Sunday, January 6, 2008

The Many Faces Of Secondary Infertility

I'm about sixteen months into secondary infertility, and never quite know what's around the corner emotionally. For me it has definitely been aligned with the seven stages of grief (represented in brackets below) as it is a continuous grieving process. I've written these stages as they've occurred for me although I have been in and out of all of them even in the space of a day!

1. The this-shouldn't-be-happening to me stage: (shock/disbelief) I'm a woman, after all and was designed to have children. I conceived my daughter easily. So why the hell can't it be that simple again?
2. The why-me-stage: (bargaining) I'm a good Mum, better than loads out there (there's a tad of arrogance attached to this particular stage!), so why am I being afflicted with this?
3. The life-sucks-stage: (depression) I want another baby and I want it now! It's all that matters to me. And because that's my main focus right now; I'm gonna see the cup as being half-empty.
4. The-Mother-Theresa-stage: (guilt) I should be happy with the one child I have. Perhaps I'm meant to do something else with all this maternal love like go to Africa and save the children there. Or adopt kids that really need homes.
5. The-I'm-really-pissed-with-you-God-stage: (anger) I'm a good person, aren't I? I only want to get pregnant again this one time. It's not too much to ask now is it?
6. The-head-in-the-sand-stage: (denial) I'll be okay... Just remove all pregnant women from the planet.
7. The-life-goes-on-stage: (acceptance and hope) Maybe it'll happen, maybe not. For now I'm just going to focus on other things and not make having another baby the be all and end all of my existence.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG!
You have connected the stages of grief in such a PERFECT way to the struggle of infertility!

That is amazing!
JCurly

Anonymous said...

A bit belated but only just 'found' you. Every stage you mentioned there I have been, and am still living. Just depends on the day, or the week......thankyou for your blog.

A girl named Sandy said...

Glad to know I am not alone in all of these feelings, I feel like I go through all of them on a daily basis. Thank you for sharing your struggle, its brings comfort to many!