I am in my 30s, married to a good man, a stable job and a lovely home. I am so fortunate and happy with the life we have. We have been together a very long time. We have no children. In 2022 I came off birth control I’d been on since my teens and realised it had been disguising pcos symptoms. My period didn’t come back for almost a year. It’s been a struggle to accept that I have fertility issues and learning what PCOS means for my long term health. I was never 100% sure if I wanted children, but to be faced with the uncertainty of being able to if I do want to has been difficult.
In the last few years we have both got new jobs, been promoted within
those, moved house and booked wonderful holidays. But what I’m really struggling with is every time I say I have good news or am obviously about to share something, my friends, family and in-laws all jump in first assuming I’m pregnant. Recently my sister made this assumption and began to well up with tears in her eyes - before I quickly set her straight and told her the (seemingly) trivial news in comparison. As we’ve been together for a long time there’s been years of assumptions, which I used to laugh off - but now it feels different. I don’t want to make it awkward asking them to stop assuming it as to be honest I don’t want to disclose I’m having fertility issues. I have lost count of how many times it has been assumed I’m pregnant now. It’s really getting me down, as now I am faced with I never being able to share this news they’re all so clearly expecting. It also makes whatever I want to share feel tarnished - like as whatever I have shared isn’t what they were expecting to hear, it’s disappointing to them.
Has anyone else been through this and how did you deal with it?