What do you think of my new word cloud? In celebration of National Infertility Survivor Day, I did something fun to celebrate all the hard effort I've put in over the course of the last 3 years toward my goal of becoming a mother. I found a cool website that will create customizable fun word clouds from your blog's url using the rss feed! The site is called Tagxedo, and you can create your own here: http://www.tagxedo.com/.
As I said above, next month marks the official three-year-mark of B & I actively TTC. After about six months of trying, I started to worry we might be facing some issues because we'd already been off birth control for a year and 9 months prior with no "oopsies." So twenty-one months of "not trying to prevent" combined with six months of "trying" equated to well over two years without conception.
That's when we started getting things checked out. A year later we were on the IVF track and pulled out of it at the last minute (you can read about that here), the pain and confusion of coping with that decision is why and when I started this blog in January of 2012. I've come a long way in my research, planning, and coping mechanisms since then, thanks to this blog. A word cloud highlighting my own words seems like an appropriate way to celebrate my strength in the face of the many adversities I've been facing for the past few years.
So, what are you going to do to celebrate this special day? Don't know? Never heard of it you say? Well read on to learn more!
Get the full scoop on National Infertility Survivor Day!
What:
The holiday was founded in 2004 by Beverly Barna, author of Infertility Sucks! Keeping it All Together When Sperm and Egg Stubbornly Remain Apart (Xlibris Corporation, 2002).When:
This holiday falls on the first Sunday of the month of May. This year, in 2013, the holiday is celebrated on May 5th, today.
Scheduled for the weekend before Mother’s Day, the holiday's timing is intentional, so it can soften the blow of sadness and frustration that many infertile and even formerly infertile women feel as Mother’s Day approaches.
With infertility, your accomplishment is the effort you’ve already put towards becoming a parent. You’re celebrating your strength and your efforts. You may not be able to hold these types of accomplishments in your hand, but they are just as real and deserve to be celebrated.
This is a day just for you, and you should celebrate the day however you like!
Scheduled for the weekend before Mother’s Day, the holiday's timing is intentional, so it can soften the blow of sadness and frustration that many infertile and even formerly infertile women feel as Mother’s Day approaches.
Why:
"Instead of focusing on our losses, we focus on our strengths." - Rachel Gurevich, National Infertility Survival Day: A Day for Self-Care and Celebration, About.com.
The holiday provides an opportunity to turn around and bring something positive to what is a very difficult situation. We so often focus our energies and thoughts on what we have not been able to achieve, despite all our best efforts. This is one day, out of the entire year, that we can remember to take the time to honor and celebrate all we have done to try to have a child and build our families
Who:
National Infertility Survival Day isn’t only for the women and couples coping with infertility now, but also a day for those who have gone forward in their lives.
I have communicated with SO MANY WOMEN who's lives have been touched by infertility. Those who graduate out and go on to have children of their own, either naturally, through ART, or adoption, often tell me that their lives will be forever changed because of what they went through to fulfill their dreams of creating their families. The kind of pain and suffering that this condition causes is not easily forgotten.
This is a day that formal infertiles can not only celebrate their own strength, but also share the wisdom and experiences they gained with others who are coping with the same struggles now.
How:
It's understandable why some women would feel silly celebrating today when they feel they have nothing to celebrate. Society puts so much emphasis on celebrating after we’ve accomplished a goal. It’s not uncommon for women coping with infertility to feel like failures. But you are not a failure.
With infertility, your accomplishment is the effort you’ve already put towards becoming a parent. You’re celebrating your strength and your efforts. You may not be able to hold these types of accomplishments in your hand, but they are just as real and deserve to be celebrated.
Get together with friends to take a day away from yourself and your thoughts. Or don't. Take a day to be alone with your thoughts and feelings if that's what you need. Go to the spa and pamper your body. Or don't think about your body at all if you'd rather spend the day reading or watching movies that's fine too. Go out for dinner and a movie with you partner and remind yourself of the days when it was just the two of you and you didn't always have baby-making on the brain. Or do the opposite. If you and your partner have arrived at a place where you rarely talk about what you are coping with, take today to reconnect and get on the same page with your feelings again.
Whatever you do, make sure you take a moment to acknowledge everything you are have been faced with and how strong you have been already in coping with it. Take strength in your own courage and have faith in your relationship with your partner. Trust in yourself, and do something to indulge yourself, whatever that may be.
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