national infertility awareness week

Hey, its never too late to get educated....right?!

Since its National Infertility Awareness week, and I thought I should do at least one post about it.  I know you're waiting for Easter pictures, but you'll just have to wait a little longer.

Infertility sucks.  

Its really hard...especially when you don't know the cause and/or reason (as in our case).

I don't talk about it much, because to retell it is to relive it, and this has been hard enough to go through once. Also, over the years, I've heard my share of well-meaning but cringe-worthy statements that just made me feel worse (not that it was intended that way....but still the result was the same).

Here's just a few of my thoughts:

-Please do not diagnose what may or may not be causing the problem.  You're not a doctor.  Believe me, we've been to doctors and even they don't know.

-Please do not tell us to "just relax" or "just go on vacation".  

-Please do not assume.

-Please do not tell us that we're so lucky that we get to "just adopt".

Don't for a second get me wrong...adoption has truly been a miracle for our little family, and I love it.  But, it is not the easy way out.  Adoption is not the cure for infertility.  It is not an easy process.  It is a roller coaster ride.  It is stressful.   It is expensive.  

It is the hardest thing we've ever done.

Recently on Facebook, I posted this as my status:

"Infertility is a heart-wrenching, faith-questioning, relationship-testing, life-altering experience." 

That statement is completely true 

(and by the way, are we friends on Facebook?).

However, I'm grateful for the blessings I have as a result of our infertility....namely:

(one of our recent pictures of the day...I found them playing together in Kaden's closet)

There's many more tender mercies we've received as a result of our infertility, but I'll save that for another day.

My last 2 cents...be nice to those around you who may be struggling with infertility. Its so not your job to fix it or even make us feel better. It goes a long way to just acknowledge the trial and offer a hug. Enough said.