Showing posts with label VALENTINE’S DAY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VALENTINE’S DAY. Show all posts

Thursday, February 14, 2013

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO YOU!!!!!







Throughout my struggles to conceive, many Valentine’s Day had me hoping that this would be the time I finally conceived, and so I would make the Day special for us. If I am not mistaken, I think our daughter was conceived somewhere around Valentine’s Day in 2011.

With this said, trying to conceive can be so consuming and leaves not much room for romance. Here are 8 creative ways designed to make things sizzle this Valentine’s Day, courtesy of Fertility Centers of Illinois.

Who knows, this might be well worth it.......

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Valentine’s Day While Trying to Conceive: Keeping the Romance Sizzling
Fertility Centers of Illinois Shares 8 Ways to Spice Up Your Relationship When Trying to Get Pregnant
Trying to have a baby can be, well, trying.
For couples trying to conceive, staying up-to-date on monitoring ovulation, charting basal body temperatures, and timing intimacy can take a steamy bedroom setting into the cold.
For couples pursuing fertility treatment, it is very common for emotional and physical intimacy to decrease. Going through fertility treatment can be emotional, grueling, and exhausting for couples. Life’s everyday challenges can cause any couple to hit bumps in the road. When infertility is added to the mix, couples may feel overwhelmed with how to overcome this challenge as a strong, balanced unit.
“Treatment can take couples through a rollercoaster of emotion,” explains Dr. Jane Nani of Fertility Centers of Illinois. “Couples find great help in speaking with a counselor, and often find their relationships are stronger at the end of the journey.”
It is important for couples to understand they are not alone. Working together equally during the entire process – learning about infertility, supporting each other, and making treatment decisions – will strengthen your relationship.
With a little creativity, couples can make a swift u-turn back to the romance they once had.
1.    Recall Your Most Romantic Moments
What was it that made you fall in love?  What were the most “swoon-worthy” moments? Close your eyes and imagine those moments all over again, but don’t keep them to yourself. Write a love note to your partner recalling the reasons and events that made you fall for him or her, and seal it with a kiss.
2.    Get Your Heart Pumping
Working out decreases stress, improves health and increases happiness. Go for a walk or hike together, or try a new physical activity together. Partner Yoga at Pulling Down the Moon on February 15th is a perfect opportunity – couples of any experience level will learn how to stretch and breathe away stress, while reconnecting the body and mind – together. Learn more or register on their website.
3.    Set A Fun Goal Together
Want to have a weekly date night for the next month? Have you always wanted to ballroom dance? Want to finish a half marathon in the summer? Want to start a couple’s food and entertainment blog? Studies show that the more couples invest time in doing fun things together, the happier they are in the long-term. In the name of science and happiness, pick a fun goal that you can work towards together, and focus on achieving it.
4.    Mum’s the Word on Trying to Conceive
Taking a break from infertility talk can give you the strength to revisit treatment with new resolve and optimism. What you are going through as a couple can be tough, and everyone deserves a break. Make a 48-hour rule to take a break from infertility, and focus on fun instead.
5.    Get Out of Town
Changing your environment can shift your mental outlook, allowing the head space you need to gain perspective, release stress, and have fun. Take the weekend to ski in the Rocky Mountains, drink wine in Napa Valley, sit on the beach in Mexico, or surf the waves in Florida. Kick back, relax, and focus only on enjoying each moment together.
6.    Love Me Tender
See where your partner is truly at and what they need, both in life and in the treatment process. Infertility can affect your partner’s self-esteem and depending on the diagnosis, can make a man or women feel “defective” or “incomplete.” Discuss where you're at, what you need, and how you can help each other. If treatment has caused challenges, being tender and attentive can help put a relationship back in balance.
7.    Recreate A Movie Moment
Kiss under a full moon, hold hands as the sun sets, embrace in the middle of a rain storm, watch the clouds while holding hands during a picnic lunch. Who says that romantic movie moments can only star John Cusack or Ryan Reynolds? Make your own!
8.    Double Date
Spend some time with another couple -- preferably one without children.  Go on a double date, and spend the evening having fun together, discussing current events, upcoming travel plans, and the latest in entertainment.
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Fertility Centers of Illinois, S.C., is one of the nation's leading fertility treatment practices, providing advanced reproductive endocrinology services in the Chicago area for more than 30 years.  FCI physicians, embryologists and support staff are stringently chosen based on educational background, medical skills and their ability to collaborate. With a team of 10 nationally and internationally recognized reproductive physicians who treat thousands of patients each year, the practice has earned a reputation for overcoming hard-to-solve fertility issues. FCI is dedicated to medical and clinical excellence and continues to invest in the latest technologies and research. FCI offers a comprehensive range of fertility treatment options including intrauterine insemination, in vitro fertilization, donor egg, gestational carrier, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis, as well as extensive resources to address financial and emotional needs. Fostering a culture for continuous innovation has made FCI home to the annual Midwest Reproductive Symposium which attracts experts in the field of reproductive endocrinology from around the world.  FCI has 10 offices conveniently located throughout the Chicagoland area (Buffalo Grove, Chicago/River North, Crystal Lake, Glenview, Highland Park, Hoffman Estates, Lindenhurst, Naperville, Oakbrook Terrace, and Orland Park). FCI is a member of the Attain Fertility Network which provides discounted fertility treatment programs. For more information visit www.fcionline.com
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Saturday, February 14, 2009

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!!!!


Valentine’s Day has taken on new meaning for me since the birth of our son almost two years ago. It is such a beautiful experience as I am now experiencing a love unlike any other that I have experienced before. It’s the love for a child, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, a love that is so full, so complete and so unconditional. This gives me so much joy and I am much happier, more fulfilled and feel eternally blessed.

I believe it is indeed love that made this all possible and I cannot think of a better day than Valentine’s Day to say this. It was said that our daughter gave her life so that her other sibling/s might live. She purified my body of all the toxins brought on by my struggle with infertility. The stress, the depression, the fertility drugs and miscarriages. At first it was hard for me to see it this way, as I could not come to terms with the fact that someone so innocent, so pure and precious could be sacrificed in such a cruel way. It was only when I was presented with my beautiful healthy son, then and only then did I embrace the fact that this is indeed so. My delivery was difficult, yet he was resilient through it all. More resilient than I was, as I came down with a fever. Our daughter was watching over him. Our daughter gave her life without even knowing it, (and that’s the beauty of it), so that her brother could live. WHAT GREAT LOVE. That is why she is in heaven with the one who did it first for us all, gave his life so that we all can live.

I believe our daughter is watching over us and she lives through her brother, as one child could not be so smart, so innocent, so daring, so full of life, such a blessing to have.
We are not able to do anything fancy this Valentine’s Day because of the global economic crisis. I am quite alright with that because I have the two special men in my life and it does not matter if we go out or stay home. We still have a love that binds us all together, the love of family, to celebrate and that can be done without money.

Last year we decided to go out and took our son with us. Why we did this was because we found that he loved his car seat and when we took him out he would just sit in it very quietly and look around. We decided to brave it and take him with us to have dinner. He was quite alright, checking out the scenery and seemed quite happy with himself and so we proceeded to having our dinner, and thinking that we have the best son in the world. A couple minutes into dinner, lo and behold he started fussing, luckily a waitress was available and so she took him while we finished our dinner. Flushed with embarrassment, I finished my dinner, not even tasting it anymore (to think that it costs us so much and I was not enjoying it anymore). We finished our dinner, paid the tab and left quickly, vowing that we would find a babysitter next time. OH THE JOYS OF PARENTHOOD.

To all of you struggling with infertility and holding out hope that one Valentine’s Day you will be able to experience love of this kind. I cannot say it enough, DO NOT GIVE UP, keep on doing what you are doing and one day, your efforts will I am sure be rewarded. In the mean time for Valentine’s Day, you could do something special for another child, a needy child perhaps. You’ll feel so good about yourself and that will put a better perspective on Valentine’s Day for you.
AGAIN, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY