The Eternal Guest Room

Infertility kinda sucks.

today

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Today is a lonely day.

all clear

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No surgery!

I’m so relieved.

They used a bunch of words I didn’t know, but basically I have a thickened area of my lining that shouldn’t cause any problems and doesn’t need to be surgically removed.

I’d forgotten how awkward/uncomfortable the saline sonogram was, but at least it’s behind me now.

Now we just wait.

waiting for answers, again

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Thank you everyone for your comments and support. My saline sonogram is Monday morning and I should find out what’s going on then. D will be coming with me, fortunately. I was alone during my last one so I’m glad I’ll have him in the room with me this time to be there and ask questions.

In the meantime I’m trying to keep myself busy and consider all the possibilities but not dwell on them too much. We’re about to change insurance plans and that’s stressing me out on top of everything else, but at least this time I know what problems to prepare for and I’ll be much more on top of any issues that arise. Last time, it took us 6 months to convince the insurance company that, yes, we were covered, and yes, you need to pay our thousands of dollars of bills.

My acupuncturist gave me some herbs that are supposed to get rid of the cysts, and I’m supposed to put a castor pack on my stomach every night for a few weeks. The herbs taste disgusting and the castor pack is messy. I get frustrated about all the different things I continually have to do and go through. I just want to be normal like “everyone else.” It’s hard sometimes to accept that I’m apparently not.

It’s been a rough week but we’re going to Austin this weekend so that should be a good distraction.

I’ll have more news on Monday. I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

I’ll let you know.

surely you can’t be serious

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I went in for my baseline sonogram this morning so we could see if we’d be able to start the final IUI process, but I have a bunch of cysts left over from my multitudes of follies from last month.

Yay! Lucky me!

I also have a mass that looks suspiciously like a polyp, so I’ll be having a saline sonogram next week to check that out. If it’s another large polyp, there could be another surgery in my near future.

Hooray! Two of the same surgery in one year, how wonderful!

I want to bang my head against a wall. Repeatedly.

I hate today.

the longing

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For most of my life I never particularly felt the need to have a child. Yet I always just assumed I would grow up and have kids. It’s a weird thing to explain, especially now, especially after all we’ve been through.

The irony just kills me – when we started trying for kids, I used to say that if it turned out we had problems or for whatever reason couldn’t have kids, that would be okay. I would never even entertain the thought of doing fertility treatments. I even specifically said that I would never pursue any form of treatment. I just didn’t think I wanted it that badly. I thought I would ok with just the two of us, always, and never need a third.

But as time went on and it didn’t happen I started to realize that I no longer just expected a child  – I longed for one, desperately. Not just any child but my own child, our child, someone who was the two of us put together. The expectation turned into a yearning that I had never known possible, and it blindsided me and took my breath away.

Sometimes I close my eyes and picture it so clearly. I can see myself in the back room, as a nursery, holding my own baby, with the sun streaming in so perfectly as it does in the late afternoon. It’s peaceful and serene and comforting and it feels so right in my heart.

I don’t know why I keep going back to that picture, but when I do, my heart aches in a way I never thought possible.

I can talk about moving on and think rationally about the possibility of it never happening, but I know that it will not be an easy thing to move away from.

Some people will say it’s selfish, to continue down this path, and at one point I might have agreed with them. But that’s the thing – unless you’re someone who has decided to adopt before trying to have your own child, you have no room to judge. You started in the same place because you wanted the same thing. It’s just so basic.

It seems so simple and maybe that’s why I want it so much.

clarification

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I went back and read what I posted yesterday and realized that it could be taken the wrong way; we’re not giving up, just trying to move forward with our lives after being at a standstill for such a long time.

We have one more IUI – hopefully coming up in a few weeks, but after last time, who knows – and then if that fails, we meet with the doctor to discuss what comes next.

As I’ve said before, we’re both open to IVF, and that may be in our not-so-distant future. But in the meantime, life goes on.

forward

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I’ve lost a lot, these past few years. In some ways I feel like I’ve completely lost myself, if I’m allowed to be a little melodramatic.

It has just sucked.

The past year has been the worst, by far. Last August, a bunch of stuff happened at once, and it was entirely too much for me. The next several months after that were not much better. As the year went on it got less dramatic, but not easier.

When I look back on this past year I see clouds, and darkness. Lots of grief and tons of pain. A year ago I felt totally, completely alone. It was a tough year for me. When I look back on the past year, I don’t fault myself for any of my emotions or reactions. It was just literally too much for me to deal with at once.

But I don’t want to dwell on that year anymore. I feel like I’ve lost myself and lost my life, and I want it all back. I’ve spent 3 1/2 years of my life waiting, desperately hoping, and not doing much of anything else. I’m tired of it.

I’m trying to move forward.

It isn’t easy, for sure, and it’s a slow process, but it’s time.

In some ways I wonder if I haven’t allowed myself to move forward because I’m afraid that if I do, everyone will forget about us and what we’re going through. I don’t want to go back to the “alone” that was before.

But I can’t live like this anymore – completely focused on this one thing, pushing things back indefinitely, waiting until it finally happens to get on with my life. It’s getting old.

Sometimes it comes down to the simplest of things; just keep breathing, put one foot in front of the other, take one day at a time – but I’m ready to move ahead.

I want to be okay again.