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Infertility

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The mind numbing boredom of infertility

999 replies

icy121 · 14/09/2015 20:16

Two years. Month in, month out, and no change. I'm finding a huge part of this whole nightmare is trying to cope with the boredom. I bore myself incessantly googling variations of the same question, staying up late at night to the glow of an iPad, reading more and more obscure medical research abstracts. Asking my doctor friend if I can borrow her password so I can see whether the BMJ has any updates from last week. It's fucking monotonous. Nowhere else in my life have I had to strive so hard to get absolutely nowhere.

I don't talk to friends about it, they don't want to hear it and frankly I've cried too many times when it's come up for them to have any sympathy left. They're bored. So we just ignore and and plod on, except I'm not bloody plodding on. I'm wallowing side to side and achieving absolutely fuck all. And secretly dreading the fact they're all getting married and their babies will be on the horizon. I'm going to lose my friends.

I decided not to put my life on hold, got a new job in a small firm, booking holidays but it all feels very empty because what I'm really doing is waiting. And it's so fucking tedious.

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somyasharma · 22/12/2015 08:57

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lugo40 · 23/12/2015 11:13

please can i join this group!! i have been reading this and feel overcome with the need to high five and hug you all because its like reading my own thoughts and situations!! people are insanely bad at empathy for infertility - i am trying to decide at the moment what the most common response - complete silence or trying to put a positive spin on everything...whats definitely not the most common is the empathic support of a friend who genuinely cares- i have had a few but not many.

The worse for me has been family. I am so unbeleiveably disappointed in how my mum has reacted that i actually cant bare to talk to her. I just listen to her mindless ramblings of what my neices and nephews are up to. The initial conversation went like this:

me "we've had some bad news"
mum: "what?"
me "we may never be able to have children"
mum "oh, why?"
me "looks like DH may be infertile"
mum"oh, i assumed it would be you that couldnt. did i show you what i bought your nephews for xmas?"

What the actual FFFFFFF?! i told her that 5 months ago. Shes not mentioned it since.

Fractiousfractions · 23/12/2015 13:21

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lugo40 · 23/12/2015 13:56

Oh I really like that thank you! It's so helpful. I'm going to send that round to certain people. Thank you

loopylou1984 · 23/12/2015 18:47

Fractious that is exactly what everyone should know. Now how can I make everyone I know read it without telling them about us....

karlafox · 23/12/2015 19:19

Ditto sammylou!.. I might turn it into a text and pretend I thought it up myself.lol.

So I guess Christmas is here guys!
Not sure how I feel about it all really. I usually can't get enough but just feel abit naff this year really. Especially since i keep getting told 'Christmas is for kids' so I wonder, for those of us who don't have them, should we just lock ourselves away like pathetic failures?!
Do do we have an agreement we will all eat drink and get very merry on Christmas Day??. Not doing this on my own!
Am sure I will be sad enough to check into MN at some point to moan about how pathetic my life feels and see how you are all doing Xmas Smile

Lauraqc · 23/12/2015 19:51

Alright all?

Fabulous fact sheet thanks - have printed and will give to my mum when I see her...lugo mine is pretty much on par with yours:

Me: 'why haven't you asked us anything about us TTC in the last 2.5 years'?
Mum: 'I didn't want to upset you. I don't know why you haven't adopted yet'
Me: 'erm because we'd like to try and have some treatment first...?' (adoption for us is a bit of a last hope thing not an option in the mix)
Mum: 'but treatment is going to be painful'
Me: 'as opposed to 18 years of wondering whether our adopted child wants to abandon us and try and find his/her birth family'
Mum: 'oh. Yes. I suppose so.'

Fucking amazing. BTW she's asked once how the fertility clinic open evening went 3 weeks ago and nothing since...

Fractious I've also been duped into over-sharing and it sucks chocolate balls. I find that I've distanced myself so much this year from friends with children and although it upsets me I just want to shut them all out. Stupid thing is that once we get our offspring (possibly) I'll be inundated with tips and advice and it'll go back to how it was; yet I'll always feel resentful that they weren't there for me in the shit times. The past year has been crap as my dad has dementia and I've had to cope with him going into a care home and supporting my mum also.

I can't wait for 2016 - New Year brings a fresh start and new hope to us all xxx

loopylou1984 · 23/12/2015 21:16

Karla - I'll join you... I'm going to try anyway. Christmas is not 'for kids'. It is for everyone, and we shouldn't be made to feel like failures, like we don't deserve a good time.

Laura/lugo - sorry for your parents lack of empathy/understanding. My MIL came out with'well you might not need IVF, you might just need some fertility treatment' GrinGrin this was after our IVF meds were delivered! X

Pebbles086 · 23/12/2015 22:43

Welcome new ladiesGrin
I haven't bothered telling my DM a thing or my very close friends. I don't be believe in a problem shared is a problem halved, quite the opposite... Your problems double!! Plus my DM with end up telling half her friends Angry

Just wanted to wish you all a merry Christmas. We may not have babies or be preggo this year but hopefully we can all have a lovely Christmas with our lovely partners. Enjoy drinking, eating lots and watching trashy tv Xmas Grin catch up v. Soon xxxxx

PotatoesPastaAndBread · 24/12/2015 12:25

Hi all

Back with the parents for xmas. Trying to hide the boxes of drugs in afridge full of turkey and cheese and sneak them out every night without my mum noticing and yelling "do you need something? Can I help? What do you want? " Good plan to sit in pjs taking drugs all xmas. Bad idea to try and do that subtly in a house full of people.

Started injections last night. Think I'm getting it right! Living on a diet of mince pies and Quality Street.

Merry Christmas everyone!

CatnipMouse · 24/12/2015 12:33

Nice one PPB! did you know that some of the stim drugs don't need to live in the fridge once they've first been used? Check the package / info obviously, but that might help you to be discreet?

Laura and Lugo, so sorry to hear about disappointing / enraging comments from others. Some people are just unbelievable.

Wishing you all a chilled out low stress Christmas, hopefully without any twatty comments from any relatives or friends xx

BipBippadotta · 24/12/2015 18:44

Merry Christmas! Can I join this thread too, please? This seems to be the one place in the world where nobody busts your chops for being 'negative' or just a bit fucking sick of it all. I've been lurking for a while and it's brought me some much-needed dark laughs. It's also been really helpful to see some comments by people who went through all manners of hell without having the longed-for baby - and lived to tell the tale with sense of humour intact.

I'm 38, so reaching panic stations now. Over the past 4 years I have had 2 years' ttc & getting nowhere; miracle pregnancy ending in freak fatal umbilical cord rupture at 40 wks; and 2 mmcs in the past 6 months. I get a lot of, 'chin up! At least you know you can have stillbirths and miscarriages!' Because a dead baby is definitely better than no baby. All I'm after is a blastocyst really. The rest is just gravy.

Dh and I are having Christmas on our own, as our parents are needed far away by our effortlessly fecund siblings and their mobs of adorable children. Friends are all busy with their own families, or have been sufficiently cunty about our losses that we can't face seeing them. DH is not drinking, for sperm health reasons, which makes things that little bit less festive than I even thought possible. We are waiting for tidings of comfort and joy in the form of karyotype results from the fertility clinic, while we watch Gremlins and gorge ourselves on Stilton and After Eights and periodically weep.

Roll on 2016!

Sorry - this was a long post! And I've not even hit the bottle yet today.

I am loving the story of concealed IVF drugs behind turkeys. I wish you all the best Christmas possible, plenty of mince pies, and hopefully a little bit of love & understanding from those close to you.

Fractiousfractions · 24/12/2015 18:46

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loopylou1984 · 24/12/2015 21:12

Fractious - think I need to join you on the alcohol... Our 4th niece was born today and so Christmas will now be full of 'isn't she lovely' 'so pleased to have another grandchild' 'd sil did so well' 'they're so glad she wasn't born on Xmas day' etc etc. gahhhhh! Xx

loopylou1984 · 24/12/2015 21:44

And I feel awful that I'm thinking the above instead of feeling only happy for them. Xx

Lauraqc · 24/12/2015 22:59

Merry Christmas everyone!

Not hit the bottle yet just wallowing in sadness and guilt at the fact I keep snapping at DH for reasons he probably doesn't even want to find out!

Had a cry writing out my Christmas cards distinctly remembering doing the same last year thinking 'it could be from 3 of us next year' and being faced with the bear-faced fucking truth now.

I'll have a laugh thinking about this thread if I'm struggling tomorrow...! Hope we all get thru it relatively unscathed xxx

karlafox · 24/12/2015 23:13

Welcome newbies!
Merry Christmas everyone.. Let's get shitfaced Xmas Blush

cooperG · 24/12/2015 23:33

Happy Christmas ladies, here's to this Christmas not possibly being able to be as shit as last year, and babies for us all in 2016? Pfft...

Thanks to you all for providing more support than anyone I know in real life Xmas Sad

tigerdog · 25/12/2015 08:09

Oh bip that's bloody awful. Sorry to hear you've been through all that shit and that people have been spectacularly crap at responding to your loss and heartbreak.

laura I hear you. Was in a foul mood yesterday. Trying to be cheery today.

karla Wine cheers!

Fractious Wine to you too! Wine is the answer!

sammyFlowers I've been hearing only that for the past three weeks since my nephew was born. If my dad posts another 'grandchildren are the most amazing blessing' thing on FB I'll throttle him.

coop I seriously hope so, this is my third Christmas of disappointment and I can't take another one.

Am having a freak 31 day + cycle when I'm usually 27-28 days. Of course poas but bfn - think it could have been a chemical that had already faded away. Lots of twinges in lower back but still no af. Weird.

Anyway, Merry Christmas all! Here's to a better 2016. I'm getting married, and starting a new job - first conversation at work in the new year will be 'I quit' followed by 'I need to use the generous 5 days IVF leave' in our policy. First appointment on 12th Jan. Cycle 2. So whatever happens, I feel like I'm giving 2016 a good go.

Fractiousfractions · 25/12/2015 22:18

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Lauraqc · 26/12/2015 09:36

Hope everyone had a good day? I was doing ok til about 1.30pm when I got baby-bombed by one of my best friends - she had been trying for some time though - by a photo of her and her DH with the positive test. Christmas miracle my arse. Cue meltdown and tears in front of my mum, and entire of DH's family who were very sympathetic. I then strapped myself by iv drip to prosecco and got hammered at the table.

Rest of day was fine, making the best of it blah blah blah but I did get a Mulberry purse which I'd been coveting. Yay!

Fractiousfractions · 26/12/2015 10:15

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PotatoesPastaAndBread · 26/12/2015 17:46

Hi ladies. Well, some of you are having some really shocking Christmasses! That's a lot of baby bombs! Oh and the irony that you feel guilty when you drink to forget because you're supposed to avoid alcohol. bippa so sorry to hear your story, what a nightmare. Welcome. You won't get misplaced "advice" here, and you can rant as much as you like.

I got busted taking my drugs out of the fridge yesterday. We'd just watched a film about drug running in South America. My mum saw me take the bag into the loo and asked what it was. I thought seeing as it's Christmas I'd explain. I hesitated and said "it's drugs". Haha, she laughed and thought I was joking because of the film. Doh.

Cheers all Wine

loopylou1984 · 26/12/2015 18:20

Oh Laura, you poor thing. I hope the IV helped somewhat. I had a similar meltdown timing tbh. Our niece was born Xmas eve and dhs parents spent yesterday with them. So this morning when we arrived at their house we had a detailed description of everything the baby did and wore, how well dbil was doing 'he's a natural' etc etc etc. I actually thought at one point that I was going to have to go for a walk on my own before I snapped at dmil. They then seemed to remember about us at about 2pm and asked if we had considered acupuncture and offered to pay for it for me. Well that did it and I burst in to tears. It was overall a nice day though, and we're home chilling just the two of us now.
Hope everyone has made it through. Xx

icy121 · 27/12/2015 18:51

Baby bombs, all family over at ours, ended in disaster - eastenders style shouting match, people leaving at 5am Boxing Day. Just.... Fuck this shit.

Also - shit like this. So unnecessary.

The mind numbing boredom of infertility
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