The recent popularity of the Handmaid’s Tale has somewhat brought infertility to the “limelight” if you will. Although dystopian, I don’t doubt that some of it is eerily accurate in a world of fertiles vs non fertiles (full disclosure, I haven’t read the book or seen the show but I have a decent sense of it from all of the discussion in the media, and the IF world as well).
A recommended read showed up in my Goodreads email today and it’s another story of infertility. It sounds interesting and heartbreaking. IF showing up in the mainstream world is somewhat disarming. It startles me a bit when I stumble across something like that because it is still unexpected to me. Like the American Greetings commercial I recently posted about, infertility seems to be garnering a lot of attention lately.
Just the other week, a local women’s hospital in my city published a video showing how they can be there through all parts of a women’s life. It shows a young women getting married, having a baby girl; that baby grows up and the video shows her and her partner struggling with infertility. It shows her crying in the bathroom, fighting with her partner and finally visiting a fertility clinic. The unsettling part about the video is she’s visiting my fertility clinic, and my fertility doctor is featured in the video, as well as scenes from all over my city. The video was very well done and I hope it strikes a cord with a lot of people.
I’m happy that infertility seems to finally be getting some well deserved attention, but sometimes it makes me squeamish. It’s hard having such a difficult part of life reflected back at you in so many mainstream platforms (especially one that shows actual aspects of my life). But I’d rather have this than nothing. So I’ll shoulder that burden, and represent a face of infertility. I am one in six.
Infertile Girl in a Fertile World 
yeah I’ve noticed a lot more articles relating to infertility recently too. It’s good that more people will become aware of it and hopefully be more sensitive about what they say to couples. Maybe hurtful questions such as “when are you going to have kids?” will eventually be a thing of the past.
I’ve had that impression from time to time, too. I think it is inevitable as people start to realize how common infertility is and also that there is potential to make money off it (clinics already know this). I think it’s mostly a good thing although personally I do not want to be part of yet another special interest group.
Another amazing book to read is Juniper: The Girl Who Was Born Too Soon. It’s the story of a couple who went through several rounds of IVF, used donor eggs from a friend and finally got pregnant – only to go into preterm labour at 20 weeks. They made it to 23w6d and the cusp of viability is 24 weeks. I bawled my eyes out reading this book – the love this couple have for their daughter and everything they went through in her first six months of life AFTER INFERTILITY?? Wowza. A must-read.
I agree. I’m happy it’s getting out there but, at the same time, when you’re watching a show or movie & NOT expecting it to creep it, it can be triggering. I felt that way watching Girl On The Train.
I hope you’re doing well. It’s been awhile.
I’ve noticed this too – there seems to be quite an increase in infertility in mainstream media. It’s hard for it to be represented accurately because we all experience it so differently – but I kind of wish it would be represented severely every time to highlight how severe it can be. When it’s always or often highlighted in the most positive sense (infertility leading to surprise pregnancy once adoption papers filed, or success on first IVF, etc. etc.) it makes people think it’s always that successful and minimizes the way it hurts.
I’m with you how uncomfortable it is. It’s good, I know, but it still makes me uneasy!
Hope you’re well.