It’s National Infertility Awareness Week this week. And since my infertility journey lead me to this place, to going green, and to start this blog I owe it to myself and to everyone else walking this road to raise awareness and to #StartAsking how I can help others ease the heartache and pain.
To say this process is a struggle is a huge understatement. It’s not something anyone should have to go at alone. There are good days and there are very bad days, days where you aren’t sure you can face reality, days where you need someone to talk with, feel your emotions and to hear about your problems. Monthly, weekly, daily and minute-to-minute I have at some point ASKED myself these questions (and this is just the tip of the iceberg):
-“Why me??”
-“What did I do to deserve this?”
-“How did all my friends get so lucky?”
-“Why is my body failing me?”
-“Why do I feel so lonely?”
-“How are we going to afford this?”
-“Where can I find insurance that covers my treatments?”
-“How can my marriage handle this heavy weight?”
-“How can I add one more pill/supplement/prescription to my already overwhelming routine called life?”
-“What are the side effects and long term risks of these meds?”
-“How am I going to give myself that shot?”
-“How is my arm going to be able to handle one more blood draw?”
-“What excuse can I use to skip work this time? And are they going to let me? Am I going to get fired?”
-“How am I supposed to fit yoga/running/exercise into my schedule?”
-“Can I have a few more extra minutes in my day to meditate?”
-“How on earth do I manage to get 8 hours of sleep?”
-“How do I handle the raging hormones/breakouts/mood swings?”
-“What am I supposed to be eating? Pineapple? Kale? Dairy? Wheat? No Wheat?”
-“What can I do to manage the stress?”
-“What else can I possibly do?”
-“Can I just feel normal again?!?”
And you know what? I’m not the only one. So now I #StartAsking – “Did you know….
-That Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse (six months if the woman is over age 35) or the inability to carry a pregnancy to live birth.*
-That 1 in 8 U.S. couples of childbearing age are diagnosed with infertility. That’s 12% of couples asking the same things as I have above!*
-That 7.4 million women have received some sort of infertility related treatment.* That’s 7.4 million women that can relate to my experiences.
-That 1/3 of infertility diagnoses are attributed to the female, 1/3 are attributed to the male and 1/3 are a combination.*
-Fifteen states have either an insurance mandate to offer or an insurance mandate to cover some level of infertility treatment. Eight of those states have an insurance mandate that requires qualified employers to include IVF coverage in their plans offered to their employees: Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.* That is only 1/3 of states and 15% of states respectively.
-The Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not require coverage for infertility treatments. Those states with an infertility mandate that covers IVF may have chosen an Essential Health Benefits (EHB) benchmark plan that includes the IVF mandate. The EHB impacts the individual and small group markets only in each state.*
*Stats above and further information can be found HERE.
There are 7.4 million other women out there that can relate to me. That’s mind blowing! That’s 7.4 million women that can and should come together to support each other and help each other. We should band together to raise awareness about this disease so we can change perceptions and ways of thinking.
Now if are someone or know someone with infertility or are just inspired by this information you too should #StartAsking:
-“How can I help? What can I do? How does one person make a difference?”
Start by checking out Resolve.org’s NIAW website HERE for inspiration on how you can raise awareness.
This whole process is a huge unknown, a giant question mark at a seemingly never-ending sentence. So maybe by asking these questions, and then asking them again we can get to a place of knowledge, understanding, empathy, strength, acceptance and peace. Who’s with me?! #StartAsking
