Always wanting to give you the very latest news for infertiles, I just happened upon a new Eastern medicine treatment that claims to aid in fertility. It's a Korean-based treatment called a chai-yok, or a vaginal steam bath, and they're now available at a few select spas on the West Coast. I read about it in the LA Times.
Fourteen different herbs are seeped like tea, and the daring woman sits on a stool with an opening so that the steam can penetrate the gynecologic regions. The method is said to improve mentral craps and other female issues, including surging fertility.
The article references one 45-year old woman who tried to conceive for 3 years, used this method and got pregnant. With stats like that, I'd be willing to give my unmentionables a steam. But wait, does it burn? The last thing any of us infertiles need is a scalded vagina. I mean sure, we're used to ultrasound wands, poking and prodding and feet in stirrups, so surely straddling a hollowed out stool couldn't be too bad. I just hope that they sterilize the stools within an inch of their life before I hop on board.
Anyone else think they'd be willing to give this a try?
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Twelve Days of an Infertile Christmas reprise
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Wishes for a pregnancy
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Two embryos
and wishes for a pregnancy
On the third day of Christmas,my true love gave to me:
Three Follistem pens,
two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Four falling eggs,
three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy..
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta),
four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Six ultrasounds a poking,
five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Seven (million) sperm a swimming,
six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Eight nervous breakdowns,
seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Nine blood draws a lancing,
eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Ten (thousand) dollars a leaving,
Nine blood draws a lancing, eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Eleven cycles failing,
ten (thousand dollars) a leaving, nine blood draws a lancing, eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Twelve days ovulating,
eleven cycles failing, ten (thousand dollars) a leaving, nine blood draws a lancing, eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
Wishes for a pregnancy
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Two embryos
and wishes for a pregnancy
On the third day of Christmas,my true love gave to me:
Three Follistem pens,
two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Four falling eggs,
three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy..
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta),
four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Six ultrasounds a poking,
five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Seven (million) sperm a swimming,
six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Eight nervous breakdowns,
seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Nine blood draws a lancing,
eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Ten (thousand) dollars a leaving,
Nine blood draws a lancing, eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Eleven cycles failing,
ten (thousand dollars) a leaving, nine blood draws a lancing, eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Twelve days ovulating,
eleven cycles failing, ten (thousand dollars) a leaving, nine blood draws a lancing, eight nervous breakdowns, seven (million) sperm a swimming, six ultrasounds a poking, five telephone rings (with news of a strong Beta), four falling eggs, three follistim pens, two embryos and wishes for a pregnancy...
Thursday, December 16, 2010
A different version of the two week wait
It used to be that the two week wait involved obsessing over every ache and pain in my abdomen, stressing over going to the bathroom and the possibility of seeing a red dot on a piece of toilet paper and doing everything humanly possible to stay busy and not be completely preoccupied by the thought that I might be pregnant...or not.
I would literally count down the fortnight by the hours, which made it take that much longer. It was a sucky limbo period of not knowing if you should start thinking about baby names in case of a positive result or playing drinking games in case of a single blue line. I wished I could just sleep the two weeks away and wake up just in time for a blood draw for my beta.
I have a new version of the two week wait right now. I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first printed copy of The Inadequate Conception. My day is up tomorrow and I should have it in my hot little hands when I get home from work. Instead of going to the see my plebotomist, I will be waiting for the UPS guy to make a very special drop off.
And instead of having a sense of dread waiting for the inevitable phone call with bad news, for the first time, my two week wait should have a happy ending. Maybe not the ending I originally hoped for, but a good place, nonetheless.
Hopefully everything looks OK because if so, the book will be available next week!
I would literally count down the fortnight by the hours, which made it take that much longer. It was a sucky limbo period of not knowing if you should start thinking about baby names in case of a positive result or playing drinking games in case of a single blue line. I wished I could just sleep the two weeks away and wake up just in time for a blood draw for my beta.
I have a new version of the two week wait right now. I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first printed copy of The Inadequate Conception. My day is up tomorrow and I should have it in my hot little hands when I get home from work. Instead of going to the see my plebotomist, I will be waiting for the UPS guy to make a very special drop off.
And instead of having a sense of dread waiting for the inevitable phone call with bad news, for the first time, my two week wait should have a happy ending. Maybe not the ending I originally hoped for, but a good place, nonetheless.
Hopefully everything looks OK because if so, the book will be available next week!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
What we infertiles aren't missing
I may never be pregnant, but that also means that I will never have any incredibly creepy and embarrassing photos of my naked big belly that someone could black mail me with.
Click here to see this ingenius post from the Pregnant Chicken. Even though I try to remain pregnancy-free on my Web site. This is too good not to share.
Click here to see this ingenius post from the Pregnant Chicken. Even though I try to remain pregnancy-free on my Web site. This is too good not to share.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Fallout (note that there is now Part 2 on here from hubby)
As some of you know, I was featured in an article a few weeks ago about Surviving the Holidays as an Infertile. It was first posted on AOL's Parentdish site and then it debuted on AOL's home page. I had no idea of the firestorm heading my way.
More than 300 people commented on the piece, most of whom, said words of support and empathy, telling their own infertility horror stories. However, there were also some who felt that I was selfish for wanting my own child and not wanting to see pics of my friends' kids on Christmas cards (which I meant in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, unfortunately it didn't translate well in print), and that I should adopt (which is mentioned in the piece, but clearly people didn't read that far into the article and made hasty accusations).
I honestly couldn't believe how many people were downright cruel in their commentaries. God love my boss's daughter who wrote a beautiful retort to their slams, and my best friend, who commented no less than six times in my defense (and that of other infertiles who feel similarly).
It just goes to show that unless you've been in our shoes, or doctor's stirrups, as the case may be, please, please, please don't judge us.
I'm also guessing that most of the Negative Nellies are also proud mamas who never had to struggle to get pregnant.
I've said time and time again that a person's choice to become a parent, no matter how that blessed event occurs, is a personal decision, and unless you're Octomom, people should refrain from judging and pushing their own views. I'm all for Freedom of Speech and being able to voice your opinions, but when you're castigating someone you don't know (and infertile couples, in general) for simply wanting a child, you've crossed a line.
Stay tough, trying mommies! I know I am!
PART 2
Hey everyone - Jack Bauer here.
It has been an interesting couple of weeks with Lu being picked up by AOL
and now by Cafe Mom on her postings about not getting Christmas Cards that
only have kids on them. I admit, some of the comments have made me a
little bit frustrated because people are making some big assumptions about
my wife and me on the basis of one posting. What it has reinforced, is my
belief in the prying and judgmental nature of some people. I guess as a
guy, you don't have to constantly listen to other men droning on endlessly
about their kids like women do. Or, when I get asked if I have children
and I say, no, most men won't ask follow up questions.
To be honest with you - even before we had these challenges of infertility,
I didn't like Christmas Cards with just the kids on them. I love my
friends and I enjoy their children - but my friendship is with the parents,
not the kids. I really want to see pictures of my friends and how they
have changed over the years. Want to include your kids? Great! But, our
relationship is with the adults, not the child. Family pictures are
wonderful and there is no painful feelings at seeing those pictures. But
what irks me is the people subsuming their identity to being "blah blah's
mom". I guess that is ok for some folks, but I just don't understand it.
The thing that just floored me is the amount of judgement that these people
were passing. People assuming that this is the focal point of our life,
people criticizing us for not adopting (hello, read the article and you
will see we are), and people criticizing us for pursuing an international
adoption.
I don't know folks, maybe it is just me, but I don't feel like I can judge
anyone to the extent that these people felt was within their right. Lu was
trying to provide an outlet for infertiles to realize that someone was on
their side and she gets attacked and called things like selfish, bitter and
a whiner. This is directed at the woman who volunteers to help kids and adults with special needs and could rattle off the names, ages and favorite colors of approximately 40 of her friends kids? Little secret - old Jack here could probably only remember about 3 of the kids
names :)
Going into this holiday season, I think the best thing that we could all
try to do is to be a little less judgmental of people and try to empathize
a little bit more with the challenges that each person has in life.
Happy Holidays to everyone.
More than 300 people commented on the piece, most of whom, said words of support and empathy, telling their own infertility horror stories. However, there were also some who felt that I was selfish for wanting my own child and not wanting to see pics of my friends' kids on Christmas cards (which I meant in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, unfortunately it didn't translate well in print), and that I should adopt (which is mentioned in the piece, but clearly people didn't read that far into the article and made hasty accusations).
I honestly couldn't believe how many people were downright cruel in their commentaries. God love my boss's daughter who wrote a beautiful retort to their slams, and my best friend, who commented no less than six times in my defense (and that of other infertiles who feel similarly).
It just goes to show that unless you've been in our shoes, or doctor's stirrups, as the case may be, please, please, please don't judge us.
I'm also guessing that most of the Negative Nellies are also proud mamas who never had to struggle to get pregnant.
I've said time and time again that a person's choice to become a parent, no matter how that blessed event occurs, is a personal decision, and unless you're Octomom, people should refrain from judging and pushing their own views. I'm all for Freedom of Speech and being able to voice your opinions, but when you're castigating someone you don't know (and infertile couples, in general) for simply wanting a child, you've crossed a line.
Stay tough, trying mommies! I know I am!
PART 2
Hey everyone - Jack Bauer here.
It has been an interesting couple of weeks with Lu being picked up by AOL
and now by Cafe Mom on her postings about not getting Christmas Cards that
only have kids on them. I admit, some of the comments have made me a
little bit frustrated because people are making some big assumptions about
my wife and me on the basis of one posting. What it has reinforced, is my
belief in the prying and judgmental nature of some people. I guess as a
guy, you don't have to constantly listen to other men droning on endlessly
about their kids like women do. Or, when I get asked if I have children
and I say, no, most men won't ask follow up questions.
To be honest with you - even before we had these challenges of infertility,
I didn't like Christmas Cards with just the kids on them. I love my
friends and I enjoy their children - but my friendship is with the parents,
not the kids. I really want to see pictures of my friends and how they
have changed over the years. Want to include your kids? Great! But, our
relationship is with the adults, not the child. Family pictures are
wonderful and there is no painful feelings at seeing those pictures. But
what irks me is the people subsuming their identity to being "blah blah's
mom". I guess that is ok for some folks, but I just don't understand it.
The thing that just floored me is the amount of judgement that these people
were passing. People assuming that this is the focal point of our life,
people criticizing us for not adopting (hello, read the article and you
will see we are), and people criticizing us for pursuing an international
adoption.
I don't know folks, maybe it is just me, but I don't feel like I can judge
anyone to the extent that these people felt was within their right. Lu was
trying to provide an outlet for infertiles to realize that someone was on
their side and she gets attacked and called things like selfish, bitter and
a whiner. This is directed at the woman who volunteers to help kids and adults with special needs and could rattle off the names, ages and favorite colors of approximately 40 of her friends kids? Little secret - old Jack here could probably only remember about 3 of the kids
names :)
Going into this holiday season, I think the best thing that we could all
try to do is to be a little less judgmental of people and try to empathize
a little bit more with the challenges that each person has in life.
Happy Holidays to everyone.
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