Christmas is almost here. My fifth one since trying to have
a baby. Five Christmases of no "First Baby" ornaments, no child waking us up
early in the morning to open presents or seeing what Santa brought them.
Before you stop reading this, thinking it to be just another infertile wah-wahing over
not having a baby for Christmas, I beg you to indulge me a little. Yes, I have no baby. I don’t have a glimmer
of a baby. There is a part of me that is certainly sad about that. There is a
part of me that would rather discuss said sadness and give you all the reasons
that this time of year pisses me off to be infertile. I think it comes from
five years of getting nowhere near overcoming infertility. (See? I’m starting to
discuss it.)
If you are still reading this, I admire you. No one wants to
hear depressing things in December.
I want to instead tell you what I am thankful for.
My mom just finished her last round of what we call "Shitty
Chemo of Seven Hells." She will start her "Less Shitty Chemo of Seven Hells" soon,
but the worst of the chemo will hopefully be over. (Side note: This is the
first time my mom has probably heard me call it that. She doesn’t swear as much
as I do.)
Before said Shitty Chemo, my sister and her husband drove
home from across the country early the day before Thanksgiving and stayed
overnight at my house. I had invited my parents over for a brunch, and ended up
completely surprising my mom with my sister walking out of my bedroom.
Seriously. It should have been a YouTube video watching my mom shriek and then
burst into tears hugging her.
I sent out some Christmas cards to women I found soon after
starting my blog
three years ago. I have no child, but I have made friends with
some of the best girls I could ever imagine. I sometimes ask myself if I
would
rather have had multiple children in alarming procession when we first
started
trying, or would I rather have been faced with the most heartbreaking
circumstances with numerous women who were right there to walk alongside
me? Try as I might to want the former,
the better part of me knows my life has been forever changed for the
good. If I
had everything I wanted, I never would have met my small group through
church.
I would never have flown to Texas to meet in person the girl who has
taught me
to hope when there seems to be none. I wouldn’t have various mugs,
ornaments, socks or journals if it weren’t for infertility bloggers
organizing gift exchanges
for each other.
My husband and I have grown closer. I hear stories of failed
marriages, of abuse, of falling out of love. But my husband and I, we are
strong. Is our marriage perfect? Ask me sometime about the righteous
holler-fests we’ve had over the years. No one, however, would argue that we
haven’t fought like hell for our family. Our future children, however they may
come, will never deny how much they were fought for.
I
still have days where I
tell Chris that if it weren’t for me, if he was with someone else, he
would
have children. He probably would have had a couple by now. I think it’s
impossible to not have those feelings sometimes. He tells me to please
stop
being dramatic, that he married me for me, not for my reproductive
ability. It’s his actions that prove it. He has seen me at my most
unlovable and he
choses to love me anyway. I’ve seen the relationships around me. We may
not
have children, but we have a great marriage. A marriage that won’t
crumble so
easily when things are hard. Infertility has taught me that.
So this Christmas is going to be OK. Will there be moments
when I want to cry over the unfairness of things? Hell yeah. But I have my mom
with me. My two sisters. My sisters in infertility to help me get through it. I
have the most amazing husband.
I think Christmas is going to be OK.Labels: Family, Inspirational, life, Marriage, mom.me, strength
