Saturday, June 13, 2009

7dp5dt, aka The Day Barren Brought the Laughter Back

I've had a really hard time with this cycle, and Barren just "gets" it when a lot of other people just... don't. I feel guilty about it, to be honest. I feel like I should have an easier time dealing with infertility by now. I've been there, done that. More importantly, I'm on the other side of it. I've got a beautiful family, as many people feel the need to remind me. Often. As if that means I should simply be satisfied and be done with.

And yet - I have not resolved my infertility. I have not come to terms with it. Every setback, every failure, every loss this time around hits me as hard, maybe harder, as the first go-around. I think this is partly because this time was supposed to be "easy", or as easy as IVF ever is. And what we've found is that things just aren't as straight-forward as we thought.

The point is, Barren gets me. She doesn't try to placate me with "it only takes one"[1] and other such platitudes. She doesn't tell me I'm being ridiculous. She doesn't point to my children and suggest I should be satisfied with what I have. She recognizes that the pain I have the second time around is just as real as the first time around. She tells me to stop apologizing for complaining at her. She brings me wine so we can whine over wine together.

So I suppose it should have come as no surprise to me when a beautiful, flowery package arrived in my mailbox today, and I saw that it was from my wonderful friend. I opened it up and found this:

The note made me a little sniffly and teary eyed, and though I haven't asked her permission to reproduce it here, I'm going to take a gamble and do so anyway:

Dearest Perky,
Thank you again for your friendship and generosity. I hope that someday soon I will have the chance to return the kindness with more than a bottle of wine and the ability to eat your delicious dinners.
I know you aren't feeling hopeful about this cycle, but if a tiny bit of hope (or
curiosity) creeps in, I want you to be prepared.
Love,
Barren

I knew what would be inside the beautiful, dragonfly wrapping [2] paper, but I burst out laughing when I opened it up:


Thanks, my friend. Laughter truly is the best medicine. I don't promise to use those lovely (but very tempting) tests. But I promise to pass them back to you if I don't. Or maybe use them next cycle when I can muster up the hope to think it's worth wasting a precious FRER.

Barren, you truly are the best person in the entire universe. So... dinner Thursday? ;)

---------------------
[1] Coming soon: a Barren-inspired post on the "It Only Takes One" math and how flawed it truly is.

[2]How did she know that dragonflies are one of my favorite things in the universe? I swear she and I are just the same person. Except she's way cuter and always has an adorable pedicure, and I've never had a pedicure in my life.

9 comments:

battynurse said...

What a great gift you got! lol.

Leah Goodman said...

that was definitely a laughworthy gift!

And I'm still praying for you and all that.

N said...

That's absolutely perfect. It is.

And pshaw, you are both totally cute.

Anonymous said...

HAHA!

barrenisthenewblack said...

you are very welcome and a great support to me as well

Lori said...

What a great gift!

You don't need to feel guilty about not coming to terms with your infertility. I'm not even TTC, have 3 children, but am still emotionally dealing with my infertility. Someone in the middle of the IVF process can't remotely be expected to be ok emotionally.

Ginger said...

I know that you aren't feeling too perky for this cycle, however I'm still hopeful for you and your family. I've been quietly hanging out here in Kansas keeping up with your blog...we were supposed to get back onto the wagon with our clinic this month for another round or two of med IUI's and then instead I ended up with some virus. Now we are on hold again. I emotionally don't know what to think or feel. And I feel the same that you do - I don't know that I'll ever be over our infertility be it baby, babies or no baby at all.

Carrie said...

What a good friend! And I love her sense of humor. :)

I am pregnant for Pete's sake, and still get nervous when I find out someone else is, too. Infertility seems to linger around me like a cloud, and I don't expect it to go away for a looooong time.

Thinking of you.

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