Recently facebook as reconnected us with old friends. In this case, it was my husbands former best friends from very early in life through high school when people moved and lives changed. Last night we went to meet up with them and had a cookout and all the kids got to play. The one has 3 kids, the other has 2 with another on the way in Dec. I just knew going that the dreaded question would come up. And within the first half hour, when Dennis brought up the fact of all the little people running around he was asked right in front of me "Well what are you waiting on for those 2 more to join us?" (his comment was about them each having 3 kids already)
All he said was it's not always easy, and then was asked if K was planned for. Which he replied very very much planned and wanted. End of story. Apparently men don't talk about it at all and when it gets to subjects like infertility, they change the subject. I survived that one and didn't have to talk about it. Just sat there.
A few hours later when I escaped to the warm inside, the other wives were talking about pregnancy and babies. The pregnant one is due in Dec and said she just loves babies and loves being pregnant. The other one has a 5 month old and was saying the same. I sit quietly hoping I don't get noticed. Then its noticed that I'm not joining the awww babies everywhere conversation. And the pregnant one asks with semi attitude "Well don't you WANT more kids? How old is your son??" So I was already pissed over a certain snippy woman smoking while pregnant and the on going talks and I snapped "I CAN'T have more." Then it got quiet. The other one was really nice and said she was sorry, and then started on how she has family that was told the same thing and they adopted and got pregnant after adopting. Several people apparently. It was like 10 more mins of awkward unwanted advice. The whole time, the snippy pregnant girl wouldn't say anything else. Which is fine because I'm still like thisclose to snapping if I would have seen her light up again. Finally K comes running back out and has a meltdown about someone not sharing something, we see the time and go get Dennis to leave. He apologizes over and over about me having to deal with the questions and being uncomfortable on our ride home. I bite my lip the whole time to keep from losing it and crying like an idiot while trying to drive.
But it only took that one visit. One visit to bring back all the hurt and everything that I've been doing ok with for the past month. It's not fair. The one who was pregnant yesterday was the one I had the most issues with. She is really young, was smoking a lot, and just acted stupid. The other one is a little older, more understanding and honestly felt bad for talking about all the baby related talk before knowing. I wish my husband would just have said something prior. I don't think it's that much to ask that when they are talking about kids, just mention we can't have more easily. Maybe it would have been shared in advance. Or maybe I expect too much. I'm just bitter. It doesn't seem fair to me how the ones who really don't care and can't think about their baby over themselves, seem to reproduce like freaking rabbits. One of these days I might bite my tongue clear off while trying to keep quiet. Eventually I'll hit that breaking point. Maybe I need to just avoid social settings and look like the stuck up wife that doesn't want to be around.....
I am so sorry, Michelle, that you had to go through that.
ReplyDeleteWish I could send you a ((HUG)),
Pattie
OMG, I would have slapped the crap out of the smoker.
ReplyDeleteWhen I would sense those types of conversations coming on, I try to go somewhere else to avoid them... which typically means playing with the kids (so I look busy) but sometimes women like that are just nosey and actively try to bring that stuff... women are jerks.
And the adoption comment just proves that she's an idiot.
Sorry about that.
Sorry michelle....it is hard to people to understand infertility unless they have been there. They just assume it is easy!
ReplyDeleteHUGS!!!