National Infertility Week

Last week's events almost had me hang up my blog, with the reason being there is so much more in the world to focus and pray about than writing about what our little family is up to. I always fear that this blog will be superficial and trifling, and when I saw so much distress around me, I saw it as that.

And then this week started and it's

I realized that I am not quite done putting my thoughts down on "paper" about certain topics that I don't find trivial, especially ones that are close to my heart like adoption, marriage, God's relationship with me, my children and today, infertility.

When you think of infertility, what comes to mind? This obviously would depend if it's in your life or not, via you or someone you know. Maybe you never really thought of it. I never, ever did, until it entered my life. Anyone who knew me as a child knew I loved kids and my goal in life was to get married and have kids. Lots of them. At least 6. I never once thought that infertility would play such a major role in my married life. But it has and does.

Let's first look at a definition of:

Infertility 

Definition

Infertility is the failure of a couple to conceive a pregnancy after trying to do so for at least one full year. In primary infertility, pregnancy has never occurred. In secondary infertility, one or both members of the couple have previously conceived, but are unable to conceive again after a full year of trying. (taken from here)

So as you can see, there are two kinds, primary and secondary infertility. We fall into that first group, primary. Pregnancy for us has never occurred.

While that definition above is true, I would add to that definition. When I think of infertility, the following words come to my mind:

gut-wrenching; hard; humbling; frustrating; private; vulnerable; lonely; bitter; angry; refining; not understood; personal; hush-hush; roller coaster; special; exposed; sensitive; painful; complicated; rare; significant; faith-breaker; faith-booster; tears; dashed hopes; new dreams; confidential

And that's not it, but I figured it's enough for now. I am sure there are a number of words that you could add to this if infertility is in your life.

What I hope to do this week is take some time to write some posts, expanding on my description of infertility by explaining some of them. I would also like to touch upon how to deal with those who are struggling with it, how to support them.

It states in the Bible that we are to "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." (Romans 12: 15). That means being a support to each other through all the ups and downs of life. I hope this week to touch upon how to do this in regards to dealing with infertility.

Like with the adoption series (Part One, Part Two, Part Three), if you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or, due to the sensitivity of this topic, shoot me off an email. You can find my email address at the top Tab "Contact Me". If you would rather choose to remain anonymous, then leaving a comment would be better (where you can choose to leave it as "anonymous").

Education is huge in order to be able to support those whom God has placed in our lives.