Tuesday, May 22, 2012

IVF and Ignorant Comments

I was moved to write this post when a friend on twitter (@babyhopeivf) mentioned that people in her office were discussing the news on IVF today that the age limit is being raised from 39 to 42 for women to have access to IVF on the NHS.

The discussion was along the lines of, the world is already overpopulated why bring more people into it. Sadly ignorant comments such a this I have heard all to often over the last few years. This is an ignorant statement not only because sometimes people need to have IVF to have a child due to infertility but also -  if they are going to have cancer treatment so they can preserve their fertility, are unable to have intercourse i.e. if they have a physical disability and same sex couples who want a family.

 Who are these ignorant people to decide who is allowed to have children. Well, if you want to go down that road.....

They wouldn't be saying this is they were in this situation desperate to be a family or if they had to witness the pain and heartache of someone they love going though it.

I guess us IVF folks see it from the another perspective. We see people popping kids out left right and centre when they can't take care of them or wont take care of them. People who have them and then abuse them. Who have unprotected sex daming the consequences and the children are put into care. Drug abusers who's children are born addicted and need to be weaned off a substance. I could go on.

My opinion may be controversial but I would hazzard a guess that anyone going through countless medications, tests, invasive procedures, heartache and loss to have a child would have suffered these thoughts on many occasion.  Watching Jeremy Kyle (I wont watch it) and witnessing these "I have 5 children and I don't know who any of the fathers are" , "had a bunk up behind a bus stop with the bloke who runs the chippie and his wife found out and now I'm preggo"

Well, it gets to you. Oh and don't even get me started on the "having a baby is a privillage not a rite" posse. Yes it is a privilege but why should we be denied trying to achieve it. Would you even think this if you were in our shoes?

No one who has a reasonable chance of conceiving should be denied the chance to have a family. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sunday, May 13, 2012

IVF: Our Four Year Wedding Anniversary

Today is our four year Wedding Anniversary. It is so bittersweet and I am struggling with such a range of emotions right now that I thought I would try to put it into words, as I am sure that many others on the IVF roller coaster must feel like this too.

On one hand I am so happy and grateful for what we do have and cannot believe that it has been four years already. I am so happy that I found the love of my life and married such an amazing man. It hasn't always been easy, especially on this IVF journey but I am so glad we are making it though and I do believe we are stronger for all our trials.

Through all the hard times that have faced us, the joy of getting pregnant on our first ICSI cycle to the miscarriage, to the failure of our second cycle, my love for Andy has not waned. In fact I would say that I love him all the more for it as this journey is showing me just how strong and supportive Andy is. His patience, strength, love and support never ceases to amaze me. Had we not been though this would I ever truly have known just how wonderful he is? Have these testing times just resulted to prove the strength of our love? Believe me, I do think about this every day and for these reasons and that I have this wonderful man by my side I feel loved, I love and I am happy.

On the other hand today is also filled with so much sadness. Four years ago today we stood side by side in a beautiful garden in Mauritius and said our vows. On that day we were filled with so much excitement as to what our future held and we could not wait to start our family. On this day four years ago I threw away my contraceptive pill and had butterflies of anticipation in my tummy just thinking of the day when a pregnancy test would show positive and how wonderful it would feel to tell Andy he was going to be a daddy. I wasn't too naive to think that only a month or so of "trying" and boom - positive test. But after a year of disappointment each month I knew something had to be wrong and well, if you have read my post "our story so far", you know what brings us to where we are today.

I look back at our wedding photos and again my emotions conflict, from "wow, that was so amazing" and "I can't believe that was four years ago" to "we had no idea we would be in this situation", we were so happy and excited then and had no idea of the pain we would be facing. Sometimes it just hurts to look at our smiling faces in the photos and remember what it was like to not feel this much pain. Sometimes I think I would just love to go back to that even for a day when we were just Chele and Andy and not an infertile couple.

 So as I sit here at 5am having been kept awake all night by these thoughts racing through my brain and struggling desperately to articulate them I am willing the happier side to win. Today we will celebrate our marriage, we will celebrate our love for each other and the strength we have found that we never knew we had. We will be grateful that we are together in this journey and that we have the courage to keep pushing through it as we are only still on this journey because we want to be on it together, working towards our dream. Despite everything, we still believe we can make our dream a reality. It is just taking us longer to get there, but we will get there.

Together we can make this dream come true and I hope and pray that this time next year I will be writing a completely different story at 5am because, instead of my restless mind, our baby is keeping me awake.


Wednesday, May 02, 2012

You couldn't eat this much veg in one meal..... Juice It!



I have liked juicing and making smoothies for a few years now but I guess as part of my Let's Get Healthy mission I am taking it a bit more seriously these days. Inspired by some of my friends on Twitter, TheDrGinger and Jason Vale I have really jumped into juicing over the last couple of months. I love vegetables anyway, especially green veg and I do eat veg at lunch and dinner but by juicing them I can consume so much more in just one sitting then I could in one day. Some of my friends have said they don't eat this much veg in 3 days! There is so much goodness in vegetables and I want to get the best from it without having to munch like a rabbit for hours every day. I made my favourite green juice today and thought I would take this opportunity to share it with you.

 I used the following ingredients which made approximately 1.5 pints of juice:


  • 3 stalks of celery 
  • 4 handfuls of spinach
  • Half a large Rommaine lettuce
  • Half of a very large cucumber 
  • 3 small apples
  • A quarter of a fennel bulb 
  • 2 handfuls of broccoli 
  • Half a lemon 

 I don't have any "rules" when it come to juicing. I buy a lot of fruit and vegetables each week and just mix it up a bit depending on what I fancy or what is left in the fridge at the time, for example last week I had some melon that needed to be used up so I bunged a bit of that in there to sweeten and compliment the green veg. It was yummy!  I am sure that when I have been having my glasses of green juice a day I feel more energised and my skin is clearer so they are definite benefits, it also helps that it tastes yummy!

 I often put in a capful of Aloe Vera juice which I buy from Holland and Barrett. Aloe Vera is good for your digestive tract, aids your immune system, is a pain reliever and reduces inflammation.  I have also been taking Chlorella and Spirulina supplements. These have countless benefits but I have heard of people taking it whilst doing IVF so I thought I would start getting it in my system for my next cycle. It helps with vitality too so that's always good!

Obviously I am not a nutritionist but I am just trying something that I feel may work for me and I do research supplements before I start taking them. I like to juice my veg but if I fancy a sweet treat or sometimes for a yummy weekend breakfast I will make a fruit smoothie. Banana, strawberry and date is a favourite in this house but I will save a smoothie post for another time. My next plan is to order Jason Vale's iPad app or book "Loose 7lbs in 7 days". I have heard a lot of great things about this and some of my friends have followed the plan. So I am looking forward to that week crammed with lots and lots of veg! I will keep you posted on how that goes.







 Now I'm off to enjoy my pint!











Take care everyone Chele Xxx