treatment).  

And the best part?  Interview with my favorite Infertile Bloggers.  My interview was one of the first, in 2012... in case you ever have a dying curiosity for what my voice sounds like (low and rough, and not at all appealing), you can get a copy here (along with all the other recordings I think). 

Two of the three bloggers selected for this year I've been reading for years, Keiko (The Infertility Voice, the creator of that video I posted a while ago) and Leah (Single Infertile Female),  and consider them friends!  They are amazing, and I'm sure that the third blogger Jessica is equally so.

Best part for last... it's free to listen in on the conference.  Yep.  FREE.  If you want to order the entire set of audio recordings to listen at your convenience and keep for future reference, there is a fee for that.  But if you just want to listen in during the live broadcast... totally free!

Oh, don't let the website put you off.  It looks like one of those things where the REGISTER RIGHT NOW!! thing is right at the top in your face and you worry that if you put your contact info in they all of a sudden you're going to be receiving Good Housekeeping and having phone calls for people offering to test your water.  Don't worry about it... it's not the fanciest of websites, but its all about substance, not style.  I've done the conference for two years now... it's a very professional operation and all I've ever gotten after registering were emails.

It's all good.

So go, check it out, and enjoy!


PS:  I dig this cool graphic for her EFT program.