While SB 1376 appears to be in slumber for the moment, I realized that today marks the 44th day in a row that I have posted about infertility related topics.
On January 22nd, I made a commitment to blogging EVERY SINGLE DAY about something related to infertility.
As I type up post #44, I have to say I’m loving every minute of it!
I don’t really know what made me so obsessed with writing, publishing and setting up a website around the concept of “Almost A Father”.
The most obvious reason would be that I want to sell books.
Two years with a New York City literary agent had worn thin on me, and the urge to get the story out there nearly 10 years after it had happened was still as strong in me as it was when Lisa gave me the idea to start writing down my thoughts, as she searched desperately for any written glimpse inside the male mind during infertility.
So maybe I just wanted to finish something I started.
But even that doesn’t ring true.
When the book came out in September of last year, I could have just rested on my laurels, saying “hey I wrote a book, I’m good”, and moved on with my life. I’ve told our story, gotten over my whole “don’t tell anyone about my sperm count” macho thing, and have been a father now for 10 years. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?
Instead I found myself sitting next to Lisa and Elliana at the Night of Hope charity event in October of last year.
Four months after that, this whole “blogging every day about infertility” idea pops into my head.
For the last week I’ve taken on the Arizona legislature as they attempt another back door cram through of legislation that appears to have designs on restricting other aspiring fertility challenged parents from being able to pursue their dream of a biological child with the help of assisted reproduction.
I’m a guy, for heaven’s sake!
A guy who made his wife vow NEVER to tell ANYONE that he had a low sperm count.
A guy who didn’t want to do infertility, who believed that God would give us a child, who fought against the infertility industry tooth and nail.
But I’m also a guy who is completely, and totally in love with watching the gravitational pull of the loving, chaotic universe that continues to revolve around my IVF baby and her amazing mother because I finally evolved and realized the miracle I was part of when I jumped on board the infertility treatment train.
This comment from a Grandma on the blog put it all in perspective for me, when she responded to my letter to Senator Ward about our right to create OUR embryos in a lab:
What a great letter to educate the Senator!
Unbelievable that some are so ignorant about reproductive issues/diseases.
As the Grandmother of my one IVF Grandchild that we waited 12 years for I can only hope that this bill is NOT passed, and that this attitude does not spread to other states!
It is unusual to see a blog about infertility writen by a male….so nice to read the male perspective.
Thank you!
People ARE ignorant about reproductive issues and diseases. Just because Lisa and I were successful with our fourth IVF doesn’t change the fact that we have the disease of infertility.
I was reminded of that just a week ago when Lisa told me her OB asked what type of birth control we were using. I had to laugh.
We have used absolutely none for more than ten years now.
Not having baby making sex is…well…amazing.
But we’ve never hit the mark on our own, and struggled with not having a sibling for Elliana, while the idiot factor continued to produce more “whoops” siblings in the world around us.
Lisa and I can still pick up the “infertility vibe” from the moment we meet a couple.
44 days of posting makes me realize infertility will always be a part of me.
It is one of the best things that ever happened for me Not to me.
I can’t believe how much I still love talking about this. Getting excited for the current infertility warriors making their way back forth onto the battlefield with each set back, and sharing stories with veterans of the infertility wars who are now engaged in the parenthood after infertility campaign.
I even get to skirmish with legislative bullies trying to mess with the very medical science that changed our world.
The truth is, I feel like I’m just getting started.
Like the Grandmother of the IVF baby that was 12 years in the making said above, something needs to be done about the ignorance about reproductive issues.
My goal is 360 consecutive posts on this site.
By the time I’m done, my goal it that there will be a lot less ignorance, and lot more support and awareness.
Let the next 316 posts begin….