Don't Be Ashamed...Coming Out of the Fertility Closet...

We are the 1 in 1 in 6 Couples in the US have problems conceiving...

Since the month Dustin and I got married (June 26, 2010) we have been TTC (Trying To Conceive). We found out a year and a half later that we had fertility issues. It was a big blow. It meant we could not have a child naturally without the help from Doctors. It meant our pocket book was going to be hit hard. We have come a long way in the last 3 years. We have learned a lot about the Infertility world, about our relationship and about our own self. 

We have Male Factor Infertility. We have spent the last year going to Doctor after Doctor eliminating possible causes but still no answers. Our final stop was Dr John Gould at the UC David Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. He is a Urologist specializing in Male Infertility, he is also part of the Northern California Fertility Medical Center. He has been GREAT! We just went for our first SA (Semen Analysis) since we got the devastating news over a year and a half ago. Dustin has been on a drug called Clomid for the last 3 months to see if it will get his little guys moving. We will find out the results this week. 

We both have gone through many stages of grief when coming to reality that having a child will not be as easy as it is for 5 out of 6 couples in the US. I have personally felt angry, jealousy, depression and sadness on a regular basis. It wasn't until we met Dr. Gould that I have been feeling a little bit of Hope in the mix. It seriously has been the loneliest 3 years for me ever. There is a major Taboo about infertility in America which makes going through this experience lonely. I had a conversation with Dustin this last weekend where he said he was over keeping it a secret. And I totally agree. I think Infertility needs to be talked about more. Recently Jimmy Fallon had announced the birth of his child 2 weeks after her birth. I didn't even know his wife was preggo. She wasn't, little Winnie was born via surrogate due to many years of failed pregnancies. 

So I will be using this blog to voice our struggles and joys through our experience with Infertility. I would hope this will also help others be more aware of the loaded question "So when are you going to have children?" because sometimes that is the rudest question of all.

-EB