This weekend, my body dysmorphia and disordered eating thoughts intensified after a selfie-spiral at a friend’s wedding. Click to read more about how I cultivated self-compassion and quietly rebelled against my old patterns…
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Cory and I attended a required, 4-hour IVF introductory class this week at our clinic. In this post, I share the top 10 takeaways from this class, including information about the IVF process, IVF success rate, and IVF cost. Click link to read more!
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Ashley shares her infertility journey through multiple miscarriages, a unicornuate uterus diagnosis, infertility treatments (IUI), and the eventual birth of her daughter and sons! Click link to read more…
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I learned a new word recently: Favicon. If you already know what a Favicon is, then you just went up 7.4 cool points in my book. Imagine me slow clapping for you on the other side of your screen…
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Where do I start this story, a story whose author was only 9-years-old when she wrote the first page?
Do I start near the beginning in the bottom bunk bed of my shared childhood bedroom?…
It took me a long time to decide if this was a story I wanted to ever share. For me, sharing the wonderful, beautiful things in my life has always been easy. I am sure my openness about these things makes many people assume I am a completely open book…
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A banana-inspired story about how I deal with my anxiety and self-imposed, unrealistic expectations.
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When you lose a baby, there is an awful, deafening, suffocating silence that envelopes the delivery room. Then it slowly seeps to every corner of what’s left of your life, taking over your home, your car, your place of work and most painfully, your heart…
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After a recent planning meeting with my reproductive endocrinologist (RE), I share what my six stages of IVF will look like (in newbie-friendly language). For me, a gal with unicornuate uterus and diminished ovarian reserve, these stages will include ovarian supplements, ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, diagnostic tests, uterus prep, and the frozen embryo transfer (FET).
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I got caught in the rain last night. Karli and I pulled into the parking lot near the REI downtown. We were there to exchange the Chacos she and Aleks lovingly bought me last month (see "We Surprised Kristen" for the full Chacos story)…
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I feel out of control this weekend, and it’s manifesting through obsessive, perfectionistic thoughts. The calm of my morning routine I described in last week’s blog post “How I Stay Here, Now” has vanished. None of my strategies work today, and I’m spiraling…
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She’s always been there in my life
My oldest daughter, my best friend
She made her glorious appearance
When I was 23 years old
When I became a mom…
Today, I’m killing it. Pill box filling. Office Depot shopping. Medical bill filing. This girl, like the late afternoon July sun, is on fire. Thank God. I needed some productivity in my life…
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I went to bed last night with that Christmas-eve excitement in my bones. “I get to wake up early and write!” I thought to myself as I popped my Melatonin. As the sleepy tingles set into my cheeks and eyelids, I thought about tomorrow…
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“Clomid” is a bad word. It’s even worse than “monkey.” For those who know me well, especially Kristen circa 2004, you know that one of my favorite expletives is “monkey.” Stub your toe on the foot of your bed? “Monkey!”…
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I’m Stephanie, and I have unexplained secondary infertility. That’s an actual diagnosis for around 25% of those who have issues getting pregnant and staying pregnant--unexplained infertility, aka “We don’t know what’s happening.”…
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I laid there in the hospital bed in the emergency room. The pain had subsided for a few minutes. During the pain, the world was a blur. I writhed and twisted. I moaned. Eyes squeezed shut. The pain dominated all…
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My name is Kristen, and I’m a unicorn. Really, I promise. Ask my doctor if you don’t believe me. Six weeks ago, I was diagnosed as being a unicorn…
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