National Infertility Awareness Week

Today marks Day 1 of National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW).  It was my intention when I started my blog to increase infertility awareness.  Since starting my blog 9 months ago we have had over 11,000 views.  This is amazing to me! Somehow, just by sharing the blog to my friends on Facebook we have reached readers in many countries around the world.  It didn't hit me until today that I should allow my Facebook posts with blog updates to be seen by anyone in order to reach more people, but in honor of NIAW I will make this my first public post.  As I was trying to determine what to share today I thought that I would share some statistics from www.resolve.org.  These statistics have obviously changed over the last 5 years.  The number continues to grow each year.  I have seen in more recent articles that the statistic is closer to 1 in 6 couples experiencing infertility, but the statistics below are the statistics from the CDC:

• 7.4 million women, or 11.9% of women, have ever received any infertility services in their lifetime. (2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, CDC)
• 1 in 8 couples (or 12% of married women) have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. (2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, CDC)

What I know to be true is that these numbers are not correct... I know this because I know that there are SO many couples that will never come forward with their struggles to have a family.  I personally know many people who suffer silently.  I know that sounds strange... how could they be suffering silently, yet I know about it!??!?! Well, after I started sharing this journey I was entrusted with the secrets of many others.  People who have reached out to me and told me that I wasn't alone and that I helped them to realize that they aren't alone.  What a blessing to know that our trials are bringing awareness to others.  I remember Mike telling me that we might need to accept that sharing our story and helping others might be the purpose for our journey.  Believe me, that was not the most popular thing that he has ever said to me!!! I was in tears and upset at the thought of it, but as time has passed I have realized that he could be absolutely right!  Mike has never read our blog.  (He doesn't even know how to get to it... he isn't much of a Facebooker, so he doesn't even know that I post update links to it!) Though he hasn't read the blog he knows that before starting the blog I felt compelled to share our journey, but I didn't want to share it because I enjoyed living in denial of it, I was scared of it, and if I am being honest... I was ashamed that I couldn't get pregnant.  I spent YEARS telling people that we weren't ready to start a family simply because I was ashamed of the truth.  Especially because we had no idea why we couldn't get pregnant.  But, even with those feelings of denial, fear, and shame I continued to feel compelled to share.  Some people say that they feel the call to adopt or the call to foster children as they go through their journeys.  I have never experienced those feelings.  I have looked into both options extensively and really "tried to feel called to them", but I have never felt called to them... but I ABSOLUTELY felt called to share our journey.  And I felt called to do so in a way that was true. It might make people uncomfortable from time to time when I share the good, the bad, and the ugly, but it is the raw and honest truth.  So, maybe Mike is right.  Maybe this is our "why" or purpose of this journey.  (I don't have to admit to him that he could be right... he doesn't read this, remember!?!?!?! HAHAHA!!) 

So, as the first day of National Infertility Awareness Week is about to come to an end I leave you with the knowledged that at least 1 in 8 couples are experiencing infertility.  And that over 7.4 million women have recieved treatment for infertility.  But remember that these statistics only paint part of the picture.  Be kind.  Be supportive.  Be mindful of what others might be going through.  

If you have been experiencing difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant please know that you are not alone.  Maybe this week is an opportunity for you to reevaluate your current situation.  Have you talked to your doctor about what you are experiencing?  Is your doctor listening?  If not, consider looking for someone who will... after all, you employ them!!! I know that it is hard to remember that sometimes, but it is something that has hit me recently.  You are your own best advocate AND if they are not listening YOU have to advocate for yourself and find someone who will listen.  Is your doctor able to help you?  Sometimes your doctor is listening and is fabulous, but they just don't specialize in what you need.  It might be time to find a new doctor if that is true.
Thank you to all of you who continue to follow this journey!  We are not any closer to a next step yet, but I have had one heck of a time the last two weeks and I am still trying to recover.  I am not certain of exactly what happened to cause my back problems, but it was excruciating!  The Monday that I found out that our last cycle failed, my back started to hurt.  By that Friday I was in tears at school and ended up at the doctor's office.  The physician's assistant told me that I threw out my back.  She prescribed muscle relaxers and vicoden and referred me to physical therapy.  The muscle relaxers did NOTHING and neither did the pain meds.  By Monday I was still in horrible pain and a friend referred me to her chiropractor.  What a blessing!!!! I have been to the chiropractor 3 times and the physical therapist once.  I am not 100% yet, but I am feeling SO much better than I was.  I have a couple physical therapy appointments this week and a chiropractor appointment.  Hopefully I feel better soon and will be able to start looking for a new facility.  The crazy thing is that after going to these appointments I don't think it has anything to do with my back like they said at the doctor's appointment.  I am pretty sure that it has to do with the rump injections causing inflamation to my rump muscles!  Both the chiropractor and the physical therapist have found that I have a deep rump muscle (one that is over the sciatic nerve) that is VERY tender!!! VERY tender!!! So SADLY I am also going to have to see a massage therapist to help with that and my normal back and shoulder issues.  DARN the luck!!! HAHAH!! Who doesn't love a good massage?!?!
Thanks again for all of your prayers and support as we continue our journey!  I have the best people surrounding me! I truly do.  I hope that someday infertility will no longer be such a silent journey.  I never could have imagined the level of support we would recieve from family, friends, and complete strangers.  But, I am sincerely thankful for it!!! I would be lying if I said that there aren't jerks out there who will hurt you with their words.  I come across those people more often than I would like to... but WOW!!! The supportive people FAR outweigh the jerks!!! And thank goodness for that because we all know that we need a lot of supportive words to outweigh one negative jerk!!!
Have a wonderful night!