Consolation Prizes

We infertiles get told all too often that there are reasons to be happy we aren't pregnant and are living child-free. As I've discussed before, some of my personal favorites include:

"At least you can fit into your favorite clothes."

"At least you can eat whatever you want."

"Enjoy sleeping in; that will stop when you have kids."

Umm, gee thanks. Those all seem like equal trades for a baby. But let me be honest, when aunt flow shows her ugly face, or more recently, when I get negative beta results, I immediately partake of some "consolation prizes". I think we all do. Probably, the most popular is to sip on a glass of wine or drown sorrows in a pitcher of margaritas. I rarely ever drink alcohol for a variety of reasons, so that's not the option I go for. But there are some options that either take my mind off the sadness, or allow me to relax and process the sadness. So what are my consolation prizes in lieu of a baby growing in my uterus? I'm glad you asked.

For starters, I am particularly fond of baths. Always have been, always will be. My doctors have never specifically said no baths, but I know I read in multiple places that they are ill advised. Husband is very anti-bath, so I abstain. Post bad news, I take a long, hot bubble bath because there is nothing growing that I might possibly boil and I no longer care if the smelly stuff messes with my pH.

Glorious, steamy, hot bubble bath.

Secondly, caffeine. Umm, hello heaven. I know I should probably just drop caffeinated beverages all together, but I tell myself I deserve it. So I indulge in all forms: coke, coffee, chocolate.

First coffee in a month… Pumpkin Spice

This past failure in particular, one of my consolation prizes was a hummingbird cake. Hummingbird cake is my second favorite cake (carrot cake takes the top, but that's coming for Thanksgiving). My mom shows love via baking and when she feels helpless to fix me and make me smile, she bakes me a cake. Thanks momma! Cream cheese icing works wonders on the broken heart.

Yummmmmmmm.

All this indulging has made me think of other "good things" about infertility. Now granted, they don't in anyway counter balance the horror that is infertility, but hey, silver lining and all that, I've got to look for something.

Good things:

1. No vasectomy. Nope, I will never have to subject my husband to this particular procedure. He should thank me, right? I don't think any man wants to have his hmmm hmmm snipped. A vasectomy can apparently cost up to $2,000 too, so the cost savings here is amazing.
2. No condoms. Under the same thought here, we will never need condoms. Nope, no threat of unwanted pregnancy here. Hate those pesky rubbers? Don't you wish you were me?
3. No birth control pills (or other methods). Are you sensing a theme here? Well you should be. BC pills made me crazy, literally. I will never need those suckers again. And Sam and I never have to argue about whether the birth control will fail because I want to wait 30 minutes until the end of the show… When I say he was serious about some birth control, I mean it.
4. Taking life for granted. When it seems like babies are made every time you take your clothes off, it might appear that this is just the way it is. I no longer see it that way. EVERY life is a MIRACLE. There are about 8 billion (I counted) things that can go wrong on the way to making a healthy baby. The fact that you are here on earth is not a mistake, nor an accident. If you have a little one of your own; it's called a gift.