When I try to figure out where I fall on the scale of how open I am about my infertility, I figure I am somewhere in the middle. Our immediate family and close friends know exactly what we went through and then the next level of family knows that we have had some struggles but don't know the details. People of facebook may have figured things out here and there from when I have posted during fertility awareness week but in general we don't talk about it on a regular basis. As a result when we have told people we were expecting we got a super excited response from the people who knew what was going on and the other people gave us the normal "oh that's great that you are having your second child" response.
One place I didn't expect the super excited response was my dentist's office. As any of you who have taken some of these hormones know...they can really mess up your gums...just like pregnancy does. So over the past couple years, my fertility struggles have been discussed with the dentist and a couple of the dental hygenests both in regards to updating my current medications as well as how it was affecting my dental health. About 18 months ago, it came up because the Clomid had been brutal to my gums, 12 months ago we were in the middle of our IVF cycle and 6 months ago, I had just finished my surgery and was preparing for our FET. So since they know all this information, they were all super congratulatory when I walked into the office visibly pregnant yesterday. I don't consider these people friends...I only see them twice a year. I have in no way developed the kind of relationship with them that I have with nurses at my RE or OBs office and hald the time I can't remember their names and yet it was so obvious how much they cared. I never realized how much they cared while I was struggling but now I realize that my support circle was even bigger than I could have imagined.
How wonderful that your dentist's office has such caring staff!!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading (and relate to!) the different levels of people who know/don't know about your infertility issues.
:)