So, I met a long time friend for a drink tonight. She and I became friends in 8th grade-- so quite a while ago. We had many fun adventures in high school. After freshman year of college, we started drifting apart, but have remained friends through the years. I maybe see her 4-5 times a year now, so not often. It was fun to catch up with her, but some of the conversation was strained. "I have a question for you, that is a little...." Inappropriate? "sort of..." Ok, well, then you'll understand if I don't answer or whatever "Sure.... are you having fertility issues?" Uh.... what would make you ask that? "Well, you mentioned on facebook something about going to the doctors. And you left a comment on some video of someone's baby that they are lucky. And, I can tell that you're not that happy." Uh.... ok. Yeah, we're having difficulty conceiving. "Is it anything that can be fixed? I know how much you want kids." ...
Oh, I'm so sorry you are feeling this. I think for us it was the opposite. After the diagnosis my husband became a little less interested and I sort of tried to overcompensate. I don't have any suggestions. It probably isn't that you aren't attracted to him. Infertility is so stressful. Not only does it cause sadness it puts a lot of pressure on sex. Now that you know you aren't going to get pregnant by having sex you've maybe brushed it off.
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize with you on this - though in our case it seems like both our sex drives have gone down. I think we're both depressed and I am hoping we can get things going again. IF is so hard on relationships - my only a$$vice is give it time and, w/r/t sex, do it even when you don't quite feel like it. (So easy for me to say - I totally don't practice that, so feel free to disregard!)
ReplyDeleteIf you figure it out be sure to let me know! I pretty much hate having sex all the time now. Stupid IF
ReplyDeleteAfter our MF IF diagnosis, we did go through a period where we were not having sex as often because our sex drives were not there. I knew it was important for Hubby, so we did get it together. After a while, and after the initial shock wore off, we actually found it sort of freeing. Sex is not linked to fertility and conception anymore. It gave us some permission to play in bed, and just enjoy each other. We could have sex anytime and anywhere and any way we wanted. That was a pretty fun realization.
ReplyDeleteI find that reading a book or doing something else to get me aroused and then immediately initiating can help when I am not in the mood. Otherwise just doing it even if you don't feel like it can help to get back into a rhythm that you might have lost.
ReplyDeleteI am sure it is just a temporary thing though!
I'm sorry. This is definitely a big issue for IFers, and I think male-factor can add some additional stress. I don't have too much advice, except that I loved this article/answer from Mel a while back. An interesting way to think about things, and maybe get them kick-started:
ReplyDeletehttp://stirrup-queens.blogspot.com/2009/01/barren-advice-twenty-six.html