I think when you and your friends get to a certain age there's a lot of talk about how people are having difficulties with pregnancies which keeps those of us who didn't have any problems quiet because we don't want to rub salt in a wound.
Speaking as an "old but still got her fingers crossed that she'll pull it off" chick I think its important to hear the "it went fine" side as well. Sensitivity is great and important and I'm all for it, but "problems" aren't the entire story. I've known several people now who were shocked that they didn't have any problems conceiving after 35. Infertility at that point doesn't become inevitable, it just becomes more likely.
The pendulum seems to have swung from infertility being a deep, dark, shameful, secret to almost being seen as a norm. Which is weird.
I was quite upsetting last year when my ob started talking about advanced maternal age and then informed me that yes, I do fall into that realm. It's also been hard finding secondary infertility support groups - everything I've found so far has been primary.
I've heard this from other people as well. I hope the discussion reaches a tipping point soon, Aims... and that you won't need it once it does.
Ok, done spamming the thread with my silliness.
YOU TAKE THAT BACK, LAURA! NEVER STOP SPAMMING THE THREAD WITH YOUR SILLINESS!
I also know two women who were told they were infertile, adopted babies, and almost immediately got pregnant. Maybe there's something hormonal that happens when a woman's around babies a lot that revs her own baby-making system up? Can I get a grant to study that?
There's certainly enough anecdata around the phenomenon. My VERY non-woowoo BiL's admittedly bs pet theory is that caring for a newborn exposes you to stem cells at a crazy rate. He's been surprised to see the arthritis he's struggled with since a brown recluse bite in his 20s easing considerably in the year + he's been a father. It makes evolutionary sense enough -- raising a small child is taxing as hell, its good if the little nipper actually physically benefits you in SOME way.
Went to the podiatrist today. One of the scars has developed a small scab so he took a scalpel to it and removed a disolving stitch that hadn't so much disolved. He's very happy with my recovery and doesn't need to see me again until September. He said if I have any pain or swelling over the summer with the heat I should come and see him.
As long as I was there I went to the GP as well -- I've been dealing with a nasty bout of bronchitis for the past week and change and figured I'd check in. I'm deffinately improved but my heart rate was elevated so he did an EKG. Thankfully it was fine as was my blood pressure (which always is). We're attributing the fast pulse to the infection and a bit of dehydration. Since lung problems are pretty unusual for me I have a scrip for a chest x-ray if this goes on for another week. So, rest, fluids, keep taking the codeine... like that.
Can I say how much I like having health insurance again? And how much I love my doctors? How much I appreciate their care and caution? And how crazy-making it is that this is not the norm?