Infertility can take everything out of you. Infertility is emotionally and financially draining. Infertility is heartbreaking.
And it’s hard, so hard, when we watch the people around us get pregnant and easily start families. But we root for one another through tears, negative pregnancy tests, and procedure after procedure. So when one of our own gets pregnant, it’s a time to celebrate.
Don’t get me wrong, that pang in the heart will still happen. A flash of jealousy will cross our minds. But for our sisters in infertility? We try so hard to be jubilant and to give well wishes because we know that our sisters get it. For many of us, when one of our sisters in infertility gets pregnant, we feel hope. Hope that one day that will be us.
Earlier this week, one of our own, Jacqui, had her second child. Jacqui’s been in our shoes and we wish her all the happiness in the world. But it made me think. I know many of our community members are hesitant to announce pregnancies and births. In fact, I hesitated to post Jacqui’s happy news on our Facebook wall. But why shouldn’t we celebrate that gives hope to so many? So we’re going to have a virtual baby shower to celebrate their happiness and to focus on hope.
I want to make sure that we don’t hurt those in our community who simply can’t handle baby talk, so we’ll try to keep it in the comments for this post. If you’re pregnant or recently had a baby, please share your news and leave a kind note for everyone else. If you’re still trying, or you’ve moved on, please share what you can as well. If you can’t say congratulations, share your hopes for the future.
Next week, I’ll sum everything up in another blog post for everyone to read.
The support of friends can make all the difference, so let’s share the hope.
