I'm having an unusually weepy day, the kind I had when Tiny Boy was fresh from the womb. As part of my mass mailing of birth announcements, I sent one to Dr. G's office (even though I'd emailed her some pics from the hospital) as well as acupuncturist #1 (NOT the one who starved me). And today the acupuncturist called me to hear how I finally got knocked up and I received a thank you note from Dr. G's office (clearly a form letter type thing) suggesting (?) that I put up my "success story" on the clinic website.
The thing is, I don't consider myself a success story. I just scanned some of the stories featured there and it's all how wonderful Dr. G is and how these couples had tried for x number of years and met her and got pregnant or did one IUI and got pregnant or switched from a different clinic and immediately got pregnant and, well, you get the gist. There wasn't a single story that went something like I was a thirty-five year old with normal FSH and no reason to think I couldn't conceive when I met Dr. G and ended up conceiving via donor egg after twenty-two cycles, giving birth just before my 39th birthday. Granted, I know those stories exist. I know she's had patients tougher than me. I know she's had patients go to CCRM and conceive there. I know she's had patients give up entirely.
I don't know what she thinks of a case like mine. But, for all that I adore my son, and as truly grateful as I am that she presented DE as a possibility and made it a workable reality (lovenox and steroids and flax seed, oh my), I wasn't "fixed" by DE. I'm still infertile. I'm an infertile chick who gave up on her body and has a beautiful baby boy as a result. Is that success from a reproductive endocrinology standpoint? Maybe. There certainly was a lot of hormonal tinkering of myself and my donor in order to let that pregnancy happen. But I doubt that's a story any of her future patients want to hear.
Then again, I certainly needed to hear the stories of women who'd done DE in order to make the leap myself. And am I glad I did, ovaries be damned.
I think you're a huge success story. And an amazing role model.
ReplyDeletePlus, in my view* (and I realize you may see things differently) you didn't give up on your body at all. On the contrary, it was your body that nurtured your son and brought him into the world.
*Colored, no doubt, by the fact that my kids were born via gestational carrier, since pregnancy turned out not to be an option for me.
Thanks for your comment, Niobe. What you say makes a lot of sense.
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