I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the recent posts by Cara Paiuk about her attempts to conceive her second child. Cara has written movingly about her positive pregnancy tests, as well as the miscarriage and the possibility of a chemical pregnancy.

Although I’m sure any parent would be touched by Cara’s story, I was particularly moved as my husband and I struggled with infertility. Both of our daughters were conceived with the help of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), and I am all too familiar with the worry, the waiting, the disappointment month after month, the tears, and the hormonal surges (which my husband particularly enjoyed).  But what most impresses me about Cara’s story is that she told it. While she’s going through it.

My husband and I did talk to family and friends about our situation as it was happening, mostly because I needed the support. I was immensely grateful for my friends who had been through it before me, who shared their experiences with invasive testing, freakishly long needles, painful injection sites, and difficult decisions. It was a stressful and scary time for us, as we felt like our dreams of creating a family were very much in question.  Although I have written about our experiences since then, I was in no position to my thoughts on paper as we were going through it.

We were lucky in many ways. We had supportive friends and family, our health insurance paid for the IVF, and most importantly, we now have two healthy children. However, I often lamented the lack of a Jewish community for discussing our experiences, and a Jewish context for understanding what we were going through. I’m not talking about Jewish law–I knew that we would move ahead with IVF regardless of what it had to say. Although I read books and articles online, but what I really wanted was a place where I could share my story, and hear about the experiences of other Jewish women, and find a way to integrate these two parts of my life.

Almost four years later, I have finally found it. Thank you, Cara, for sharing your story. I wish you all the best. And thank you, Kveller, for creating this space for Jewish mothers, regardless of what phase of motherhood we are in. Finally, if anyone reading this wants to talk more about the experience of IVF, please be in touch. I’d love to connect with you.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: infertility, pregnancy

Time is not on my side to have another child. It wasn’t on my side for the first one, and it certainly isn’t now.

When I met Alex, we discussed my age and knew that if there was going to be a problem conceiving, the only way to find out was to try. I took my temperature, charted diligently, and, surprisingly, got pregnant immediately. We were relieved, shocked, and thrilled.

When our son Aiven was about 5 months old, I stopped nursing at night in hopes of kick starting my ovulation. It took only two weeks to get my period. And then the race began. The temperature taking, symptom analyzing, pregnancy testing, and endless charting and scrutinizing on fertilityfriend.com. The hopes and dreams along with the worries and anxieties. Will I have secondary infertility? Will it be possible to conceive again?

I have two friends who are expecting a second child 15 months after their first, and a woman from my play group is going to have“Irish twins.”  I made it into the mommy club, and now I am impatient to join the “let’s have a second child soon after the first” club.

I feel a lot of pressure on me.  If I don’t get pregnant am I not as much as a woman as my peers? And then there’s that look of disappointment I see on my husband’s face when I tell him that we will have to try again next month. And the memory of what it was like growing up an only child.

I desperately want to give Aiven a sibling.  But it is too soon to turn to fertility treatments, so all I can do for now is chart my irregular periods and pray to be blessed a second time.

Two days ago I neared the end of charting my third cycle.  I was five days past the date I expecting my period, experienced no pregnancy symptoms, and every test (which were disturbingly numerous) came back negative. On the other hand, my temperature had not dropped yet, indicating that my period was not on the horizon.

But then I started spotting.  I descended into a foul mood.  No baby this month.  I had convinced myself that after three months of trying, I was supposed to be pregnant, and I had failed. The fact that I was nursing, my hormones had not recalibrated, and my periods were irregular did nothing to assuage my anger, guilt, and fear.

The next day, I was still spotting and my husband asked if I was going to take a test. I said “no.” But 10 minutes later, as the shower steamed up the bathroom, I peed on a stick and put it by the window. I remembered about the test only as I dried off. I looked at in the warm sunlight and saw the faintest of lines. What? Was this some kind of joke?  I had been completely sure I was not pregnant, and after 30 tests this one had a line! I showed it to my husband who assured me I was not hallucinating. I took another test, a different brand, another line. In disbelief, I took a digital test, and it replied without hesitation: “pregnant.”

I took two more tests yesterday and one this morning. All of them confirm I am pregnant.  I am still shocked. And relieved. And grateful beyond measure.

But I am still spotting, so I am also worried. I went for tests today. I have to pause and remind myself this is something I cannot control. I just have to have faith that it will play out the way it is meant to. Only time will tell.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: infertility, pregnancy

PETA is offering a free vasectomy to one lucky winner who has recently spayed or neutered his pet.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was outraged by a new PETA contest which offers a free VASECTOMY to one lucky winner who has recently spayed or neutered his pet. The kicker? This contest is to raise awareness for NATIONAL INFERTILITY AWARENESS WEEK.

Um… I’m sorry, WHAT?

I honestly had to see it to believe it, and sure enough you enter the “contest” by answering  the question: “Why should PETA neuter YOU?”  one lucky guy *wins* a little snip, snip and (by default) agrees to be the sterile PETA poster child.

They forgot to mention you’ll be wearing nothing but a bandage down below and an organic cotton t-shirt that reads: “I shoot blanks, just like Fido.”

Let me start by saying THIS IS AWFUL. The campaign is horribly insensitive to the thousands of couples struggling with infertility and since when is overpopulation a problem in the U.S. ?

That being said, I brainstormed a list of people who I think should apply. ASAP.

Charlie Sheen.  Why should PETA neuter you? Answer:  WINNING!

Jim Bob Duggar.  Why should PETA neuter you? Answer: Because if we’re going to fight the battle against overpopulation we might as well start with you, the father of 20 kids “and counting.”

Any guy on Teen Pregnancy Reality TV.  Why should PETA neuter you? Answer:  You knock up minors and then go on TV and brag about it. Also you suck at being a Dad.

Rod Stewart.  Why should PETA neuter you? Answer: You’re old. Please stop.

Bob Barker. Why should PETA neuter you? Answer: Because it would be hilariously ironic.

And last but not least,

Sarah Palin. Why should PETA neuter you? Answer:  For every animal in Alaska that you’ve hunted with a toothpick and skinned with your pinky toenail. Because I’m sure you are probably looking for another publicity stunt and being a spokesperson for PETA is actually more believable than pretending you’re Jewish.  And lastly, because your next child will probably be named “chopstick” or “freedom” and that’s just not fair to anyone.

Instead, some idiot one lucky man (who must be 21 to enter) can be reproduction-free, free of charge, just like his pooch or feline friend. I guess if someone is dumb enough to have their man parts sliced and diced in the name of feral cats and infertility – perhaps they make the list after all.

I miss the good old days when PETA’s publicity stunts actually made sense, like when they petitioned Ben and Jerry’s to make breastmilk ice cream.  Now THAT was an opportunity lost.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: infertility, vasectomy