Next up on my blog is someone I've been 'friends' with on Instagram for a while now. The lovely Claire blogs at You And Me Are Family and she started her blog after previously blogging about planning her wedding in Spain.
Her blog is a mix of craft, cooking, musings and, more importantly, her and her new husbands journey trying to conceive their first child.
This is a lovely and very honest post about her feelings...
When Will Two Become Three?
Hi everyone, my name is Claire and I blog over at youandmearefamily. I am really excited to be guest posting for Heather while she is away having so much fun with Mickey and Minnie. Thanks Heather for having me!
My blog in my head was meant to be a little bit of everything and I am hoping that it has stayed that way, but recently I have been blogging a little about something really close to my heart at the moment and I would love to share it with you.
My blog has been very theraputic for me recently, I decided to take the plunge and blog a little about a subject that doesn't seem to get talked about often, trying to conceive. I was scared of putting it out there, of telling people of our journey - I don't know how better to describe it, I suppose some of the words you could go with could be trek, adventure, roller coaster or ramble through life, take your pick of any words that can describe, highs, lows, positives, stresses and our love for one another and you will have managed to sum it up.
I have had to learn a whole new language, who knew that getting pregnant had some many special words for things. I've found a whole new world and found some great support and friends along the way.
It's not been easy though and we are still not there yet. It has been nearly a year now of actively trying, a lot of longer of just not playing it safe and yet our dream has not come true yet. It hasn't been helped by me turning 35 this year and if you read the books, this seems to be the time when you suddenly become less fertile. So you go through all the worries, you know that little voice we all have in our heads, yes that's the one, Mr Negative, the one that creeps up on you when you are least expecting it and trying your best to be positive and whispers a little thing in your head that makes you drop all positive thoughts and only focus on the negatives. I have met Mr Negative so often over this journey, he sneaks in every once in a while but I'm pleased to say most of the time I beat him, but boy it's hard.
I always thought that falling pregnant was easy, well at least that's what they always told me at school, but once you look into it it's actually quite hard. On average most couples have a 1-6 chance of conceiving each month, this does increase with time and it's estimated that within a year 84% of couples will be pregnant and 92% within 2 years (Pregnancy figures) which is good news for us as we come up close to a year of trying I'm hoping that we will soon be falling into the 84% group of people.
At the minute we are going through some fertility testing, just to rule things out and help us both worry less that there is something wrong, hopefully we will be able to relax a little in the knowledge that we will soon be joining the ranks of parenthood. In the meantime, I love following parent blogs, they really help me to believe that one day we will get there.
If you know someone who has shared they are going through difficulties in trying to conceive with you can I please ask you one thing? Don't tell them to relax, to not think about it, simply just listen to them, it's a harder journey than anyone can imagine, I'm sure some of you lovely readers have been there and know only two well. I just wish we felt able to talk about it more with each other, I for one am happy I have shared it and hope by doing so it helps others even just a little not to feel alone.
Claire x
You can find Claire here:
http://youandmearefamily.com
https://twitter.com/manxclaire