One of Caleb's aunts, Aunt Sheila, sent me an email a couple of weeks ago with a link to a Focus on the Family radio show about infertility. From that show, I found an article on the same subject that presented some really important things I feel many people don't understand about infertility. Here are just a few of them:
"Infertility is commonly defined as the inability to conceive after at least a year of unprotected sex, or the inability to carry a pregnancy to a live birth. Infertility is not the same thing as sterility. According to MSNBC, one-third of infertile couples who seek treatment are able to have children."
"Grief is a real part of infertility. It may be heightened in miscarriages or stillbirths, but it is just as real when a couple cannot conceive." (emphasis mine)
"Proverbs 30:15-16 tells us the grave and the barren woman are two things that are never satisfied. The sense of loss from infertility will frequently resurface whenever life situations — such as a menstrual cycle or the birth of a child to another couple — trigger painful feelings of the opportunities lost."
"I think the most difficult thing for me about infertility is that it is a monthly journey. Every month your hopes go up, and come crashing down. It's not something you can set aside for a period; you get that reminder. You're always somewhere in that cycle - that hope-disappointment cycle. [...] That's what's so tough about infertility is that it's in your face all the time."
"It hurts, but God is there even in the midst of infertility."
