Infertility Awareness Week

It's Infertility Awareness Week again! Resolve has a great Infertilty Awareness Week line up. Although I would love to participate in the conferences, support groups and 5k walks, none of those events are happening in Oklahoma. (sad face) But, I have read all the articles and watched the videos. To do my part in spreading advocacy, I will once again write about my infertility journey.

The theme for this year's awareness week is to start the discussion. Infertility remains such a taboo topic. There are tons of women out there who feel embarrassed and ashamed when they're asked when they'll finally start a family and have kids. But why? Infertility affects at least one in eight women of childbearing age. It's a normal thing.
       I, for one, am not ashamed. If you're unlucky enough to ask me when I plan on having kids, I won't dance around the topic. I will tell you that I have severe endometriosis and it has damaged my reproductive organs so I am now infertile. You will either 1. feel horribly uncomfortable and walk away or 2. continue talking to me ...
      We can talk about how you read in a magazine that Chrissy Teigen had an IVF.
      We can talk about your friend or cousin or coworker who also struggled with getting pregnant.
      I can explain what endometriosis is and you can say that you read Lena Dunham's tweets.
      You can empathize.
      You can learn.
      You can realize that infertility is a real thing and now you know someone who has this issue with their health.
      It's no longer a foreign & strange disease.  

I want this on a t-shirt but I can't find it online or on Etsy. Anyone know a screen printer who can put this on a shirt for me?

Besides just blogging about infertility and endometriosis, I want to actually do something for Infertility Awareness Week this year.
       I have a craft show this weekend. I will be at The Handmade Show at The Crown Center on Saturday April 30th. I need to sell ten pillows per show in order to make back my costs and labor. Any more pillows that I sell, it's just profit. At my show this weekend, I will double any profit and donate an equal amount to Resolve and The Endometriosis Foundation. So, hypothetically, if I sell fifteen pillows, I get $50 profit... I will donate $50 to Resolve and $50 to The Endometriosis Foundation. Please, please, please come out to The Crown Center to support not only RagsReborn but also help me donate some money to a good cause.

Did you know that March was Endometriosis Awareness Month? Nah, probably not. Don't feel bad because I didn't either, and I have the damn disease! Padma Lakshmi, created the Endometriosis Foundation of America (http://www.endofound.org/).

I have suffered with endometriosis since my first period back in high school. Everyone who is diagnosed experiences it differently, but for me, endometriosis causes debilitating pain during my menstrual cycle. My flow is also extremely heavy and longer than the 3-5 days average. Gross, I know. Here's a pretty good article about the disease: http://www.refinery29.com/endometriosis-symptoms-surgery-period-pain. Luckily for me, both my primary care physician and OB-GYN recognized the symptoms and I wasn't treated like the poor woman who authored the article.

So, "what is this odd disease?" you ask. Tissue that is supposed to grow within the uterus grows outside of it and pretty much anywhere else it feels like growing. I have growth all along my Fallopian tubes (which are completely damaged and that is the primary reason why I cannot get pregnant) and my left ovary is literally covered in the stuff. I've had surgery to remove some of the tissue but there is no cure. It will continue to grow and grow. The only thing I can do is to just manage the pain. Don't tell anyone but I am probably addicted to Motrin and Naproxen.

It's taken me thirty years, but I've finally "found myself." If I had to make a family crest, here it is:

I am a PROUD rescue pet parent.

I have endometriosis and am UNASHAMED.

I am a HARDWORKING small business owner.

My three passions in life are pet rescue & adoption, infertility & endometriosis awareness and acceptance and RagsReborn Gifts.

Thanks so much for reading this blog. Thank you for listening to me rant about a health issue that is often overlooked. And, please, please, please come out to The Crown Center to support not only RagsReborn but also help me donate some money to a good cause.