…or Begins. Depending on how you look at it. After almost a year of blogging all the news your womb can use, this will be my final week here at Fertility Notes and at b5media.
Sniff.
But don’t you be sad! You can still find me at my private blog (you can email me for details) and at www.nationalparksonline.net, our newly revamped blog chronicling Michael’s and my two-year road trip to all of the National Park sites across the United States and keeping you up to date on national park news. If you’re interested, I am working on some pretty neat …read more

Back in April, I mentioned the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act, a piece of legislation which would provide critical resources for the treatment, prevention and cure of childhood cancer. Why? Because infertility and fertility issues are common long-term effects of radiation and chemotherapy, especially when treatments occur during or before puberty. Cancer can be cured, but the shadows cast by the cure are long and lasting of those of us lucky enough to survive the disease (and the cure).
Since I wrote to my Congressmen about the Act, I received the following update from CureSearch.org:
The bill, first introduced in the Senate by …read more

All of the commenters on this post agreed that yes, definitely, more information on fertility issues and infertility should be shared as part of one’s education. Perhaps in sex ed; perhaps in psychology. I even put in a vote for it as a topic to be covered in “Christian Marriage” or “Social Justice” for those condemned (er, I mean, attending) Catholic School. But there is definite consensus around the fact that we should, as Pamela Jeanne said,
“be straight about the facts so that a new generation of young men and women can be aware of their basic ability to conceive …read more

Friendly reminder: NaCoLeavMo begins today.

The what you say? That’s not a word. Did she make that sh*t up? I didn’t, but Mel at Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters did.
What’s it all about? It’s National Comment Leaving Month (the national refers to wherever you are reading) from May 25th to June 25th. A full month of intense comment leaving. Go here for the full list of bloggers and readers who are participating. Stop by any blogs of your choosing and try to leave at leave five comments each day. Why? Because we made a promise to nurture ourselves this …read more

I am taking this gorgeous long weekend to replant some herbs and plants and enjoy fertility of a different kind. But before I head into the sun, I want to share some news around the b5media Health & Wellness channel that might interest you:
1.) Elaine at Genetics and Health reports about a new study which connects specific genetic mutations with premature ovarian failure, a cause of infertility. Check out her post entitled, Infertility, Heart Disease, Osteoporosis and Genetic Mutations.  I’ll try to add more information here as it comes available.
2.) Liberty at HealthBolt warns that using Viagra and trying to …read more

I’d like to think that every post at Fertility Notes is fascinating, scintillating, thought-provoking…but this week, the Health and Wellness channel has asked us to pick our top five. So here are mine – a combination of my favorite, your favorite, most commented, most viewed:

Breaking News: Teens Can Get Pregnant After Having Sex – Thank you, Miss Jamie Lynn Spears for making this one of my most viewed posts. But there’s more to the post than that. You should read it to find out what.
Does It Bother You to See Other People’s Babies? I said no, not so much. Most …read more

May 15 is Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day. I hate feeling left out, so Fertility Notes has joined the charge!
In my mind, reproductive rights and women’s right to affordable and accessible health care are human rights issues. I think the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights agrees with me. Article 16 in it says:
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be …read more

May is Mental Health Month, but don’t worry. I’m not going to tell you to “just relax.” This year’s theme is “Get Connected.” Let’s talk about that.
In celebration of the event, I want to remind my readers that in addition to their online resources and forums, the National Infertility Association RESOLVE actually offers two different types of “real life” support groups – one led by mental health professionals and a more informal peer-support group often known as “coffee and conversation.”
RESOLVE understands that,
Making the decision to join a RESOLVE group can be difficult for some people. It may be …read more

The Kentucky Derby is an event that always gets me emotionally. Even if I know none of the back stories, even if the first time I see a horse is when its bursting from the gates, watching it push through to the finish line and then seeing the joy rushing out from its owners, its jockey, everyone involved with it to that point is simply overwhelming to me. A few tears always sneak out when I don’t expect it.
We were caught up in the celebration of Big Brown when we heard, like everyone watching, that Eight Belles, the horse that …read more

A few months ago, I wrote about having a perfect opportunity to talk about infertility with another young woman. Like a fool, I let it slip away.
Believe it or not, the opportunity presented itself again. This time, I took it.
And it was so much easier than I thought it would be.
This time, we were driving back from another overnight trip for work, (one in which I had surreptitiously slipped into the bathroom of our shared room to shoot my lupron that morning). We were talking about kids and our general annoyance with them (yes, it’s true, just because I …read more