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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be upset about yet another friend having a second, third baby when I can't

108 replies

pigletmania · 19/10/2010 14:11

I know that I may be vvvvu as we already have a beutiful little girl, but yet another of my friends has announced that they are expceting baby number 2 when we are still struggling to concieve. We have been ttc for 1.5 years, and had a m/c at Christmas of last year which made us very Sad. I just feel upset and angry that my body is letting me down badly. Everytime a pregnancy is announced in the news or with friends I feel upset and mildly hysterical, then get over it and forget about it until the next one is announced.

OP posts:
nappyaddict · 19/10/2010 18:57

You can be prescribed Clomid or Metformin after 6 months of trying.

NKinDXB · 19/10/2010 18:59

Fell pregnant with DS straight away, now expecting DC2 but took 2 years of trying. In that time so many friends had 2nds, even 3rds, every other mother at DS's pkaygroup, then preschool seemed to have a bump, and living in Middle East I met so many strangers from different cultures who felt completely comfortable grilling me as to why DS is only child and telling me I should have more - as if it was a choice! ... it's just horrible.

After 18 months I went to doctor and she found & treated small problem with my cervix. So of course then I got all excited but... still nothing!

For us I think the real issue was stress in our lives, moving overseas, job worries (ending in redundancy). We must have conceived the week DH finished at his awful job and had finally lined up something else. But knowing stress is the problem doesn't help - you can't control those kinds of things.

I really, really sympathise and hope that you have better luck soon. Do you see your doctor sooner rather than later.

Take care of yourself.

katiehellcatkitty · 19/10/2010 19:10

piglet - don't feel bad.
I only was able to read one more after you - from lovely df. Best wishes to you all, if I read the whole thread I'll be in bits.

The best to you all, I've tried and failed and now, hitting 40, single Smile

good luck to you all and this is meant with the best x

Duritzfan · 19/10/2010 19:20

Hi Piglet...

I'm so sorry - I have been exactly where you are now and I KNOW how much it hurts ...it sucks that something seemingly everyone else can do just doesn't happen for you ... I had ds via fertility treatment - was actually fairly straightforward ..then took four years to fall for dd... and now ten - yes ten ! years later I have finally stayed pg with my much longed for third...

It can happen ... we have done so much treatment and I ve gone through ten mcs.. I am now 36 weeks pregnant... so try and stay hopeful ... it can happen and it does happen ..and I will be hoping to see you fall pg very soon ..

unmumsnetty HUGS !

porcamiseria · 19/10/2010 19:21

bless. but honest 1.5 years is not that long. well it is to you, but not in fertility land. hang on in there

onceamai · 19/10/2010 19:32

YANBU and my heart goes out to you. DD was result of fifth pregnancy. Three and a half year gap which seemed enormous at the time. Looking back I can rationalise it. The two children I have are amazingly wonderful and if I hadn't gone through what I went through I would have different ones - certainly not dd and the thought is entirely unimaginable. Hang on in there - it's utterly beastly when everyone else is getting what you want so much and can't reach.

With love and empathy

messylittlemonkey · 19/10/2010 19:38

YANBU

We had problems with no2. Not conceiving, but trying to keep it. I kept having chemical pregnancies. I did lots of my own research and came to a couple of conclusions relating back quite specifically to my first (successful) pregnancy.

Anyway, DD2 was born in March this year, DD1 is five next week, so a 4.5 year gap.

We weren't desperate for a second child when we began ttc, but as soon as we started having problems, I became very keen and was jealous of friends who all seemed to be having second children around the time we were having mcs.

Good luck, it can and does happen!

Duritzfan · 19/10/2010 19:39

I love that onceamai ..thats how I kept going through the mcs... by thinking that the children I have would not be here if I had succeeded in the previous pregnancy ..

its a way of staying sane isnt it ?

oh I wish that everyone in the world who is feeling the pain of infertility could wake up christmas morning to find themselves 9 months pregnant .....

if I had a magic wand ....xxxxx

ginger2000 · 19/10/2010 19:55

YANBU although I know why you feel that you are being as I too used to feel I had no 'right' to be sad about other people's pregnancies when I already had a child but couldn't conceive another. I think the only time I actually cried about it was when someone I met at the post natal group i attended after my DD's birth announced her that she was having her 4th child!

Like some of the other posters, I have now been blessed after 2 1/2 years of ttc (and pretty much giving up to the point of relocating to take up a great new job!) with another gorgeous daughter so there are some positives out there - I hope it happens for you but I would suggest getting yourself to the docs for basic checks. It makes you feel like you are doing something proactive and you never know, you could be one of those stats (like me) that fall pg whilst waiting for a fertility appt or treatment.

Good Luck.

BEWITCHEDnod · 19/10/2010 19:56

Piglet - just wanted to say that I feel for you. We have a lovely lovely gorgeous and wonderful DS who was conceived immediately we chucked the johnnies out.

We've been trying for DC2 for a year now and every bloody person in the entire world is pg with their second child.

I know a year is not very long, but it feels like forever, and it feels like it's never going to happen and that I'm a barren wasteland.

I don't know why it's not happening - it was so quick with DS I assumed it would happen quickly this time around too.

The worst thing is family members keep waggling their eyebrows at me and asking when DS will have a little brother or sister. I chuckle and say 'when we're ready' when what I really want to say is 'I don't fucking know' and SCREAM loudly.

I do feel lucky for having DS. I look at him every day and feel overwhelmed by how much I love him. But I also spend a lot of time feeling overwhelmed with sadness that DC2 is so reluctant to put in an appearance. Then, of course, I feel overwhelmed with guilt.

TheFowlAndThePussycat · 19/10/2010 19:58

YANBU, it's grim isn't it? I'm in the unusual position that whilst afaik I'm perfectly capable of having more children (dd1 3yrs, dd2 17mnths) I mustn't because of the high risk of a repeat of the complications that could have killed (maybe almost did kill) me & dd2 Sad. I'm so lucky to have my gorgeous dds but the picture in my head was always of a big bustling family with lots of noise & fun (not that the dd's aren't fun & the good lord knows they are noisy Grin). It's very hard to let go of that picture & graciously accept the gifts I've been given. But I'm getting there.

I hope that your luck turns soon, I think I'm going to have to send some unmumsnetty hugs too!

onceamai · 19/10/2010 20:05

Duritzfan - it's not how I got through the miscarriages - it was utter and absolute hell. But 14, 13, 12 years later it's a way of rationalising and putting it in perspective. I would have loved to have had the two boys I know I lost inbetween - one very late - my way of coping is that if those tragedies hadn't happened I would not have DD and that NOW NOT THEN BY ANY MEANS IS UNIMAGINABLE. I'm not glad it happened but I cannot imagine now a life without dd and it wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Wheelybug · 19/10/2010 20:32

Been there too - two years of trying including 1 m/c (in the first month of trying). Its a terrible time and nothing anyone can say can make it feel any better. I ended up with a just over 4 year gap, when I'd planned 2, but so far its working out very well (dd2 is 19 months).

I too would say go and see your doctor now - even if you don't take it further to hospital they can at least run some basic blood tests. And then at least you are in the system.

I have the Zita West book awaiting the charity shop so you are welcome to it free if you'd like it - CAT me your address if you do (or I can CAT you if you don't have it).

popsycal · 19/10/2010 20:37

PIglet
I remember the feeling well.

We were notTTCwith ds1 but it took around 20months of 'not being careful' to conceive.

When ds1 hit 1, I was desperate to have another. It took almost a year of properly trying to get pregant and I remember that horrible feeling every month. I am sure there will be threads on here from me spanning 2003-2004 about it Blush

However, I then got pregnant with ds3 by what was virtually an immaculate conception (using a condom and only one 'opportunity' to get pregnant Wink - it is amazing how your body can change. I hope it does for you.

popsycal · 19/10/2010 20:38

wheelybug you can inbox nowrather than CAT....

Wheelybug · 19/10/2010 20:47

Oops I am sooo behind the times Grin

popsycal · 19/10/2010 20:48

dont worry wheelybug.....I still add links to posts in the old fashioned manner.....

Leo35 · 19/10/2010 20:59

It's still dreadfully hard to cope with infertility, sub-fertility and miscarriage with or without children.

We had IVF to have both the DSs, and I found the second time around just as difficult, but for different reasons. The nurse at our centre reassured me that this was entirely natural to feel like that.

With regard to other's news about pregnancy and children my emotions have ranged from simple happiness at their news to raging grief and sadness and really rather unwelcome horrible feelings of envy and jealousy. It's a dreadful set of feelings and it's hard acknowledging that.

I had the Zita West book (the way of porridge and soya milk to reduce my high FSH was not the way forward for me!), Toni Weschler (check those temperature charts!) and also had acupuncture. The latter was not specifically for fertility, rather to help me feel better generally - I was at a very low ebb and crying all the time. Loved the acu!!

Take care of yourself and I hope that your dearest is granted.

Leo35 · 19/10/2010 21:00

Sorry about that _ dearest wish. Oh dear! I hope that I'm in better form on the Philosophy in schools thread.....

SE13Mummy · 19/10/2010 21:24

You're not being unreasonable at all; until someone has been there themselves they will never truly 'get' just how heartbreaking so called 'secondary infertility' is. It's truly gutting and somehow having conceived, carried and delivered one child just serves to make being unable to a subsequent time even harder, not least because many of the explanations behind fertility aren't so relevant for secondary infertility.

I have 2DDs 4.5 years apart. It's not the gap I would have chosen but I wouldn't have chosen the various miscarriages and the ruptured ectopic either. I reached a point when I began to wish that we'd never had DD1 somehow feeling that if we'd never had her we could have been a childless couple who went off and did all those things we did pre-children instead of being surrounded by pregnant people and ever-expanding families. It was a low, low time in my life and for a while I desperately hoped that I wouldn't wake up so as to avoid the questions about when we'd have a 2nd DC and to avoid the complete shame I felt at wishing away my very precious DD1 Sad. I stopped being me and I hated every single minute of that time.

After the last miscarriage I was referred by a kind, understanding nurse to an obstetrician in the recurrent miscarriage clinic. She also advised me to change my job. I did that (well, location).

The obstetrician gave me hope and treated me in the most wonderfully human way ever. She arranged for me to have blood tests and various other things that I didn't really need but, because there was anecdotal evidence that pointed to an increased likelihood of conception after the procedure she let me have them done. When I got pregnant for the 5th time in a year she scanned me fortnightly, at my convenience.

DH and I had agreed that whatever the outcome of pregnancy 5 it would be the last and he would have a vasectomy so we could move on as a family of 3. We'd already booked Christmas in Lapland (the ectopic had happened at Christmas) and starting doing things that were only really do-able/affordable with a single child. Life changed when we started celebrating our family unit as it was instead of missing what it wasn't. It wasn't an overnight thing by any means but being able to do it helped. I also became braver about telling people that we couldn't have any more children if they were rude enough to ask. Being definite helped me, I didn't really care how it made them feel because I was the one living my life, not them.

We are now a family of four but I still shed tears over those dark days. DD2's name means 'wished for child' and her middle name, Hope.

I don't envy you the situation you're in; it's a grim one and one that threatens to overtake everything else that life offers. My only advice would be to plan for life as three and do things you mightn't do if there were four of you or if you were pregnant. It's hard, unbelievably hard and it's not unreasonable to wish that it wasn't.

Hanoigal · 19/10/2010 21:35

I think YANBU at all. My DH and I waited 10 years for our beautiful DS who we adopted last year. All my 5 brothers and sisters had at least one child (and some more) in that time as did friends, workmates etc. It was terrible. In that time, when I read threads by people who had one child and couldn't have another, I have to say that sometimes I felt angry - they had one! I had none! Why weren't they grateful?
Now I would so love another but due to our age, and where we live and other factors, it just won't happpen. I am so sad. The people I adopted with are all adopting again. I am happy for them - but sad for me and for my DS. I am gradually coming to accept it but I think it is understandable that when you have a beautiful child that you love that you would want another. For them as much as for yourself.
Well, you may be lucky and I really hope you are. All the best luck. And don't beat yourself up over feelings that this thread shows are normal and natural.

mummytowillow · 19/10/2010 21:38

Piglet YANBU, I struggled for four years, 6 cycles of IVF and a MC later and we finally got our daughter, but I still yearn for another baby Sad. I do count my blessings that I got what I wanted, but I'm now single and think I'm too old for another one (41)?

Have you thought about acupuncture? Just a thought, I swear the three months of acupuncture helped me with the IVF treatment? I also know of other people who have had their cycles regulated etc with acupuncture?

I totally feel for you and wish you lots of luck xxxx

Mishy1234 · 19/10/2010 21:38

Piglet- I am so sorry you are going through this.

We had 8 years of infertility treatment to conceive DS1 and then DS2 came along unassisted not long after. I do know the pain of infertility, but didn't have to face the added outside pressures that go along with secondary infertility (ridiculous comment from those who should know better).

I hope that things have a positive outcome for you soon.

metromum · 19/10/2010 22:24

YANBU. My dd1 came easily and dd 2 after a lot of trying and two mc. Waiting for dd2 was a bleak time. I got increasingly anxious (irrationally) that dd1 would be lonely growing up without a sibling, was mad with envy at people's small gaps between children that I clearly wasn't going to have
.

In a way I regret now that I was so sad and missing a wonderful part of DD1's toddlerhood.

I also now see that being an only child certainly isn't the end of the world, and there are indeed many pros, especially in the current economic climate!

The age-gap thing isn't an issue either - siblings are siblings however big the gap and possibly there is less rivalry with a bigger gap.

The anxious and depressing wait for dd2 did mean that her final arrival was SUCH a joyous occasion and made me fully appreciate how lucky I was to have children at all.

Wishing you lots of happiness Piglet x

hester · 19/10/2010 22:38

Just to add my sympathies, piglet. It took me over a decade to get my two children - it was so painful. I wish you all the luck in the world x

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