National Infertility Awareness Week

(Again, in lieu of "My Husband Rocks", I write on another topic since this week is designated as the Infertility Awareness Week. MHR will be back soon, I promise!)

A couple is considered infertile if they are unable to have a baby within a year of trying to conceive. Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples in the US - that is about 7.3 million infertile Americans. I have no statistics for other places but it is possible that the ratio averages out to that as well.

Some infertile couples succeed in having a baby with just a few "tricks". Some need the big guns of assisted reproductive techniques.

Meanwhile, no words nor videos can completely capture what infertility is and its effect on couples but I will try to attempt it anyway, because in order to make more people more aware about infertility, someone has to speak up.

Here is a video that tries to capture the emotions:


Some of you may think that "I will die for that" is overboard . You may be surprised that there are a lot of infertiles who do think that way, at one time or another.

Going through fertility treatments affects couples physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. Western fertility treatments are intrusive and involves a lot of hormonal rollercoaster which affects both the physical body and the emotional state. They also entail a huge investment without a high guarantee of results. But most of all, the journey to baby tests the faith of the people involved.

If you have friends and family who are on the infertility road, there are many ways you can support them. Here are at least 2 things that you can do:

• Learn how to support them. RESOLVE.com has plenty of information for friends and family.
• Sign the petition for a bill that requires all states cover infertility treatments.

Infertile couples are struggling with these potential losses:
1. Loss of control
2. Loss of individual genetic continuity
3. Loss of a jointly conceived child
4. Loss of the pregnancy and birth experiences
5. Loss of emotional gratification surrounding pregnancy and birth
6. Loss of an opportunity to nurture and parent a new generation

Simply speaking then, Christ said to "Love your neighbor as yourself." So even without reading through all the stuff in the above website, the key operative term is to be gentle and sensitive to those who are going through the infertility path.

As for us, we put our trust in the Lord...