I can easily recall the moment infertility took over my life. Before then, it was just a word, and a concept I knew little about. But as my husband and I kept trying to conceive with no success, infertility began to rear its ugly head.
Our surrogate is a beautiful mother of two. She has changed our lives by offering this blessing to us. On top of all that she literally sees her bringing this child into our world as a gift
My name is Carleen Carlson, but sometimes I think it should be Carleen Murphy – as in Murphy’s Law. “If anything can go wrong, it will.” That pretty much sums up my infertility journey so far.
Infertility prompted our adoption journey, which is fairly typical. At the time, we did not feel “typical” at all.
My last article talked about what I thought was my sign. Nathan and I really felt we had been given a sign to adopt. Since then a miracle happened; we became pregnant naturally
I am not sure when or where I first heard about gestational surrogacy.
I look down and feel utter joy, incredible relief in contemplating the swollen belly. I rub my hand across my stomach, still in disbelief.
When I was five years old I drew a picture of myself holding a tiny blue bundle. Inscribed on it, in my kindergarten teacher’s precise printing are the words, “When I grow up I want to be the mother of a baby.”
Eight years. That’s the time that has passed between then and now. The then being when we began trying to conceive
Recently, many people have given this advice: "Don’t have any expectations." Hmmm, really? Don’t expect anything? Aren't dreams expectations? So, really, this advice suggests not having any dreams? I can’t see how that’s good advice and I don’t think that I will be taking it. You see, I can’t help being optimistic, always seeing the glass half full. Essentially, I am a dreamer because my parents taught me that anything is possible.
When I was 33 and divorced (no kids), I relocated to Toronto with a view to starting a new life. The idea was that, with any luck at all, this new life would include a new someone and, eventually, children. This plan did not go according to schedule. I found myself at 37, sitting in the office of Dr. Alan Shewchuk, one of the physicians at a fertility clinic. After three cycles of Lupron injections and egg harvesting we discussed other options. “The eggs we have been able to harvest from you are simply the wrong shape; they don’t look promising or, frankly, even viable. Also, we’ve only been able to get one egg at a time. I don’t think this will get better. Do you have a Plan B?” ...
Trust me, I wish I could be writing an article sharing how I had successful pregnancies and showing off pictures of my kids. Don’t think that I didn’t look at magazines with stars like Céline Dion who do end up getting pregnant (following several IVF attempts, mind you)… and secretly curse their luck. Why them and not me? I get your anger, feelings of injustice, why me’isms… (not enough verbs to adequately describe what you feel, right?)
Month after month, here’s what goes through my mind. For the professional photographer that I am, these are some snapshots of what my life has been like lately. ...
It’s impossible to hear any hint of bitterness in Aimée’s voice. The 32-year-old public relations specialist sounds positively upbeat. Her cheerfulness makes it hard to believe that, for the past two years, her life has been consumed by a fertility struggle caused by a condition called Asherman’s Syndrome....
Mother Katie DeRose writes a loving letter to her daughter and author of Patient's Perspective, Kara DeRose.