Infertility Survivors Finally Heard
Anything You Lose. That’s the name of a timely documentary that puts infertility in the spotlight. This film opens minds and generates discussion. Furthermore, it’s earning awards of excellence and will have its North American premier in Los Angeles on Saturday, Oct. 7. Chalk it up to kismet or mercury retrograde, but I reconnected recently…
Well, Hello there! It’s been a while, has it not? More than 7 months since my last post, to be exact. There’s quite a bit to catch up on, but I will save more of my personal news for a future post. First, I have a few important, timely items to share. Mark your calendars!…
Permission is a tricky thing. We frequently readily provide it to others but deny it to ourselves. That’s often because allowing ourselves freely to engage in activities such as sitting with our emotions can seem self-indulgent. But, in reality, it can be self-affirming. Reader Writes About Permission Denied It’s always gratifying to hear from new…
There are few things harder than bearing witness to suffering, grief, or pain. When we hear someone’s sorrow in their breaking voice, our hearts clench. Our eyes well up. Empathy, the glue that holds humanity together, kicks in. Empathy causes us to ache in unison. We cast about, sometimes helplessly, to find a way to…
Loss lives on in ways large and small following an infertility diagnosis and failed IVF. This truth permeates the world of IVF survivors. That’s just one of many topics explored in a new Life Beyond Failed Fertility podcast with yours truly now available on iTunes and on Spotify, Podomatic, and Amazon. Loss Reflections When the podcast…
Silent Sorority marks its 10-year anniversary this month. It became the first memoir to tackle failed IVF and explore infertility’s disenfranchised grief. In honor of this milestone, we’ll look back at the book’s impact and the conversations it stimulated. Let’s start with The Ladies in Waiting Book Club. The initial discussion is preserved on The…
Word swap (inserting infertile or childless to replace other words) has long been my way to make a point about the perils of tribalistic thinking. It’s amusing and informative to highlight one’s myopic perspective. Further, the exercise can reveal insights applicable to other tribes or communities. In this latest example, an author asserts age confers…
Darkness comes ever earlier this time of year. It’s arrival — shrinking our days bit by bit — makes an already busy end of year seem even more frenetic. Yet, blackness also delivers stillness and focus. I reflected on this further following a yoga class at mid-day this week. Late autumn sunlight streamed through the…
You know how you hear or read something, and your first thought is, “Huh? How is this not a thing?” In my case this response usually has to do with infertility-related topics. Thing One: Endometriosis How is a proper and timely diagnosis for endometriosis still not a thing? The superb Samantha Bee recently highlighted this…
The uterus. It’s just an organ but unlike other organs — a kidney, a bladder or a lung — it carries tremendous identity significance. Baggage, too — cultural and otherwise. Upon reproductive age, its power increases. Beyond a vexing way of making itself very evident every month, it also holds the promise of creation. If,…