Resolve to Know More

Yesterday started the beginning of National Infertility Awareness Week. Clearly, this week is an important week to me. This years theme is "Resolve to Know More" and I've adapted it to mean that I am going to continue to educate myself as I learn more about infertility but more-so I plan on educating others to know more.

People talk about illnesses like cancer. People do not talk about infertility. Why? It's as common, if not more common, than some cancers. People you encounter every single day are suffering with infertility. 1 in 8. 1 in 8 freaking people are or have struggled with infertility. Look around at work...at the mall...at church. 1 in 8. And most of these people suffer in silence. Why? Because they feel stigmatized when talking about their reproductive systems like its something to be ashamed of.

I chose NOT to suffer in silence. I wanted my voice heard and I wanted to be the voice to those people who were not able to speak on behalf of themselves. I don't hide behind my diagnosis but rather I embrace it and what its made me become, both good and bad. I am strong and jealous and empowered and hopeful and scared and uneasy and everything in between clearly.

Some people may view my posts as being too much information. To those people, I'll tell you that its not too much information that I am sharing at all. If anything, I'm not sharing enough information. I won't shy away from the nitty gritty of what I am going through. Some of it is awful and gross and heartbreaking. But its every bit of MY Story. Its every bit of MANY women's stories all over the world.

So this week I will educate. I will reflect on where I've been and where I still have to go.

For those of you wanting to read my posts during NIAW '13 you can read them here, here, here, here and here.

(And for those of you following and wondering, we officially have 6 babies on ice).