Comments on: 7 Quick Takes – Miscarriage Edition

By: Barb

Barb — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 01:12:26 +0000

I’ve been through several GYNs myself; there was that secondary infertility that I never did bother to have treated…and then there were the complications. Just curious–have they done any checking to see if you have endometriosis? That’s the diagnosis I finally had, and the pieces all fell into place.
Prayers that you find a way to be healthy and have a healthy pregnancy in your future–and that the doctors you see are understanding and good listeners and respectful of your beliefs.

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:04:48 +0000

I will email you after this week is finished. It’s been a particularly rough one, and I haven’t had time for much more than working, eating, snuggling the boy, and sleeping.

By: nancyo

nancyo — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 04:55:51 +0000

Classes are useful for learning icon painting, but are neither cheap nor often convenient. Are you arty in general? That does help, although it’s not as mandatory as many many other forms of art. I didn’t see contact info on your site, but you can find my email from this comment and get in touch with me that way.

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:55:47 +0000

Oh wow, I’d love to know the process of writing icons. Thank you! We live in the Houston area. There was an icon writing class here I think last winter, but it was during the work day and about $200 apiece, so it wasn’t viable. I would love to learn though.

By: nancyo

nancyo — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:29:21 +0000

I began taking icon classes 5 years ago. The curve is not as steep as you might imagine and so rewarding. I don’t think I know what region of the country you’re in, but I’ll be more than happy to share information and experience – really.

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:21:07 +0000

Hahaha, I can’t even find someone from whom to purchase more charts and stamps. I tried using an Excel spreadsheet, but it upsets my CDO.

By: Foxfier

Foxfier — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:36:19 +0000

Have you been able to find someone that does Natural Family Planning?

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:17:41 +0000

My theory is that it’s entirely a luteal phase deficiency. But I prefer to treat the deficiency and be healthy rather than just take hideously expensive progesterone supplements every first trimester, and as far as my reading has taken me, there are no main stream treatments. Standard OR experimental. Some of the Creighton centers are supposed to have treatments for some hormone issues, but I can’t afford to go to them. It’s maddening.

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:09:52 +0000

I understand asking the question, it’s a very natural question to ask. It’s really specific phrasing and tones that get to me. The “Is he your only one?” with this little twist of the facial expression is enough to switch my expression from hobbity cheer to greasy smear in a nanosecond. Combox Inquisitors can be just as obnoxious in real life.

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:02:06 +0000

Thank you for the prayers. The sad thing is that this is the OB I like! He’s the least bullying, but blunt. I probably deserve him. My last OB was nicer spoken, but it was strenuous business disagreeing with him.
And thank you for those Google searches! I had looked a little, but hadn’t come up with much. I’ve even contemplated writing my own icons, but that would be a steep, steep learning curve. Tempting, given my nature, but maybe a mistake.

By: GeekLady

GeekLady — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 12:46:16 +0000

Well you know me, Cat. I went in there loaded for bear and ready to eat him alive at the least sign of physician pushiness. Poor man.

By: melaniebett

melaniebett — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 03:52:55 +0000

Praying for you. I’d be going crazy with that kind of attitude from doctors too. Round here I suspects it’s impossible to find doctors who will try to treat the cause of the miscarriage rather than jump to IVF etc.

I like the new blog title. Look forward to hearing more about it.

I’ve found that sourcing icons directly to Orthodox sources gets you much better selection. I bought a bunch of prints for my family from the Orthodox convent of St Elizabeth a few years ago so that each of my three older kids has an icon of one of their patron saints. They were great quality prints, though odd sizes and thus hard to frame. It is so awesome to finally have an image of my own patron, St Melanie. She is impossible to find at Catholic stores, being an Eastern saint. (My parents chose the name in part because they’d attended liturgy at a St Melania’s Byzantine church in Tuscon.)

Anyway, you’re in luck! A Google search found a few options for St Rebecca. Here’s one: http://www.archangelsbooks.com/proddetail.asp?prod=HTM-A112

another one here: http://www.comeandseeicons.com/r/inp50.htm

I can’t wait to see pictures of the updated oratory once you acquire some icons.

By: Mad Auntie Mo

Mad Auntie Mo — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:50:26 +0000

As a childless woman who was not able to conceive even *before* cancer removed the possibility completely, I find this subject hits home hard. I have learned to answer, “Do you have kids?” with “We weren’t blessed that way” when I want to say, “Why I don’t have kids is none of *your* business.” Really, people, someone else’s reproductive status should never be a topic of conversation unless the someone else has brought it up. Bitter, me? Nah.

And you know what? EVERY woman of childbearing years whose reproductive history I am in any position to know has had fertility issues of one kind or another. Seriously. We are all of us hurting in some way, and doctors, especially MALE doctors, would do well to remember that.

By: Cat

Cat — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 21:04:59 +0000

Yeah, my old OBGYN told me that I was crazy for not being interested in the latest and greatest reproductive technologies. He told me that lots of other Catholics didn’t feel the same way. I should have fired him then. There are good people out there who will be respectful. Keep believing that and they will find their ways into your life.

By: Foxfier

Foxfier — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:08:22 +0000

Yeah, the “let’s use a sledgehammer! Why are you even interested in something more delicate?!?” stuff gets on my nerves, too.

Depending on how willing you are to talk about it, you might try answering the “how many kids?” question with “only one has made it, so far.” A lot of women have lost their kids– thank God, not me, yet– before they could be born, and I notice a lot of them have a hard time figuring out how to convey it.