Speaking at the Capitol
If you are reading this Wednesday morning, I am currently at the US Capitol speaking at a congressional briefing with Senator Gillibrand and Representative Wasserman Schultz about infertility to help get money appropriated to the CDC to set up a National Action Plan.
I know–if you had told me four years ago that I would be doing this today, I would have called you crazy. Blogging has opened up the most amazing experiences.
And I can also assure you that I am quaking in my 9 Wests.
I didn’t talk about this up until this point mostly because I thought thinking about it too much would make me nervous and because it also still feels surreal as I write this the night before (and schedule it to post so you can read this while I’m shleping downtown). Tomorrow or tonight, I will post whatever pictures I was able to take. I was also told that it will be videotaped, so hopefully, I’ll be able to post at least a clip from that.
But I wanted you to know what I’m saying on the Hill. Partly for you, because you should know what is being said on your behalf and partly for me, so I can feel like y’all are there:
27.
Newly-married.
I was reading the obituaries being run in the New York Times after the Twin Towers fell and there was one that changed our family building plans. A woman, my age, only two weeks married herself, just back from her honeymoon, lost her husband on September 11th.
I knew I had all the time in the world biologically–after all, women had children into their forties and I was only 27. But I didn’t have all the time in the world emotionally, not in a post-September 11th world where everything felt so fragile.
And so, our decision to wait a year into marriage was thrown out the window and thanks to that widow in New York, we entered into family building with a mixture of giddy excitement since we were certain it would work on the first try (after all, my eighth grade sex ed teacher wouldn’t steer me wrong), and heavy hearts for all the people who lost their partner before they had a chance to build their family. I was not yet 28.
But it didn’t happen.
I told a few friends we were trying to conceive either because I knew they were trying too or they had just become mothers and I thought I’d be joining them soon enough. But one by one, all my friends moved on to the other side while I still tried, reading books, browsing the Resolve site despite also receiving the message from my gynecologist that I had nothing to worry about and I was just being anxious, and asking everyone who had been successful my numerous questions–what did they know that I didn’t know?
In 2002, blogs were barely in the toddler stage, therefore, you couldn’t go online and read the experience of another woman, measuring her stats against yours. You could go on bulletin boards, and believe me, I did, asking my thousands of questions to faceless women who verbally sprinkled me with “baby dust” during our interactions.
And it’s sort of scary when you think about it because I was taking my advice from people I didn’t know. Thankfully, none of them steered me wrong and I moved from the trying-to-conceive boards to the infertility boards, gathering everything I could on my way to what I knew in my heart was going to be a diagnosis. But what I wished at that point was that my doctor or my friends were doing a better job of guiding me. Because I wasted a lot of time and a lot of pregnancies on the way to the clinic.
7.3 million Americans are infertile. 1 in 8 of child-bearing age. You would think that I’d have a few infertile friends with those statistics, and I did. They just weren’t talking about it.
Beyond my mother, who herself experienced infertility, only one person came forth and told me that they had used Clomid. Later on, I discovered that numerous women in my monthly women’s social group either experienced recurrent pregnancy loss or had done IVF to conceive. I found out that five friends were at the same clinic when I finally had my first appointment. Until I received my diagnosis, my peers and doctors didn’t speak with me about infertility. After my diagnosis, it was like I had joined a secret, underground club.
Starting treatments was a fairly sickening experience–not just the physical side of learning how to give myself injections or the emotional side of receiving negative after negative pregnancy test despite having spent the month enduring those injections–it was the financial side that was possibly the most distressing because it was impossible to build our family via any of the options available based on the life choices we made.
Despite my ability to earn a lot more teaching at the college level with my graduate degree, I chose to work with children (big mistake for an infertile woman!) because I wanted to make a difference in their lives writing-wise before they reached the college level. My husband could have equally pulled in a different salary, but he chose to go into community-building work at a non-profit. Our jobs were about serving others and because of that, we weren’t able to help ourselves. Our choices were either to forget the ethical commitments we made to building a better society or to forget our desire to have a family.
I am lucky that my clinic understood that we were between a rock and a hard place financially and did everything in their power to help us utilize the technology out there that could circumvent our female factor infertility. Our clinic even went so far to give us a free IUI during a month where it looked like our chances were good but we didn’t have the ability to pay the IUI costs. I don’t just think my experience has been extraordinary–speaking with the 2300 men and women on my blogroll these past four years has taught me that my experience is the exception rather than the norm and that is also due to the fact that my enormous clinic, with numerous satellite offices in the area, has the financial ability to stay afloat while still helping patients. Smaller offices are not as helpful, not because they don’t want to be, but because they can’t.
During treatments, I woke up every morning around 4:45 a.m. to have enough time to go for a quick run and shower before my blood draw and sonogram at the clinic. I then drove to school and spent the day trying not to think about the fact that I can’t conceive while simultaneously waiting for my nurse’s phone call to give me my injection instructions for the night. I had to pretend nothing was amiss while I chatted with other teachers in the lounge because infertility is secretive. Infertility is hidden, and not mentioned, lest people get uncomfortable. I would then go home and obsessively try every idea under the sun to make treatments more successful including drinking Robitussin and green tea–not because I was baby crazy and wanted a baby NOW! But because I needed the emotional pain of infertility to stop. And the only way it was going to stop–at least in my experience–was to resolve my childlessness with parenthood.
I got the happy ending. My twins are the product of a lot of information gathered, injections endured, doctors who cared, and a nameless widow in New York who set my family building process in motion. I can never thank her enough because her loss and the telling of her story gave me the gift of time.
My story could have ended here if we weren’t so damn eager to add one more to our family after knowing just how good parenthood could be with these two.
Four years ago, I went online seeking community as we entered into family building again. My face-to-face world was just too damn silent about infertility. And what I found was a network of 2300+ bloggers all writing out their experience, exchanging information, giving support. And this number keeps growing. Somehow, I became the hub of this network, and the stories flowed through me and came out in the form of a book, Navigating the Land of If. I am so grateful to be in a position where I can absorb such a wide-range of experiences. It has opened my eyes enormously.
This is what I’ve learned: we need to talk about infertility more–not just with each other, but with those outside the experience so they’re not fumbling in the dark towards a diagnosis.
We need to learn more about infertility–there are just too many physical problems that can’t be overcome with regularity with the existing technology. Medicine is an art, and its practitioners need information to practice their medium.
We need to do more about infertility–7.3 million, 1 in 8 Americans of child-bearing age–these numbers are too enormous to be ignored. There are countless Americans making the best decisions they can with limited access to good reproductive endocrinologists, instead relying on gynecologists who aren’t trained to treat infertility. They have limited finances to build their families–with most roads of assisted family building priced outside the capabilities of the average American. We have people who would make fantastic parents unable to experience parenthood due to a medical condition.
I urge you to take a few moments and peruse my enormous blogroll, a collection of over 2300 personal stories. Read what the average person experiencing infertility goes through in the course of a day–emotionally, physically, and financially.
If the children are indeed America’s future, we’ll do more to ensure that they get here.
Thank you so much for your time.
87 comments
Mel. You are an amazing woman. I bet you rocked it in there today.
I have tears in my eyes. You are so amazing. Thank you for advocating for all of us.
Absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for speaking so beautifully for our community.
Wow Mel!! Tears in my eyes and giving a standing ovation clapping my heart out for you, and for being brave to speak on our behalf. You’re amazing!
I’m holding you in my heart now and I know you’ll do the same for me later today. I know you will simply shine.
It’s amazing
congratulations!
Something good has come from your infertility, you’ve changed the lives of 2300 people !!!
Thank you for being our voice.
Wow. Awesome. Thanks for standing up there for all of us!
Awesome, Mel. Just…awesome. I hope all went well and I look forward to an update!
How I would love to be in that room this morning with you!! (although I already feel like I have been, just reading this) Tears in my eyes. (Would you consider talking to the Parliament in Canada too??) Thank you thank you thank you.
*applause!!*
Thank you for speaking for all of us. So happy someone like you is there to represent us. Great speech.
Amazing Mel, thank you so much for being a voice for us. You are incredible!
A beautiful speech that brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for all that you do and will continue to do.
♥♥♥
Good luck! Thank you for being the voice of all of us who are struggling and hoping and wishing for the chance to be parents.
Clapping my hands while wiping my tears is a struggle. But damn it, I’m doing it!
Lots of love to you!
Wonderful speech! Now, let’s just hope they hear and understand…
That was so beautiful. The ending brought tears to my eyes. I’m sure you wowed ‘em!!
Nicely done. Perfect tone and content.
Rock on. SO proud of you, Mel. Thank you for being our powerful voice.
I’m also applauding and crying at the same time. I’m sitting her at my desk only a few blocks away from the Capitol and I so wish I could be in that room with you. Congratulations and thanks!
WOW. You rock, Mel.
you NEVER cease to amaze me, move me, make me cry with your passion for US…all of us. What would we do without you?
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. CONGRATULATIONS on this high honor.
Beautiful!! You brought me to tears! Thank you for putting a voice and a face to infertility! You are my hero! Your words melted my heart hopefully some of them will come and see what it’s like to live this journey. I can’t seem to say it enough but THANK YOU!! Sending you lots of Hugs and prayers today!
I am so proud of you. So proud to be represented by you.
Did you make them cry?
You go get ‘em Mel!! Powerful words, I hope they hear them and take it to both heart and mind.
I am so honored to have met such fabulous voice for us. Good luck today!
you are a fucking rock star. testify!
gave me chills.
kudos and thanks for all you do, you amazing woman.
woooo!! So excited I took my pants off!
Beautiful, beautiful and oh so moving speech. And I get shivers thinking about the change you are hopefully helping put into motion.
xxxoooo
You are awesome. Thank you. I live in Atlanta so if the CDC gets more funding for this guesss who will be stalking them for a job in this area?!?!!
Now who has goosebumps (me…the answer is, ME!)
I wish I could be there to listen to you, cry with you, and support you the way you’ve supported all of us. xoxoxo
Thank you so much!
Thannk you for being our voice. Thank you for all you do.
I hope today went well.
thank you for being our voice today and every day. you are amazing.
Wow, wow, wow! Thank you for being our voice today and everyday.I’m so honored to know you. Will they show this on c-span ya think?
You Rock.
Awesome!
Thank you!
Thank you so much, Melissa, for sticking your neck out — and encouraging the rest of us to do the same. You ROCK!
Thank you for representing. Well done.
Thank you for being such a clear, strong voice for infertility advocacy.
Awesome, Mel. Thanks for being such a strong and vocal advocate for the infertility community.
I can’t wait to hear how it went.
Thank you. As always, your amazing words are unforgettable. They will hear each and every one today. xo
This Mel, **this** is why I made my video. This is why I want it to spread like hotcakes. I am so honored you have spoken on behalf of the ALI blogging community, and I thank you for your eloquence, your passion, and your strength. I hope they heard you loud and clear today.
I can’t thank you enough for speaking on our behalf!! Thank you so much! Thank you for being our voice!
Bless you for sharing this with us all Mel. Bless you for sharing our collective experience with the world.
Great speech!
I echo these sentiments. Thank you for speaking up for us.
HOORAY, MEL! YOU ROCK!!!
you made me cry. And feel hopeful. THANK YOU THANK YOU for your support, your energy, your words, your fighting, your honesty.
Thank you, Mel!
Very nice to meet you IRL today, Melissa! I think you did a great job speaking — your message was loud and clear, yet still very personal and heartwarming. It didn’t look like you were quaking in your 9 Wests at all!
Mel, I respect and appreciate you more that words can say. Thank you for shepherding our community with such passion and compassion. Thank you for speaking for all of us so powerfully. Thank you for being all that you are to all of us. I am indebted to you.
Great speech.
I’m so damned proud of you Mel! I got chills while I was reading your speech.
Awesome, just awesome.
I am so proud of you, Mel. Thank you for all you do for our community.
I hoped you stopped shaking in your 9 Wests, it’s wonderful!
Thank you! That is a beautiful speech. I hope it got through to them.
You rock!
how great. U said so much and there is still more to be said. Infertility coverage should be a mandate!!!! Make it like Massaachusettes!!!
You rock. Totally rock. I can’t wait to hear all the details of your day. Well, maybe I don’t need to know what you had for breakfast.
I have tears streaming down my face. This was absolutely amazing Mel. I hope that you had rapt attention of the lawmakers on the Hill today. I’m SO excited that the CDC appropriations went thru from the Advocacy Day last year and I can’t wait to see the National Action Plan in place! Thank you for being there to share your story.
Thank you, Mel, for giving us all such an incredibly smart, strong and passionate voice.
thank you for giving us a voice.
thank god that this administration seems to be moving towards and stressing people-centered care. perhaps it will make a difference for the IF guys and girls in the future…
you are a rock star! i am so proud of you cuz!
WOW You never cease to amaze me. i could not think of a better person to speak on my, our, behalf. Thank you Mel, this is BEAUTIFUL!
I am sure you wowed them with that speech.
Wonderful job, Mel! I wish I could have been in the audience cheering you on!
Thank you. I will pray that it melted the hearts and opened ears to hear the truth.
Mel, thank you so much for speaking for us while so many of us (myself included) are still hiding behind the secrecy of infertility. You give us a voice while we can’t speak.
Hooray for you!
Crying. At work. Thank you!
A huge thank you for everything. You are a shining star and a wonderful example to me as I am still trying to work out where I should stand and what I should say about my experiences. I hope that everything goes well, thanks again.
Mel that was perfecto. You rock, woman. How amazing. Really, really, amazing. Good for you!!!! Don’t you love that you have created this community that share, care, and support each other and most of all, you…. you deserve everything good.
the grey lady
Mel, thank you so much for speaking up for us! This is a wonderful, amazing speach. Now I need to go wipe the tears away that are seeping down my face.
Thank you. Just thank you.
That was a great speech. And what an opportunity! Not just for you, but for everyone who’s been through infertility.
When you do your post-trip roundup, I’d be interested to know who else was there and what else was said. Get a flavour for the whole message put out that day by everyone involved. Either here, or via linkage.
Bea
Absolutely amazing.
Awesome!
I have to say, reading this again today? Made me cry. THANK YOU for speaking on our behalf. Thank you for speaking about my sister. My friend D. For all of those who don’t have the access to the treatments they need to build their families.
xxx
Thank you for all you do Mel. You are literally a lifesaver. Without the ALI community you have created and kept together I don’t know where I would be. The land of IF is dark and lonely. It is so much brighter now because of you. Thank you for fighting for us!
Tears over here too. Thank you so much!!
Bravo. And thank you.
FABULOUS!!!!
Chiming in late to say that you are awesome, strong, and a wonderful advocate for our community. Thank you, Mel!
Thank you for sharing this! It’s so needed. What would I do without this blogging community and their generous support?
How incredibly AWESOME! I can’t wait to read about the responses you received and the proposed action taken! You do ROCK!
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