Are You in the Infertility Closet?
Posted in Life and Everything Else on 03/10/2009 01:39 pm by merriebTo tell, or not to tell. That is the question on my mind today.
I see many posts on various boards in which people admit they haven’t told even their families about their infertility struggles. That got me thinking. I’m extremely open about our problems - obviously, by virtue of this blog. But the fact is, it helps me to talk about it. As in, helps keep me off meds to talk about it. Our immediate family all know, our friends all know. Hell, last week I talked about it to complete strangers I’d just met. (Hi Dakota!)
I don’t hide our struggle with infertility because it would take too much effort. Particularly since we’ve been at it two years. I hope the word gets passed along to those kind-hearted people who might see me at the grocery store and ask that dreaded question: “So when are you going to have kids?” I’m sure my mother has fielded some questions, and that’s ok with me. Having my family know and able to answer questions takes some of the pressure off me.
Let me be clear, even though I’m open about us suffering from infertility, there is a line I won’t cross. I’m not telling people intimate details about our love life or anything like that. And when we were ruling out male factor infertility, I was careful to be sensitive to my husband when sharing information. But the fact that we have infertility, testing, and diagnosis, even our next steps or treatment, I’ll tell the world. I don’t want to feel ashamed that I’m infertile.
Where do you stand? Do you talk about it? Or not and why?



