Here's a little taste of our vacation:
First day: I got sick.
2nd day: I got progressively worse.
3rd day: Husband sprained his ankle badly, had to go to hospital, he is on crutches.
4th day: I was sicker, but we got through the day somehow, and I got Anise's diarrhea on me (that's just a detail).
4th night: we were all up for most of the night, Anise asked for noodles at 1 in the morning, what was i supposed to do?
5th day: I drove us home (not all the way, we decided to break up the trip, I am writing this from a hotel part way home) Anise puked in hotel when we got here, and then again on me in a restaurant.
I am feeling somewhat better.
Too bad, because I really could have used a vacation...
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Home
I have been feeling better lately. I think. It doesn't matter anyway, because hoping, longing, and wishing are useless. Those artificial emotions that I felt during these past 8 weeks, since the treatment began, have been hard to shake. It makes it easy to lose sight of the present. But now I have no choice. I can be angry and sad, but that won't change the outcome either, and the reality is that right now, today, I am happy. I felt like I got thrown back to 4 years ago when I wasn't. And so, I joined Weight Watchers. Yes, I did it, I took the plunge and I have to admit I feel hungry. But maybe this will be a way for me to channel some of my desire for control.
I recognized that I like control. I am not a control freak, but I do like to take chanrge of things as much as I can. I worried about that before having Anise, I really did not want to be a controlling parent. The opposite happened. After Anise was born I enjoyed the thrill of having someone else in charge! Now I see that Anise likes to be in control of her own destiny. She has this mischievous smile when she does something she isn't supposed to, and then she pretends that she stopped because she decided to, not because I asked her to.
I cannot make a baby. There is a possibility that I can, but it won't be from anything I do. Can I truly believe that? I have no choice. Missing the present would be more loss.
I recognized that I like control. I am not a control freak, but I do like to take chanrge of things as much as I can. I worried about that before having Anise, I really did not want to be a controlling parent. The opposite happened. After Anise was born I enjoyed the thrill of having someone else in charge! Now I see that Anise likes to be in control of her own destiny. She has this mischievous smile when she does something she isn't supposed to, and then she pretends that she stopped because she decided to, not because I asked her to.
I cannot make a baby. There is a possibility that I can, but it won't be from anything I do. Can I truly believe that? I have no choice. Missing the present would be more loss.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Not Pregnant (I think)
So things are not looking good. I have had a bit of spotting, and a pregnancy test done yesterday was negative. I have been having mega PMS. It isn't 100% confirmed (I did do my test a little early), I will know for sure tomorrow, but it is most probably a no. This "difficult" period reveals to myself just how fucked up I am. The mental tornadoes of dialog that go through my head are really insane.
I could not wait to do the test. A normal person would have waited for the blood test which was originally scheduled for Thursday, or would have done a home test the day before. Not I. I had to do it on Monday because I was going insane.
I am sad, and the grief is weird. I didn't cry until I passed by an American Apparel store yesterday and this was the link: I had bought a turtle neck there about a week before Anise was born, and I wore it every day until she was born. I had a flashback to the days preceding her birth and I was overcome with sadness. It brought me to her birth, the experience of which is still in me physically, and in a sad way. I don't know why. But I do know why. When they pulled Anise out they yelled "it's a girl" and I cried with joy. Then they yelled "she's flat" and it was a good 20 seconds before I knew if she was ok. Those 20 seconds got stuck in my body. I knew for a very brief moment what it could have felt like to lose her. This failed IVF is bringing up feelings of the fragility of life, and in particular Anise's life. How lucky we were that we got pregnant right away last time, and how lucky were we that she was ok. Now it seems so difficult and complicated, and we are now realizing that never having another child is a possibility. I was confident going in, that although our embryos are fucked up, my body fertility wise, was still young enough.
I feel somehow this is my fault. But that feeling of guilt is not me actually feeling responsible, it is more than that, it is my ego talking because if it my fault that it didn't work, then I can also choose to make it work, and that gives me an illusion of control. If I can control it, then I can make it happen next time. If only there were something more I could do. What do you have to eat to produce healthier eggs?
I don't have theories about when life begins. But if it does begin at conception, then even though this embryo didn't stick, I still touched its life. And my feelings of loss could be an actual loss of this life that was inside of me, even if only for a short time. And that is why I am scared for Anise.
Isn't it amusing how I can come up with all sorts of elaborate theories of loss and sadness, instead of just feeling it is normal to be sad and disappointed that this IVF cycle didn't work? I want to put up a brave face. Failure is part of these procedures, and I knew that going in. Some people have to do this 10 times.
And you know what bothers me the most about this whole thing? My weight. that is what I have been obsessing about. After all that it is only my vanity that matters.
At least I mourned yesterday, and was able to close the chapter. Then I woke up this morning with renewed false hope that there is a real possibility. Maybe it was too early for the test, and sometimes people have some spotting...
I go for my blood test tomorrow.
I could not wait to do the test. A normal person would have waited for the blood test which was originally scheduled for Thursday, or would have done a home test the day before. Not I. I had to do it on Monday because I was going insane.
I am sad, and the grief is weird. I didn't cry until I passed by an American Apparel store yesterday and this was the link: I had bought a turtle neck there about a week before Anise was born, and I wore it every day until she was born. I had a flashback to the days preceding her birth and I was overcome with sadness. It brought me to her birth, the experience of which is still in me physically, and in a sad way. I don't know why. But I do know why. When they pulled Anise out they yelled "it's a girl" and I cried with joy. Then they yelled "she's flat" and it was a good 20 seconds before I knew if she was ok. Those 20 seconds got stuck in my body. I knew for a very brief moment what it could have felt like to lose her. This failed IVF is bringing up feelings of the fragility of life, and in particular Anise's life. How lucky we were that we got pregnant right away last time, and how lucky were we that she was ok. Now it seems so difficult and complicated, and we are now realizing that never having another child is a possibility. I was confident going in, that although our embryos are fucked up, my body fertility wise, was still young enough.
I feel somehow this is my fault. But that feeling of guilt is not me actually feeling responsible, it is more than that, it is my ego talking because if it my fault that it didn't work, then I can also choose to make it work, and that gives me an illusion of control. If I can control it, then I can make it happen next time. If only there were something more I could do. What do you have to eat to produce healthier eggs?
I don't have theories about when life begins. But if it does begin at conception, then even though this embryo didn't stick, I still touched its life. And my feelings of loss could be an actual loss of this life that was inside of me, even if only for a short time. And that is why I am scared for Anise.
Isn't it amusing how I can come up with all sorts of elaborate theories of loss and sadness, instead of just feeling it is normal to be sad and disappointed that this IVF cycle didn't work? I want to put up a brave face. Failure is part of these procedures, and I knew that going in. Some people have to do this 10 times.
And you know what bothers me the most about this whole thing? My weight. that is what I have been obsessing about. After all that it is only my vanity that matters.
At least I mourned yesterday, and was able to close the chapter. Then I woke up this morning with renewed false hope that there is a real possibility. Maybe it was too early for the test, and sometimes people have some spotting...
I go for my blood test tomorrow.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
4 More Days
Putting the question out of my mind. Distracting myself. Not thinking about it.
But there is still a voice:
- I am getting my period
- My hair is still falling out, so I am not pg
- I have a bit of spotting, so it is my period for sure
- I am having hot and cold flashes
- I don't want to have to go through this again
- I should have rested more
- I should have gone for acupuncture
- I should have gone for hypnosis
- I should have gone to a naturopath
- I am too tired
- I am not ready for a baby
- I didn't call my new baby to me
- I am still nursing
- I have not been eating healthy enough
- I have not been exercising enough
- It is my fault
- I have nothing to do with it, it is pure luck
- I am getting old
- I don't even know for sure yet
The difference is this time I am not listening to this voice, but I am. Anise distracts, but every time I bend down (100 000 times per day) or pick her up (300 time a day) I feel that I am pushing that embryo out.
Wasn't I an intelligent, rational person? What happened to me?
4 more days...
But there is still a voice:
- I am getting my period
- My hair is still falling out, so I am not pg
- I have a bit of spotting, so it is my period for sure
- I am having hot and cold flashes
- I don't want to have to go through this again
- I should have rested more
- I should have gone for acupuncture
- I should have gone for hypnosis
- I should have gone to a naturopath
- I am too tired
- I am not ready for a baby
- I didn't call my new baby to me
- I am still nursing
- I have not been eating healthy enough
- I have not been exercising enough
- It is my fault
- I have nothing to do with it, it is pure luck
- I am getting old
- I don't even know for sure yet
The difference is this time I am not listening to this voice, but I am. Anise distracts, but every time I bend down (100 000 times per day) or pick her up (300 time a day) I feel that I am pushing that embryo out.
Wasn't I an intelligent, rational person? What happened to me?
4 more days...
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