PETA Responds and They Just Don't Get It

Click here to jump to the list of participating blogs with open letters to PETA.

Seriously? PETA just doesn't have a clue.

I did in fact send my Open Letter to PETA yesterday to Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA. Color me shocked when I actually received a response from a real-live human being: Ms. Carrie Snider, Special Projects Coordinator for PETA.

Here it is:

---

FROM: Carrie Snider [CarrieS@peta.org]
TO: Me
DATE: Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 2:50 PM
SUBJECT: RE: An Open Letter to PETA re: "Win a Vasectomy"
mailed-bypeta.org

Dear Ms. Zoll,

Ms. Newkirk is currently traveling and unable to respond, so I am answering your letter on her behalf.

While we recognize that infertility is a difficult issue for many people, we continue to support adoption of human children and companion animals alike. With nearly 7 billion people on the planet, and a crisis of vanishing resources, it is crucial-- for humans and animals -- that we curb our reproductive habits.

Respectfully,
Carrie Snider
Special Projects Coordinator
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

---

How kind of you to respond, Ms. Snider. Unfortunately, you failed to address about 99% of what I had to say in my original letter. Perhaps I need to clarify:

---

FROM: Me
TO: Carrie Snider [CarrieS@peta.org]
DATE: Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 3:40 PM
SUBJECT: Re: An Open Letter to PETA re: "Win a Vasectomy"
mailed-bygmail.com

Good afternoon Ms. Snider,

Thank you for your prompt response; I was fully expecting my email to float into the ether.

While adoption is certainly a wonderful option for many families, it is a family building resolution, not a cure for a prolific global disease. The WHO estimates infertility may impact as many as 1 in 4 women globally. And yet, there are many who believe infertility is not a disease, despite official statements from leading health organizations like the WHO. Your response to me confirms this as you refer to infertility as merely a "difficult issue." There is a level of cultural silencing and shaming around infertility that events like National Infertility Awareness Week seek to combat.

The "Win a Vasectomy" campaign from your organization only compounds the work we have to do to dispel this cultural shaming and exacerbates tired, canned responses to the issue of infertility. Overpopulation as justification fails to respond to a legitimate medical disease and invalidates the emotional and physical experiences of 7.3 million people in the US alone.

Additionally, I should not have to "curb" my reproductive "habits" - for an organization that concerns itself with animals, it seems to be PETA line to only have a rudimentary understanding of basic animal biological imperative. Reproduction is hardly habit; it is animal instinct. For humans, it is both right and privilege.

PETA's campaign misses the mark on so many levels and has left me and hundreds of others who have since read my blog today hurt and disgusted that PETA would stoop as low as to insult and demean a medical patient population as vast as the infertility community.

I hope Ms. Newkirk can find the time to respond, as this campaign is not only a mockery of everything that National Infertility Awareness Week seeks to promote, but is a cruel execution of a kitsch promotional concept at the expense of millions of patients for whom infertility is no laughing matter.


~Keiko Zoll

---

Again, I honestly didn't think I'd receive a response. Oh that Carrie, she's a fighter! She even pulled the "I'm making this sound like an apology without actually apologizing" card!

---

FROM: Carrie Snider [CarrieS@peta.org]
TO: Me
DATE: Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 5:07 PM
SUBJECT: RE: An Open Letter to PETA re: "Win a Vasectomy"
mailed-bypeta.org

Dear Ms. Zoll,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this issue. I’m afraid Ms. Newkirk is traveling, but I want you to know that your concerns are heard. I think we both have important points, and I share your concern for the sensitivities of would-be parents. Please know that our intention was not at all to mock, but to push for an overall lower birth rate for all humans and companion animals.

I can see that this is very painful for you and your community, and for that we’re sorry. I hope we can share a vision of a future where a sustainable human and animal population means no need for such a contest.

Sincerely,
Carrie Snider
Special Projects Coordinator
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

---

So... PETA is sorry that this is painful for me and that I've been offended... but they're not sorry for their campaign. They're not sorry for insulting and invalidating the medical conditions of millions of men and women. Their intention was not to mock... and yet they managed to do so in perhaps one of the most insensitive, asinine ways possible. Thanks PETA, for your passive-aggressive non-committal apology without really apologizing.

Well, I guess it's the sorriest response I could have expected.

Stay classy, PETA. Oh wait, this is a concept completely lost on you.

---

SOLIDARITY: Letters/Posts to PETA 
Openly Condemning the "Win a Vasectomy" Campaign

Infertility and Raising Awareness

We are more than our infertility. 

When we think of infertility, sometimes we think about all the things it has taken away from us: our fertility, our sense of control in our lives and of our bodies, sometimes even our hopes and plans. Infertility can make us weary, stressed, sad, numb, frustrated, jaded, angry, confused, scared, restless... the list goes on. For some, infertility leaves a sense of emptiness inside them. For others, infertility is less a sense of emptiness but more of a constant reminder that shadows them wherever they go.

I have said this on multiple occasions and I'll say it again: we are more than our infertility.

Often, when I speak of my own infertility journey, I start with saying "Infertility has robbed us of the chance to build our family the old-fashioned way." It's true. That chance was in fact stolen from me. Yet it hasn't left me empty, even if at first it felt that way. And I don't feel like infertility is chasing on my heels, a shadow I can't escape, rather, it's colored my vision and the way I look at the world. Infertility has changed me as a person, but I am not defined by my infertility.

I think this is due largely to my involvement with RESOLVE, particularly with advocacy and raising awareness. I've written before that I fit very much the definition of a wounded healer, that from my place of pain I am able to turn around and help others. A lot of this is probably personality but I think a good portion of this is simply part of my healing process. And I won’t lie: it kills the time while we wait to begin our own family building process.

Raising awareness and advocating for infertility treatment, coverage, and research has given me back a lot of the things that felt taken from me. I feel like I’ve regained a sense of control and that I’m engaged in meaningful, purpose-driven work. A couple of weeks ago, I was telling my husband how I was sorry I’m not the same woman he married three years ago. “Infertility has made me a different woman,” I said.

“It’s true. You’ve changed,” he said, without hesitation. I turned to look at him. “But you’re a stronger woman because of it.”

I carried a lot of shame for that first year after my diagnosis. After creating my video for National Infertility Awareness Week last year, it was as if that veil of embarrassment and guilt was lifted from me. I spoke with confidence: “My name is Keiko Zoll, I’m 26 years old, happily married, and living with infertility.” That confidence has only grown and yes, I am a different person – a stronger, more passionate person who’s ready to take on the challenges facing our community and advocate for change.

I know advocacy isn’t for everyone, but I can’t deny how much of a positive impact is has not only made on our journey, but in my life.

There are two ways you can raise awareness and advocate for change coming up in the next two months. One requires very active, direct interactions with legislators while the other can be more passive, from the comfort of your favorite blogging platform.

Less than a month from today, RESOLVE is sponsoring National Infertility Awareness Week 2011, from April 24 – 30th. There are a variety of events happening around the country, and you can host your own event too. Or, if you’d like a more passive approach, check out this year’s Bust a Myth Infertility Blog Challenge. Pick an infertility myth and blog about it – it’s that simple! All entries will then be eligible for RESOLVE Hope Award for Best Blog at their annual Night of Hope Awards.

With all of the misinformation and misunderstanding about infertility out there, this is a perfect opportunity to raise awareness and pave the way for change. You might even use it as an opportunity to “out” yourself to others- daunting and not for everyone, I know – but still a perfect chance to show people how 1 in 8 is not only someone they know, but someone just like you.

If you’re feeling particularly inspired and fired up, you can also participate in RESOLVE’s Advocacy Day on Thursday, May 5th. With RESOLVE’s training and guidance, you can meet with legislators on Capitol Hill to speak about why Congress needs to care about infertility and to legislate wisely when it comes to reproductive healthcare and mandated healthcare coverage. Can’t make it to Washington D.C.? No problem! RESOLVE will help set up appointments for you with legislators in your state and local districts.

I realize how intimidating this might sound, but others just like you have done it (Stirrup Queen, Body Diaries by Lucy, and A Little Pregnant, to name a few) and after the initial jitters, feel exhilarated at having taken such a bold step in infertility advocacy. To quote the ever fabulous Julie over at A Little Pregnant, "I don't really know what to say about Advocacy Day except that I have never had a more empowering moment as an infertile person." How is that not inspiring to get involved?

I’m planning to go to Advocacy Day myself this year for the first time. I can’t make it to D.C., but I can certainly take a day off of work to meet with legislators here in Mass. and thank them for their support and provide them with further education. Honestly, it’s the least I can do for having the privilege to live in state with mandated coverage.

Infertility and raising awareness, advocating for change: it’s good for the soul. It feeds us with passion and purpose. We regain some of that control we’ve lost. We see our infertility less as a limit of who we could have been and more of an opportunity of what we can become and the change we can make in the world. Raising awareness and advocating for change helps to support our infertility brothers and sisters-in-arms.

In the end, we come out stronger because of it.

---

This post is part of About.com’s Health Channel Fertility Blog Carnival hosted by Rachel Gurevich, author of infertility.about.com.

4 Myths Debunked About Mandated Infertility Coverage

As I mentioned last week, Maine could potentially become the sixteenth state to mandate insurers to cover infertility treatments. The bill, LD 720, will be heard before the Joint Committee for Insurance and Financial Services at the Maine State House (room 220) in Augusta at 1pm today. There will be time for brief testimony to be shared with the committee. If you live in Maine and you've got the time- please make it to the State House today. Your support is vital for this bill to gain any continuing momentum in the Maine legislature. Complete details regarding this bill and the public hearing today can be found on RESOLVE of New England's Maine Advocacy Alert page.

Believe me when I say your support is critical; there is already a lot of opposition for this bill. Just ask Anne Beldon, a devoted RNE volunteer up in Maine who sent in an excellent Letter to the Editor of the Bangor Daily News. Some of the reader comments, aside from being quite misinformed, are downright cruel. It is a stark reminder of just how lucky I am to live in Massachusetts, where we lead the nation in mandated coverage.

Some of the biggest complaints from commenters were that they shouldn't have to pay for the lifestyle choices of others and that overpopulation is a global problem, so perhaps infertile people should take the hint. Oh, and have you considered adoption?

*facedesk*

I almost don't know where to begin.

Let's start by addressing four of the myths about mandated infertility coverage we hear all the time (as reflected in the reader comments to Anne's letter) about why infertility treatment shouldn't be covered.

Myth #1: Infertility isn't a disease; it's a lifestyle choice.

Reality: The World Health Organization would beg to differ. The inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term is a medical condition, not a choice.

Myth #:2 I shouldn't have to pay for someone's expensive, elective IVF treatment.

Reality: IVF accounts for less than 3% of all infertility treatment, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. ASRM also states that IVF accounts for 0.07% of U.S. health care costs (Source, ASRM). In fact, infertility is a treatable disease, so it makes sense that insurers provide coverage for its treatment.

Myth #3: Providing infertility coverage will drive up everyone's premiums.
Reality: Employers who provide infertility coverage can see as much as $1 per member per month in premium reductions (Source, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology). And take a look at what happened in Massachusetts: infertility expenditures made up less than 1% (0.81%, specifically) of all insurance expenditures in 1986, a year before the mandate was made into law. Less than 10 years after the mandate was in place, infertility expenditures as a percentage of total expenditures actually decreased to nearly haf that number, at 0.41% (Source, Fertility and Sterility, 1998).

Myth #4: The world is overpopulated. Why don't you just adopt?
Reality: The first issue is that you attempt to deflect the issue at hand by making "overpopulation" the focus of your rebuttal; this is commonly known as a straw man argument. But I'll bite and turn this question back to the reader. Why don't you just adopt? Why must adoption fall solely in the arms of the infertile? Instead of having your own biological children and thus contributing to overpopulation as you claim, why not adopt yourself?

5 points to remember when responding to the infertility coverage critics out there:

1. Educate yourself. People will want sources. (I've provided them all here.)
2. Don't feed the trolls. They're a hungry lot, and it's easy to fall into their traps.
3. Pick your battles. You can't win over everyone.
4. Agree to disagree; like the point above, you can't change all hearts and minds.
5. Don't lose sight of the bigger picture and keep fighting the fight!

That last one is important. It's easy to get bogged down in trying to respond to every thoughtless, ignorant comment, to try and make each of your comments a teachable moment. In reality, the bigger issue at hand - getting mandated infertility coverage - is the goal. You can't lose sight of the forest for the trees.  Stay tuned for my post about Infertility and Raising Awareness, where you can find out more about how to be your own infertility advocate.

What are some of the comments you've come across, either in person on as a response to a blog post or article, and how did you respond?

Possible Infertility Coverage Mandate Coming to Maine

Background photo by Justin Russell via Flickr.

Mainers: I don't want to get your hopes up, but there is some seriously big, exciting news coming to your neck of the woods:

Representative Gary Knight has sponsored a bill that seeks to mandate insurance coverage for infertility patients in the state of Maine. I told you: big, exciting news. You can read the full text of the proposed legislation for LD 720 here. What's particularly awesome? Rep. Knight is a Republican. So is his co-sponsor, Assistant Majority Whip, Rep. Andre E. Cushing III. Gentlemen, I applaud you for bucking an otherwise disturbing trend by some of your Republican colleagues in other states. This is the kind of progressive, supportive legislation we'd like to see more of from your party.

Even bigger news? The Maine legislature has put LD 720 on the hearing docket a week from today. The public hearing is Wednesday, March 23 at 1:00pm in room 220 at the Maine State House. Time will be allotted for brief, personal testimony. If this bill is going to get any kind of support from the rest of the Maine legislature, it is critical that at least 20-30 people show up to this public hearing.

Do you live in Maine? Do you know a Mainer struggling with infertility? Please share this post with them and encourage them to attend and if comfortable, to share their stories with legislators! Sharing your stories of what this kind of insurance coverage could mean to you personally can be the tipping point for an infertility mandate's success. Trust me: it's what won over Massachussetts legislators in 1987 when the infertility mandate was first made into law here. The way has been paved - it's up to Mainers to continue the legacy of 15 other states that have mandated infertility coverage.

Ah, but there's always a catch.

It should be very important to note that there are two controversial provisions within LD 720 as it is currently written:

1. Coverage would only be extended to married couples; and
2. Coverage would be denied if an infertility diagnosis was the result of an STI.

RESOLVE of New England does not fully support the bill as written, however, it is important to build momentum for the bill as it is my understanding that Rep. Knight would seek amendments to the bill to remove these two controversial provisions.

How can you help spread the word and show support for mandated infertility coverage in Maine?

1. Direct your Mainer friends and bloggers over to this post: Public hearing next week on proposed infertility mandate in Maine
2. Tweet about the hearing date and time, like this: "Attn Maine: do u want #infertility coverage mandated in ur state? Tell ur legislators on Wed 3/23 at 1pm! Details here: http://exm.nr/hSlPbs"
3. Do you live in Maine? Can you get to the State House next Wednesday at 1pm? Awesome - do it!
4. Blog about it, post about it on Facebook - spread the news and share with others!

How awesome would it be if Maine could become the 16th state to mandate coverage? Maine: you could be a part of history.

Let's get crackin' readers and spread the word!

The War on Women Has Got to Stop

It started with the hives. At first I thought it was the cats. They'd climb all over me and within minutes, the itching would begin. But then I started getting them at work, I just figured it was cat hair on my clothes or something, not realizing that they almost always coincided with anytime I was reading the news. Then this week on my drive into work, I was listening to the news as usual and a politician of a right-leaning nature said something profoundly dumb and my neck started to itch. In a matter of minutes, my neck was covered in hives. I realized that no, this wasn't the cats.

I've been getting physically ill from the news.

If it isn't the madness in Wisconsin, it's that Qaddafi is bombing his own people from the air. Oh, and then I stumble upon this gem:

Indiana Bill Would Force Doctors To Tell Women That Having An Abortion May Lead To Breast Cancer (source).

No, it's cool. I'll wait for you to clean up your spit-take. It took me a minute when I read that, too. Here's the quick rundown (emphasis mine):

House Bill 1210, introduced by Indiana state Rep. Eric Turner (R), would... require physicians to inform a pregnant woman seeking an abortion that the fetus could feel pain and require patients to view an ultrasound. A patient could get out of doing so only if she stated her refusal in writing. But one of the most controversial portions of the bill is the part that would require doctors to inform women about the risks of abortion, including "the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer."

The American Cancer Society (ACS) and other major health organizations, however, have rejected this theory. In February 2003, the U.S. National Cancer Institute brought together "more than 100 of the world's leading experts who study pregnancy and breast cancer risk." They found that neither induced nor spontaneous abortions lead to an increase in breast cancer risk. In fact, the risk is actually increased for a short period after a woman carries a pregnancy to full term (i.e., gives birth to a child).

. . .

I may have mentioned on here that it feels like the government is out to get women. I have been hesitant to start delving into politics on this blog, but folks... I'm getting hives I've been getting so stressed out about this. Infertility has made me feel powerless in some ways, but the stuff I'm hearing about on the news lately has made me feel powerless in much bigger, scarier ways.

After reading this latest article and learning that this new piece of legislation was introduced by a Republican (SHOCKER), I need to get on my political soapbox.

Ladies, and the gents who support the ladies in their lives: there is a Republican-led war on women happening right now. I've been trying to dance around this as much as possible both here and on FB and Twitter, but I just can't anymore. Where are the Dems proposing this kind of legislation? Oh right- they're too busy focusing on trying to get the Federal budget passed and maybe create some jobs for everyone.

I get it. I get that people were frustrated around midterm elections in 2010, so everyone voted in all these little whippersnapper Tea Party Republicans, like a breath of fresh air in a stale room. And now it's like the joke is on America, and more specifically, American women. With wave after wave of anti-choice, anti-woman legislation, I feel like everyone is finally starting to see this new Republican party's true colors... and they are ugly, ugly colors.

Reader Sonja sent me an article that sums it all up rather nicely with some rather convincing arguments. As terrifying as the implications in the article are, it's nice to know that I'm not losing my effing mind, that this isn't all just in my head: Female Sexuality Still Terrifying to Conservative Lawmakers (source).

. . .

I need to bring this back 'round to why on earth this all should matter to you, why it should matter to the infertility community. Like I said in my last post about anti-woman legislation, we must start fighting back as a unified community of women or we are going to get trampled by the cultural norming of misogyny in America. So why should this matter to us infertile folk?

Think about it like this: is this the kind of America in which you want to raise your kids for whom you've so desperately longed? The kind of America that wants to treat women with recurrent miscarriages as criminals worthy of death row?

Or how about the kind of America that blames an 11-year-old girl for her own gangrape by 18 men? Yeah, spit-take on that one, too. I actually gagged when I read about that this morning. Do you see why I might start breaking out in hives reading this garbage?

This is not my America. This will not be my neice's America. And this will not be my children's America. I have had enough. The War on Women has got to stop.

And if it persists, then we must fight back. We need to educate ourselves and stop putting our heads in the sand or turning off the news when it gets too much to bear. Believe me, I know how easy it is to think about nothing other than, "When am I ever going to have children? Will I ever be able to have children?" but we've got to think about the world we hope to shape for our children one day.

Besides educating ourselves, we need to come out in huge numbers. There is nothing more powerful than an educated mass of people. We need men to stand with us. We need to be writing about this on our blogs, posting articles and resources on Facebook and Twitter, and talking about this with the women and men in our lives. We have to become a chorus of so many people shouting so loudly from so many places there's no possible way they can ignore us.

. . .

I'll be honest. I don't really have all the answers on what we can do. But I'll keep writing and talking about this. I hope I don't lose some of you along the way because of political differences because the case I'm trying to make is that regardless of where you stand politically, this kind of legislation can and will impact our access to infertility care. I fear it's a short leap from preserving fetal rights to denying infertility treatment coverage. It becomes not just a discourse on having children, but who deserves to have children at all.

Please tell me this isn't all just in my head and that I'm not getting hives because I'm crazy. Please tell me that there are others of you out there who have felt like I do and have had enough of it all. And if you think I'm wrong, tell me why- give me sources, facts, figures.

Because seriously? They don't make enough Benedryl for these stress hives I've been getting.

Boston Walk for Choice

I know I've been talking a lot about anti-reproductive legislation lately, but I wanted to share a short video recap I made of Saturday's Walk for Choice in Boston. Dozens of cities participated (internationally as well), and I was lucky enough to participate, carrying my signs in the cold, walking in solidarity with other men and women who recognized that yes, we need to care about all this craptacular legislation out there.

Awesome moments of the day:

+ On a very crowded train to downtown, a young woman sitting across from me read one side of my sign (Infertile Woman for Choice), made eye contact with me, smiled, and made a little heart symbol with her hands.

+ Marching through Downtown Crossing, our chants echoing off the tall buildings around us, cars honking in support, people stopping to read our signs.

+ Marching through Boston Common, people lined up along us, reading our signs, clapping and cheering in solidarity. I found that particularly emotional.

+ Several hundred people calling Senator Scott Brown's office at the same time, leaving messages urging him to vote against a Senate bill to defund Planned Parenthood.

+ The many, many witty signs.

It was a great day. For more recaps, check out the Boston Walk for Choice Tumblr, as well as the main Walk for Choice Tumblr with photos and video from cities around the world who participated on Saturday.

Boston Walk for Choice 2011 from Keiko Zoll on Vimeo.

I Stand with Planned Parenthood.

This post is part of Fair and Feminist's I Stand with Planned Parenthood Blog Carnival. Check out the other participating blogs today and lend your support.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

I stand with Planned Parenthood for a lot of reasons. I can think of the most recent, when, of all things, Larry and I feared I might actually be pregnant, in late November of 2008. Let's just break that down for a second: I feared I was pregnant. We were newlyweds, coming up on our first wedding anniversary in just over a month. Even though we had talked about how abortion wasn't necessarily the gut reaction now that we were married, we both agreed that timing was not good. (In hindsight, it's almost laughable. We couldn't get pregnant then even if we wanted to, but I digress.)

I had been lazy with my pill. I skipped something like, 11 days' worth? Yeah, not good. There was a fair amount of horizontal mambo-ing in that stretch of no birth control (remember: newlyweds), I hadn't gotten my period, and I panicked. I took a pee stick test and thankfully it came out negative, but I realized that with our timing it was possible I could have been chemically pregnant, so I turned to Planned Parenthood for emergency contraception, to prevent implantation.

Larry and I talked a lot in the day leading up to getting the EC and me taking it. How weirdly, when actually confronted with the possibility that I could be pregnant, that all of those years of being a pro-choice feminist in college seemed strange and foreign. "What if I was?" I thought. If the EC didn't work, we'd resolved ourselves to the idea of being parents way before we wanted to. I am grateful that I live at a time when I have the freedom to make that choice. It was the first time I realized what pro-choice actually meant. It's not about being pro-abortions for all: it's about being pro-the freedom to have control over your own body.

And that folks, is why I stand with Planned Parenthood. Not because I was able to get EC when I needed it, rather because they are an organization that helps people (not just women) get the reproductive care they need when they need it.

When I wrote Wednesday about the war on women and what it means for the infertility community, I was so grateful for the outpouring of support for Planned Parenthood in the comments here, on FB, Twitter, and elsewhere. I want to share some of those reasons why Planned Parenthood is important to the infertility community, and why the House vote to defund Planned Parenthood is a slap in the face to all of us.

Planned Parenthood is not just about abortions, it's about access to low-cost, routine medical care.

A dear friend Nine writes:

When I was young and had no access to health care, I used Planned Parenthood's services for my annual exams and to receive medication to help me with debilitating menstrual cramps. Because I had no primary physician, they were also kind enough to keep an eye on my heart and lungs for me.

Another dear friend Marie-Audrey echoes this and expands on the breadth of coverage Planned Parenthood provides:

They provide care for women (and men) without health insurance - which I did not have a few years ago. I had very little money and their "pay according to your income" allowed me to get the health care I needed for a very fair price... What about the teenager who does not get any kind of support (money or psychological) from home? What about the single mom with 3 kids? What about the freelancer without regular income and/or health care?

Planned Parenthood helped save MrsSpock's sister's life and keep her sister's family planning on track:

Because of her bipolar disorder- an illness she has unfailingly taken her meds for for 10 years- my sister has been denied health insurance from her employer's insurer, even though she has worked there for that same decade. She is only able to get her well woman care through Planned Parenthood, as she can pay based on a sliding scale. Her income is low, and she could not afford to pay for full fees. because of them, she was able to get the pap that caught her early cervical cancer, and get into a clinic to treat it based on their referral. Never mind that she has chosen not to have children based on her mental illness, and they give her affordable access to the contraceptives that make sure that plan remains.

Planned Parenthood has also been vital to many of your infertlity journeys.

Anonymous writes:

...did you know some Planned Parenthood centers also provide Level II infertility treatments? I know this because in the wake of my own IF diagnosis, I found myself missing the compassionate and thoughtful care I received as a PP patient. The center closest to me wasn't able to provide me with the next stage of my care but they referred me to a specialist that hopefully will help.

Virginia adds:

I always make a point of pointing out that Planned Parenthood helped us plan for and medically prepare for conceiving our daughter whenever anyone gets up on their abortion soapbox. I'm an endo sufferer and PP helped me keep my womb and tubes healthy enough to conceive naturally when we were ready for a baby. She really was a miracle - I've been dealing with secondary infertility since her birth almost 17 years ago.

If having low-cost access to basic reproductive care is something that's important for you, I urge you to take 10 minutes right now, to act and do something about this.

1. Read and sign the open letter from Planned Parenthood expressing your outrage. Time: 2 minutes.

2. Find out how your representative voted in the House vote to defund Planned Parenthood. Time: 1 minute.
+ If they voted against it, please email them and thank them. Time: 2 minutes.
+ If they voted for it, please email them and tell them what you think about that and how their vote impacts you. Time: 2 minutes.

3. Share your story about why Planned Parenthood matters to you. You can share it with Planned Parenthood directly, or you can blog about it. Make it your Facebook status or find eloquence in 140 characters or less on Twitter. Time: 4 minutes (maybe less).

4. If you have the means- even $5- make a donation to Planned Parenthood to show your support. Time: 1 minute.

Tada! 10 minutes, maybe less. See, grassroots advocacy is seriously not that hard or time-consuming, I promise.

I know in the infertility community, we think a lot about our future children. We hope, we pray, we wish, we dream for our future children. I'm asking you to think about them again, right now - is a country that's willing to strip away access to basic reproductive care one in which you want your kids to live? Do you want your children to go through the same fertility struggles you're going through right now because they couldn't get the kind of low-cost reproductive care they needed in their teens and college years?

I know sometimes it can be hard to see beyond the immediate hurdle of just trying to build your family, but we need to take active steps in shaping the world in which they'll live.

I'm not just doing it for myself, but for my kids - one day, should we be so blessed. That's why I stand with Planned Parenthood.

Will you?

Why does the government hate women so much?

Hi. Did you at one time or do you currently have one of these?

Adorbs, right? Buy it here.

Oh, you don't? 



From left: Rep. Phil Jensen (R-SD), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-GA).

Then please stop trying to govern mine.

If you have lady bits or know someone who does, you should really become familiar with these faces. They're out for your lady bits. No no no, not in that way - in the "restrictive legislation that they really have no business putting forth" kind of way.

I don't care if you're pro-choice, pro-life, pro-family, or pro-whatever: I need to talk about this because it's been eating away at me for almost a week. In fact, I shelved a post I wrote sometime last year when we were knee-deep in our "let's adopt!" phase. It contained a rather inflammatory sentence that basically said, despite my years of being pro-choice/pro-family, every abortion is a missed adoption opportunity. I know - I know - that's why I never posted it here. Too inflammatory even for me and I didn't want to deal with the aftermath in the comments. So... yeah, don't kill me on that one.

Here's the thing: infertility patients need to pay attention to healthcare legislation, particularly anti-abortion legislation. Anti-abortion legislation, in a cruel twist of fate, can pose a serious threat to our access to care. Here we are, trying our damndest to have our own children, and yet (I know how ironic this sounds) we need to be vigilant about others' rights and access to terminate their own pregnancies.

Case in point: Iowa's Personhood Law (HF 153). This lovely little gem seeks to define that life begins at conception thus rendering abortion illegal in the state of Iowa. Why does this matter to infertility patients? Oh, you were able to fertilize all 8 of your eggs for your IVF cycle? Congrats! Oh, some of them weren't so high grade and aren't worth saving? Tough cookies, it's now illegal to dispose of them. I've seen so many of your beautiful blasties out there and it's kind of awesome (in the truest sense of the word) to know that those little blasties are your future children - but calling it murder to get rid of them? Come on. And yet amazingly, HF 153 actually passed an Iowa House subcomittee. What boggles the mind: the bill was authored by Rep. Kim Pearson (R-IA). Kim: you've got lady bits. Use your head, woman! Even the ASRM and SART said enough was enough, and issued a public letter in opposition of the bill to Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen.

[Do you live in Iowa? Does this piss you off? Please contact your representatives and tell them why this matters to you as their constituents. You can search for your Iowa legislators here online for their full contact info.]

There's a reason to speak up, contact your legislators, and blog about it: because it works. Look at South Dakota (fig 1). Their House Bill 1171, introduced by Rep. Phil Jensen (R) sought to redefine justifiable homicide:

Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is. (Source.)

In a nutshell, it would create legal precedent for someone to kill abortion clinic workers. Let's broaden this a bit: remember those blasties I mentioned a few paragraphs up? Let's say those low-grade blasties are discarded. According to HB 1171, it would be justifiable homicide to take out the offending embryologist who discarded them. Thankfully, the public outcry, both from South Dakotans and the blogosphere, was large enough that the language was changed and ultimately, South Dakota realized that maybe this whole thing didn't need to be brought to the table at all.

But we still have a big fight ahead of us, most notably, the most recent vote by the House to defund Planned Parenthood, spearheaded by New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith (fig 2). This is much more than just about abortion rights: now we're just talking about restricting access to basic reproductive care. Planned Parenthood does a lot more than abortions: they provide routine pap smears, access to birth control and emergency contraception, and routine care for STIs. By taking away these services, these women now have an increased risk of infertility because they won't be able to access the reproductive care they need.

And as many of you know, sometimes the decision to terminate a pregnancy is beyond our control. Enter my new hero, California Rep. Jackie Speier, who had the chuzpah to remind the House of this staggering reality late last week:



"The gentleman from New Jersey can kindly kiss my ass."
[Don't know how your Representative voted? You can check here online to see whether or not they voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Then take the time to thank those that who supported PP or speak your mind to those who did vote to defund PP.]

Have you been angered by the craptastic media coverage of infertility, IVF, donor gametes, and celebrity infertiles? You ever notice how the media likes to play the victim blame game? With all of this recent legislation, anyone else getting that vibe that there's this cultural misogyny at work here (like last week's Nir Rosen and Debbie Schlussel's *disgusting* rants blaming CBS correspondent Lara Logan for her own sexual assualt in Egypt)?

What the holy hell is everyone's problem with women just, ya know, living their own lives and having some say in what we choose to do with our bodies?

This is why we, as an infertility community, need to care about anti-abortion legislation, regardless of our own personal views. This is why we need to act, to speak up, to speak out, tell our neighbors, our friends, our families and most importantly: the people who govern, as most of them do not have uteruses (uterii?), but have an awful lot to say about what goes on in them.

Because if we don't, then we might just end up with legislation that seeks to investigate all miscarraiges, cuz yanno, to see if they were induced. Because if they were, it would be a criminal offense.

How I wish I were making this up. (I've been trying to find a less inflammatory post about it, but this one at Daily Kos hits all of the important points). Allow me to introduce you to Georgia Rep. Bobby Franklin (fig. 3) who is pushing for the following legislation:

"...any time a miscarriage occurs, whether in a hospital or without medical assistance, it must be reported and a fetal death certificate issued. If the cause of death is unknown, it must be investigated... Hospitals are required to keep records of anyone who has a spontaneous abortion and report it." (Source.)

This is the last straw. I had to write about it here because, having been invested in the stories of so many of you who have experienced a miscarriage, I just about went apoplectic when I read this on a friend's FB page. Rep. Franklin's proposed legislation would treat you like a criminal just for having miscarried. Seriously? Is this what we have come to as a nation?

We have got to wake up, start paying attention, starting making those calls and writing those letters. We need to be informed and to inform others. We have got to start fighting back as a unified community of women or we are going to get trampled by the cultural norming of misogyny in America.

This one's for M.

I'm sitting in the hotel lobby at my conference, because amazingly, in this day and age, I'm expected to actually pay for internet in my room. Come on Marriott, I get the money game you're playing here, but come on. We're already paying out the nose for the room... you could throw a little free in-room internet my way.

This conference has taken up a grand amount of time (as it should) but it's been an intense 4 days so far. Tons of sessions from which to choose, constantly playing the game of "what information can I realistically take back and practically apply to my institution?" and feeling a bit out of my league. This conference is more academically focused rather than just pure student affairs' conferences I've attended in the past and sometimes I just feel like I'm wearing a scarlet BA on my chest... more faculty and administrators than staff here, that's for sure. Larry told me after I got out of my first session: "Don't sweat it and don't sell yourself short. You're just as smart and have every right to be there, too."

And that's why I love my husband ^_^

. . .

Yesterday morning, I was on my way out of a session when a young woman came up to me.

"Hi, are you Keiko?"

"Yes," I said, distractedly.

"I read your blog and I just had to come over and say hi and thank you for being a voice out there for us." We chatted for another minute; I was half-asleep, having overslept a bit and trying to remember where my next session was so I gave her my business card, thanked her for reaching out to me, and dashed out into the crowd of attendees. A few minutes later, I realized how rude I must have seemed: I didn't even get her last name.

I had gotten her first name- M- but hadn't thought to grab her card in my semi-awake state. I was thrilled when I checked my email that evening to see she had sent me a note. This morning we exchanged emails and texts and met up to chat during some downtime this afternoon.

. . .

Like any good academic conference, there are plenty of publishing company exhibitors here to hawk their titles to us salivating first-year/common reading book selection committee members. Today many of them had catered lunches featuring several of their authors here to talk about their books. M and I had each gone to different lunches, and she shared with me a really tough moment for her that day:

The author of Just Don't Fall, Josh Sundquist, spoke at her lunch about how childhood cancer robbed him of his leg but lead to a path toward the Paralympics. She relayed his delivery: energetic, engaging, exhuberant. He described how as a 9-year old, he looked up to a boy wearing a lime green soccer uniform in his school. He wanted that uniform; that was his goal. At 10, he was diagnosed with cancer and lost his leg. After years of physical therapy, he talked about a ski trip with his family where he went sledding with a modified sled. Just before he went down for another run, as he was sitting on the sled, a man came up to him, saying "Hey kid!" He turned and looked, and here was a man in a red, white, and blue uniform: stars, stripes, matching and coordinated. "Hey kid, I'm a coach for the US Paralympics Team, and I think you'd be great."

Sundquist arrived at his selling point, about how to adapt his book and his story to college freshmen audiences of all backgrounds: "Sometimes you grow up and want so bad to fit into one uniform, only to find out that it's not that one that's handed to you."

M didn't have to explain anything more beyond that point. The look in her eyes was enough to know just how deeply that had resonated within her that afternoon, a stark reminder of how the pain/anger/longing/fuckedup-itude of infertility can really strike us anywhere.

No matter how hard we might work to create safe-spaces for ourselves, we just never really know when a subtle reminder of your own infertility can creep into your brain. In some ways, it's like we're either always with our guards up or feeling hopelessly defenseless. It's a precarious and unsettling state in which to be.

. . .

M and I talked for over an hour, each sharing our stories and experiences. I think we were both appreciative of the chance to make a face-to-face connection. I certainly didn't come here thinking I'd talk to anyone about infertility but I'm glad I did.

Sidenote: I had my own WTFIF?! (I'm coining a new acronym: What the fuck, infertility?!) moment Saturday at the Georgia Aquarium. That's a post for later in the week.

I'd been feeling a bit stagnant in the days leading up to the conference, but since I've been here, I've felt a renewed kick in the ass about writing, and more importantly, about doing more for this community. My chance meeting with M has only solidified that resolve.

I told M that I write and make videos because infertility shouldn't be silent and we should be able to speak openly about it with others. M made such a great point about how we can both look around this Sea of The Academy and know we have brother and sisters in arms, fighting daily and (most likely) private battles. I listened to M's story, celebrating the things we share in common and listening with compassion at her own challenges, offering the best advice I could. It was a truly wonderful conversation and I'm glad to have made such a happenstance connection with someone.

. . .

Photo by Gillian via Flickr.

I know this post is titled "This one's for M" but really, it's for all of you:

M: Keep writing. Even if you don't blog, make that pen move. I won't say that every word put to paper is one less tear, but it certainly makes it easier along the way. No matter how things turn out, you can always look back and read the story of your growth and strength.

You don't have to carry signs or run a fundraiser to be an advocate. Like I said, even sharing your story with just one person outside your safe circle is another person educated about the reality of infertility and potentially another ally in your corner.

Arm yourself with information and facts. People will be snarky, ignorant, or even polite and well-intentioned but careless in their delivery. Or, as you said, they could be straightforward and devastatingly blunt. We're in the field of education, so I know you can relate to this: make those teachable moments. You don't have to necessarily share your personal story, but a solid statistic or research can go a long way. Like a good higher ed professional, refer them to a reliable resource for more information.

Treasure your safe circle of support and "use" them when you need to. Don't be afraid to ask for their support when you need it. That's why you hold them so close to your heart.

Never feel weird about reaching out to me, even at a place as random as an academic conference. I'm here to listen. I might not have any answers but at the very least, I can listen because your story told in your voice to another person is important, valid, and to be respected. I know it's not easy and I respect and honor your courage for opening up and sharing it with me.

I wish we weren't both members of this community, but I'm glad we found each other, that we made this connection. It helps not to feel so goddamned alone.

And M: no matter what happens with this cycle, I'm sending you luck and support. Take it easy with those needles and just remember that you've got someone rooting for you, ready to celebrate or provide an ear, a shoulder, and a box of virtual tissues if necessary.

Be well and safe travels.

Dear Media: You're Not Helping

Warning: ranty post ahead.

The media has never really been kind to infertility. Then you get movies like Baby Momma and the ever horrifying The Backup Plan that kind of muck things up once in awhile. Only recently have we started seeing more empowering coverage such as Self Magazine's ground-breaking infertility article last August and shows like Giuliana & Bill. That said, we still have a long way to go.

Which leads me to my first point. Dear Media: Leave Guiliana and Bill Rancic alone.

Hang in there, Guiliana.

I realize that's a loaded statement given the fact that they've created a reality show based primarily on their infertility experience. Also, in full disclosure: I haven't watched their show, but I've followed along in online updates. They did something pretty brave by putting their infertility struggle in a very bright public light, and I applaud them for their courage and resolve. I can't even fathom coping with a miscarriage on national television.

So I was rather annoyed when I read an interview with Giuliana, titled "Giuliana Rancic: We Are Done With IVF For Now." The not-so-subtle spin there? The Rancics are quitters. When I clicked through and read the interview, I was even more infuriated that the question immediately following "how are you handling your miscarriage" was "Have you considered adoption?"

*facepalm*

No! Gosh! What is this "adoption" you speak of, oh wise media outlet? The thought has never crossed the minds of couples who can't have children. Goshemgollygeewhiz what an idea!

Why - why - is that always the first question other people ask in the wake of infertility? It's insensitive and just plain rude. I'm not knocking adoption by any means, but man - give this woman a break. She just lost a pregnancy following an aggressive IVF treatment. Have some respect.

It doesn't matter if Guiliana and Bill Rancic have a TV show or not. If they want to take a break from IVF, so be it. IVF is no walk in the park and no couple should ever feel like they're quitters just because they want to take a break, whether it's IVF, DE, IUI, or even natural conception. Sometimes you just need a break from the babymaking madness - and that deserves respect, not rejection.

. . .

Seriously. Please close your mouth.

Rant #2. Dear Media: Stop perpetuating the idea that getting pregnant, especially as a teen, is super easy and sort of cool.

Kim Kardashian: let me just file this under "topics I never thought about which I'd blog." But I'm getting ahead of myself.

You may have heard that there's apparently something in the water in at Frayser High School in Memphis, Tennessee: 90 young women are currently pregnant or have had a child this academic year. Granted, the school has a program for teen moms, so the superintendent claims it's a "magnet for pregnant teens."

Let's all just have a moment to scream silently: "90 pregnant teens in one high school and I can't score even one positive pregnancy test ?!"

Sweet, I feel better. You? Fab.

So then Kim Kardashian opens her big fat famewhore mouth (I know, not the most feminist-empowering or politically correct word I could use but let's face it: I'm callin' it like I see it) and blames the whole mess on MTV's Teen Mom. Two of the women from the show rightfully fire back at Miss Kimmy's holier-than-thou stance, reminding us that: "she made a sex tape when she was younger and she wants to bash the girls on Teen Mom?"

Word, Teen Mom lady, word.
 
On the other hand, I can understand where Kim "Wait, Why Am I Famous Again?" Kardashian is coming from. Much like the "pregnancy pact" drama of last year up in my neck of the woods, teen pregnancy is a subject the media loves to glamorize. Exhibit A: the film, Juno - because having babies at 16 is all iconic t-shirts and cheeseburger phones.
 
The issue I take is that there is a media perpetuated and culturally dictated message that if a young dude so much as breathes on a young lady, BAM! Teen pregnancy. (That's been one of my biggest gripes about abstinence-only sex ed in high schools.) At 17, I was super paranoid about pregnancy... and I was still a virgin! That's how paranoid I was. So, color me shocked when just a decade later, I'd like to get knocked up and I find out that all of those media messages and the borderline-Puritanical tone of high school health classes are a lie. That no, it's actually not that easy to get pregnant and millions of twenty and thirty-somethings have this idea that they'll land a bun in the oven on the first few tries.
 
And then millions of us wait another month or two longer to talk to our doctors because, it's just a little horizontal mambo, how hard could this be? Everybody (media, society) said this would be easy. Birds, bees, and all that jazz.
 
It's irresponsible, The Media. It's just fucking irresponsible.
 
We need the media to talk more responsibly about young women's health, not stories that turn babies into damned matching accessories. We need young women to a) thoroughly understand what's happening in their bodies and b) to recognize when things aren't right. We need young women (and men) to know that 1 in 8 could be them in 10 years, 5 years, next year- but they didn't even know it because they didn't feel empowered enough to talk to their doctor. We need high risk young women and men to think about fertility preservation - they might not know at 16 if they want to have children, but they should still have the chance if they want to later in life  and so they need to know how to talk to their parents and doctors about it now.
 

Because seriously? I should never have to agree with Kim Kardashian on anything. Ever.

11% Towards My Goal!

So far I've raised $180* for my Fall Fertile Fundraiser for RESOLVE of New England - I'm 11% of the way there! I'd love to double or even triple that by Thanksgiving - think I can do it?

I think so! (Especially with your help!)

$2000 still seems like a long way off, but that's only 91 people willing to donate just $20 each. And even $10 will help... hell, even $5.

I know it's tough times and folks are cash strapped - myself included. (What's this "mortgage" you speak of? Kidding. We have auto-pay.) As we head into the season of being thankful, making a charitable contribution is an excellent way to say thanks to an organization that does so much. It's nice to put that kind of goodness out there, because I believe goodness begets goodness.

Don't have the cash this week to make a contribution? Tweet about this fundraiser instead (Help 1000s living with #infertility - donate 2day for @miriamshope's Fertile Fall Fundraiser http://bit.ly/cp0Cwq Pls RT!), share it on Facebook via my Fundrazr page, or write a blog post about it and encourage your readers and followers to contribute on your behalf.

It's that whole spreading goodness thing again :)

To contribute, click on the image below. It'll take you to my Fundrazr page:

Thank you for helping to make this fundraiser a success!

*I know my Fundrazr page says I've raised only $105, but I've received other donations online outside of that app so it won't total those contributions. I've tried adjusting it manually, but I can't. Still, donating via my Fundrazr page is probably the easiest way to contribute. so, c'est la vie.

Fill in the Blank

I've got a project brewing, and I need your help. Sorry to be cryptic, but that's all I can say for now. Help me finish this sentence:

"Infertility is ___________."

It can be a word, a phrase, or even a few sentences. The only thing I care about is that it's honest and comes from your heart. I want to hear from you and your experience. I'm cross-posting this on Twitter and my Facebook page, so feel free to share your thoughts on any of these platforms.

Lets see how big we can make this list.

Reminder: Fertile Fall Fundraiser is still going on!

So far I've raised $35 for my Fertile Fall Fundraiser for RESOLVE of New England. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm confident we can make it. I've decided to extend my fundraiser until December 30, 2010 - that's a month and a half from now. $1965 in a month and a half? Totally doable! That's ~$44 a day. That's just 4 people a day, willing to donate 10(ish) dollars a day.

I think the issue is that I need to spread the word, so here are a couple of tweets to help out the campaign:

I just donated to @miriamshope's Fertile Fall Fundraiser for @resolveneweng - have you? #infertility http://bit.ly/cp0Cwq

$10 could help thousands with #infertility - donate 2day for @miriamshope's Fertile Fall Fundraiser http://bit.ly/cp0Cwq Pls RT!

How are other ways you can help? Besides the obvious way of contributing, you can blog about it on your own blogs. If you do, please leave a link to your post in the comments. Just think, fellow NaBloPoMo-ers - instant blog post! Spreading the word is key, so whether you blog, tweet, or Facebook it, you're helping to share this fundraiser with potentially hundreds of other potential contibutors. Please and thank you for doing so :)

5 Reasons to Donate Right Now:

1. Donating is like putting a little good out there into the Universe and when you put good out there, you get good back.
2. Make a contribution to give hope to others like you who are battling infertility.
3. Make a contribution in honor of your children, to celebrate your victory if you've conquered your infertility.
4. RESOLVE of New England is a pretty kickass organization with tons of resources, education, peer led support groups, and more - and kickass orgs need kickass funding.
5. You're an awesome friend, fellow blogger, reader, and supporter!

Now that you're feeling totally inspired, you can donate via the Fundrazr app on my Facebook page. If you're unable to donate (believe me, we're feeling the economic crunch too), please consider at least spreading the word via your own blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. You can snag the graphic above and link it to my Fundrazr page directly via the bit.ly link above.

---

Call it a mitzvah. Call it your good deed for the day.
Whatever you call it, it's doing something good. And doing good feels good.

So... do you feel like doing some good today? 

I hope you do and thank you for supporting this cause!

Conference Tomorrow!

Woot! Annual Conference time.

I am WAY late to posting this today... took a sick day (serious tummy troubles) so I'm finally up and productive, now that I have to go to bed in an hour to get up early for the RESOLVE of New England Fertility Treatment, Donor Choices, and Adoption Conference tomorrow!

I'll be liveblogging the event tomorrow at the RNE Conference Tumblr blog here. I'll also try to do a liveblog post here. You'll have to hit F5/Refresh the main page here to see the latest post updates; I'll make sure to keep them at the top of the page. I'll also be posting on Twitter- make sure to follow me @miriamshope!

Sunday, expect a full detailed recap of Saturday's conference.

---

Other updates:

+ Walk-ins welcome for tomorrow's conference! Click for more info about the RESOLVE of New England Fertility Treatment, Donor Choices, and Adoption Conference! The Stirrup Queen herself, Melissa Ford, will be our keynote speaker!

+ Have you donated to my Fertile Fall Fundraiser yet? I've only raised $10 so far, and I've got $1990 to go! Who wants to help out this important cause?

NaBloPoMo: And so it begins.

30 posts. 30 days. It's NaBloPoMo time, people: National Blog Posting Month.

I think it's time to build off of my 7 posts in 7 days bit and move to something more advanced. I know I wrote recently that I should man up and do NaNoWriMo (also starting today) but I just don't have the energy. But blogging? Blogging for 30 days? I can do that. This is more attainable. I have to work my way up to NaNoWriMo.

If you don't feel like joining the official NaBloPoMo ranks, Suzy over at Not a Fertile Myrtle has a great blogroll of other NaBloPoMo participating IF bloggers up for the challenge. Check it out - let's keep each other motivated! More updates/news and a question after the cut.

Other updates in my life...

Tonight I'm being interviewed by Isadora Leidenfrost for her forthcoming film, Things We Don't Talk About. From her film website:

Things We Don’t Talk About is a groundbreaking documentary film about women’s healing narratives from the red rent that serves to empower women and girls. The Red Tent is a red textile space that is changing the way that women think about their bodies.

Tomorrow night, Isadora will be filming the Salem Red Tent Temple. I'm so excited! The Red Tent Temple has been such a joy in my life. When I stopped having periods, I missed my Woman's Blood Rhythm. Now that I meet near each new moon with other women in all stages of life and Blood Rhythm, it has brought that sense of monthly cycle back. I can't wait to talk and explore more about this with Isadora tonight.

Just had another thyroid panel done. I've had brain fog like whoa and my energy is pretty much non-existent. I'm starting to feel like I did in June/July of 2009, when my TSH was at its highest and thus my thyroid function at its lowest. Well, don't know what's going on then b/c my numbers came back normal: TSH is 1.027. I need to find a good endocrinologist up in the North Shore area. Anyone have any recommendations for a good North Shore, MA area endo?

And finally, it's just 5 days until the RESOLVE of New England Annual Conference! You can still register in advance. Come check out dozens of vendors, doctors, and other patients, and meet the Infertility Blogging Goddess, Melissa Ford, author of Stirrup Queens! Also, we have some pretty awesome raffles. I can't wait to meet folks there :)

Oh, and one other thing: my Fertile Fall Fundraiser is underway, so if you have a few dollars to spare, I'd love it if you could help out this special cause: $2000 for RESOLVE of New England by Christmas. We can totally make that goal with your help!

Happy blogging all.

1 post down. 29 to go.

PS. Get off your butts and VOTE tomorrow! (I don't care for whom you vote, just vote dagnabit!)

A Fertile Fall Fundraiser!

Next Saturday is RESOLVE of New England's Annual Family Building Conference (full conference details here online). In the spirit of the Conference and also in my comittment to the organization, I'd like to host my first fundraiser for them: My Fertile Fall Fundraiser!




Here's how you can donate:

> Go to my Facebook Page, Keiko Zoll: Infertility Advocate, and donate via the FundRazr widget.

My goal is to raise $2,000 by December 30, 2010.

$2,000 may sound like a lot, but let's break that down...

$2,000 equals...
+ 20 people willing to donate $100 each;
+ 40 people willing to donate just $50 each;
+ 200 people who are willing to donate just $10 each!

For the cost of two tickets to a concert, the cost of a nice haircut with blowdry and style, or even the cost of brunch at your favorite mom and pop restaurant: you can make a contribution to help thousands of couples struggling with infertility in the New England region and help support an organization that's near and dear to my heart :)

In full disclosure, the money will be donated directly to my PayPal account. The only reason I'm not asking for donations directly to RNE is because my husband's company will match charitable contributions... so that means, if I meet my $2,000 goal, I'll actually be making a contribution of $4,000 to RESOLVE of New England!

Again in full disclosure: since your donation is made to me, it is not considered tax deductible. RESOLVE of New England is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your contributions are tax deductible only when you make a contribution directly to them. If you'd like to donate directly to RNE, please click here, but before you do, check to see if your employer or your partner's employer has a charitable matching program. That way, even though you'll get the tax write-off, we won't lose out on the ability to match your donation, even if it's through a different company.

Please consider making your contribution today, whether you do it for yourself, a loved one, or if you've conquered your infertility... do it for your children! It's a great way to celebrate your victory.

I'm pretty confident I can hit this $2,000 goal, even with 200 people at just 10 bucks a pop... let's see how fast we can do it!