Lately I have spent far too much time contemplating the ART scrapheap.
Another predictably downbeat appointment with the fertility specialist, more delays and a 45th birthday end date looming large has brought Lifeslurper to even more reflection. I suspect that this time even Wobbles’ unfailing optimism has been brought to heel.
Our baby is floating further out of reach.
Tori Amos once sang; “You think there’s heaven where some screams have gone?” I now wonder if there is a place for all those who have valiantly tried (and failed) IVF. Perhaps What Becomes of the Broken Hearted is a more appropriate lyric?
Continue reading The ART Dung Heap
On the face of things, my fertility specialist and hairdresser have very little in common. Their work involves distinctly different regions of the body. Their skills potentially contribute to vastly different outcomes.
Heartbreak on admittedly varying scales can often be the most obvious result of their desire to experiment or use creativity.
At this stage of my life, I need my hairdresser almost as much as I need my fertility specialist.
Continue reading Groomed for IVF
In the time I have spent – no, make that wasted – fighting the battle of the bulge I have done many sums. They go something like this; it is half way through the year, there are 26 weeks left in the year. If I lost one kilogram a week for 26 weeks by the end of the year I’d be 26 kilograms lighter. These sums seem to always fit in with the calendar year. They get a full work out early in the year, towards my birthday and as the year slowly grinds its way to an end. They work in half kilogram increments, from a measly half a kilogram up to a greedily unsustainable 3 kilogram a week loss. The goal of my sums is to avoid another year, another birthday, another festive season or another summer as an overweight person. Of course, anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows it isn’t that simple. It just doesn’t happen so neatly. Weight doesn’t come off our over burdened bodies in equal amounts. Packages of times – a year, or six months is never enough time to do all we need to reclaim our bodies. If it was there wouldn’t be a diet pill industry, a weight loss program empire or meal replacement brands available at every chemist. Continue reading Weighting through infertility
