IVF, corrosion, pop culture

This evening J mentioned to me that Ada Nicodemou has announced that she’s pregnant. I normally avoid announcements about TV people, but this one is a bit different: Ada and her husband Chris are pregnant through IVF.

I am really glad that she’s included that information in her announcement, because our experience of trying to keep that info quiet was that it was utterly corrosive. The advice we received when we started on the IVF rollercoaster was that if we kept it quiet we’d avoid all those trite comments from people who had no freaking clue about infertility. However, after a few months of treatment it was just too much to hold in. We talked about it non-stop between ourselves, but feeling unable to share that information, the highs and lows, the swings and misses… that made us very sad and very stressed.

Having made the decision to talk about what we were doing with family and friends, it was as if massive weights had been lifted from our shoulders. Failed IVF cycles still hurt like hell, but sharing took the edge off.

Here then is my (possibly) trite and uninvited advice: If you have to go through IVF (for whatever reason), TALK ABOUT IT, and remember that having circles of confidence will help you keep control of your pain receptors.