Waiting for Daisy

Last night I finished Waiting for Daisy, Peggy Orenstein's memoir about her experience with miscarriage and infertility. On a writing level, it was a great, fast read--her writing is funny and self-deprecating, not at all whiny.

Being that I've been fortunate enough to never deal with miscarriage, it was eye-opening to read about her three miscarriages and how she dealt with each. Much of the book takes place in Japan, and she notes how in Japanese, there's a word for a miscarried child--mizuko, or "water child." She writes of shrines set up throughout Tokyo with statues of children where people leave gifts to honor their mizuko. So fascinating, and heartbreaking.

One aspect of the book, although well written, irked me. There was an undertone of disdain for fertility doctors. Orenstein had a crappy experience with fertility doctors--she went through two IVFs and one donor egg cycle, none of which resulted in pregnancy, all of which seemed poorly managed. Her four pregnancies (the miscarriages and the final, successful pregnancy) all started between the sheets. I'm really not doing my point much justice, but trust me in that the reader is meant to infer more than just coincidence.

Orenstein's voice is a great one, and I recommend her book. At the same time, she's inspired me to continue to put my own voice out there, to stifle the stigma that fertility treatment is nothing but a scam.

A quick pregnancy update to say that everything is going well! Sometimes in the evenings my husband and I sit on the couch and watch as she kicks and pokes from within my belly. It's pretty damn cool.

Tomorrow morning I hit up the lab for my GD test. Not the most exciting thing, but it's always good to knock-out a milestone.