The excellent Suzanne Reisman kicked off the Letter to My Body project and now I get to carry the torch forward and invite you to write a letter to your body while reflecting backwards on the letters that have already been written.

This week, the New York Times ran an article about the present-day era of twins and how the run of multiples will peter out as technology becomes more advanced and single-embryo transfers become the preferred choice of reproductive endocrinologists in America as they already are the preferred choice in many clinics overseas. The author, a parent of twins, touches on the obsession the outside world has with noticing and discussing multiples. The author offers this simple explanation for the abundance of twins in New York City. Of course, there’s nothing freakish or remarkable about how so many twins came to crowd the preschools of New York City. Older mothers are more prone to throwing off two eggs at once, but they’re also more likely to have trouble conceiving, and opting for in vitro fertilization. (The number of twins nationwide has increased by 65 percent in the past two decades).

The summer between my sophomore and junior year of college, I went to Oslo for three weeks to accompany a friend on a camping trip and ended up backing out at last minute. There I was, stuck in Norway, with several skeins of yarn and an apartment at my disposal, but no food. I went to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients so I could make dinner and after hitting the fruits and vegetables, quickly became lost when I entered the land of cartons and cans.

You don't understand, so let me explain. We thought we'd be able to have children and then we couldn't. It wasn't a choice to enter into treatments/adoption/donor gametes; it wasn't an option. Having a child may feel like a choice to you, but it isn't to us. You and I will need to disagree on that, because you'll never change our feelings about having a family be a need over a want. When we're cycling--whether we're trying naturally, doing minimally invasive treatments, or doing invasive procedures--I am riding on a roller coaster of emotions. I am angry. I cry a lot. I am frustrated. I am told one thing and another happens. No one can give me straight answers. No one can make real promises. We pay A LOT of money for the chance to have a child. This money does not guarantee that we will have a child at the end of the day. Read More...