Life after infertility.

Infertility sure has screwed me up.

The biggest part of my title isn't "infertility", it's the key word "after". But how come I can't put it all behind me?

I can't watch any baby delivery shows on television. I abhor even seeing the commercials for shows like "I didn't know I was pregnant". I have a hard time listening to anyone talk about how many kids they are going to have, like a given pregnancy will just happen on queue. Hollywood is fucking baby crazy right now that even in my brain candy magazines, there are weekly sections like "don't stars have the cutest babies!". Pah-lease.

And although I can't put it behind me, I find that I am proud as hell of my infertility. Sure, the 39 monitored cycles I went through weren't a walk in the park. The 8 bajillion injections I gave myself through my IVF and FET cycles sucked. The PIO injections my hip endured daily for 13 weeks still are lumpy from the torture. But now that it is all over, I beam with pride when I discuss karl's frozen beginnings.

Every now and again I read a blog discussing someone's discussion on whether or not to tell a child about their ART leading to their conception. And I simply don't get it. I don't pass by a chance to explain our IVF to someone and I certainly won't keep it from my son. If anything, it shows just how much I wanted him and what I was willing to do to get him. And while I respect someone else's decisions to tell or not tell, I'm certainly telling.

Something I don't get ... I remember reading someone discussing their IVF child and how they found it degrading to call their baby a "test tube baby". I hadn't gone through IVF yet, so I didn't discuss something I had no experience with. But now I do have an IVF baby and I don't see why it's an offensive phrase. He ~is~ a test tube baby. Am I missing something?