Blogger note: The following is a guest post from my dear friend Blue Butterfly. She has graciously agreed to share a bit of her path. Though she has decided to “pick a name,” this is a true account. One that is shared by many women around each of us. May this enlight you and challenge you to grow more empathy. 

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When Mariela asked me to write a guest blog, I wasn’t sure what to share with you. She said to think about what I’ve learned through my experience, but I guess you’d need to know a little about my experience to understand what I’ve learned.

IVF – the rollercoaster that never ends.

As a child, I played with dolls and I also played at being a woman with a career, a husband and children. Fast forward a few years and I have a husband, a career but no children. Not for lack of trying of course. Among the reasons, nature doesn’t seem to be on our side. After exhausting other methods, we tried IVF and thought that it would be a piece of cake. After all, women on TV and films get pregnant like that all the time. Well, no. It’s not that easy and science is still figuring out things, nobody can give you certainty that treatment will work. On top of this, I lost all control over my body and emotions, with doctors and nurses poking me, taking all sorts of vitamins and injecting hormones day and night to help my body. It’s a process that is emotionally draining and at times made me think I was going crazy. I have to be super-duper cheerful when going through the treatment, but at the same time trying to be realistic, because otherwise the fall is too high to bear if things don’t work. (more…)