Have I ever mentioned how much I love my family? Cuz I do. A lot. 🙂
 |
| Back: Brother, Dad, C, brother-in-law, probable future brother-in-law 🙂 Front: Sister, Mom, me, Sister, Sister |
This blog started out as a very private outlet for me to talk about my weight loss and eating disorder issues, among other things. Mixed in with that were sprinklings of my frustration that we weren’t pregnant yet. We had only been TTC for a few months and hadn’t yet figured out that I had amennorhea, thanks to PCOS, and we were still hoping to share a “surprise” pregnancy with our families.
Hahaha.
Now, nearly two years later, there are a handful of “real life” people that follow this blog – my Mom and sisters included.
 |
| Our annual sister pic! |
Honestly, it has been so helpful to have this connection with them. They all live 1,000+ miles away, and IF is such a complicated process – some days it was just nice to have them be able to read about what was going on and then call me to talk about it / ask about it, instead of me repeating the BFN misery stories over and over.
Slowly but surely, I’ve also shared this space with a few other close friends over the past year or so. Yes, it moderates what I write at times, but for the most part, I write what I feel, because I’ve made it clear to those that follow me from real life that this is my safe space, my venting space, and to please not take things personally.
That being said, I feel like I’m at a crossroads…
*More and more people in know IRL are finding my space here, from a random old college roommate (who was looking for it) to a girl from my high school who was googling PCOS fertility issues (and randomly recognized my picture!). While I love that this space is here for people who need information on IF issues, it’s a little disconcerting to know that anyone can read this. Yes, I know, blogging is done in a public forum, and I try to never write anything that I wouldn’t be comfortable with my Mom reading (because she does!), but it’s just weird sometimes to think about. 🙂
*I’m pregnant, and though this didn’t start as a fertility blog, it definitely became one, and I know that the vast majority of my followers have IF backgrounds. While I try to be sensitive to that, I also want this to be a true documentation of my pregnancy, and if that includes posts about the misery of never-ending puking (and yes, it sucks, even though I am beyond grateful to be pregnant and have that problem!), so be it. I hate that I feel a need to write a disclaimer on every complaint. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know how grateful I am to be here. If you can’t handle the occasional complaint or weekly belly picture, I’m really sorry, but this is my space. My journal. I see my followers number go up and down on occasion, and I get it. I know it’s hard to relate to someone who is in a different space than you. I follow a lot of IF bloggers, and there are only a few I’ve had to “unfollow” once they became pregnant or became Moms, but I get it if you need to do that to me.
*Now that my life isn’t completely consumed by BBT, EWCM, OPKs, HPTs, etc… the content of my posts has changed. In the beginning my blog was about more than TTC, and now it’s reverting back to that state, albeit with a little more openness than before. I like posting about my family, my friends, and my life. Then again, I have a public blog that is sorely neglected because I’m in this space so much. Do I meld them? Do I quit posting about family here? I don’t know.
So that’s where I’m at. No closer to an answer, but sometimes just typing it out helps me to think about things. 🙂 In the meantime, enjoy this video of my silly family making a “whirlpool” at Mom & Dad’s last weekend. The things we do for fun… LOL
I will never stop following you just because you are pregnant. I love to read about success stories it gives me so much hope! I am lovin the belly pics!
Just a suggestion, so please take it that way…Might be time to consider going private, that way your followers can continue to follow, but you don't have to give the password to anyone whom you don't want to follow you. And it won't be available to the public.I think all your updates are great, even if they don't directly apply to IF and TTC
Like I told you when you were here (and you've told me a few times)….it's your blog, you can bitch if you want to. :)Also, unrelatedly, my sisters and I used to do that with a "pool" at my grandma's house. I use the term pool loosely, as it was more a trough than anything else, but we thought it was heaven on earth.You and your sisters make me miss mine. As per usual.
Like Bradshaw said, it's your blog and you can do whatever you damn well please with it!… as long as that doesn't include cutting me out of your stalker circle because I love reading about all the parts of your life :)But seriously, we will all understand if certain aspects of your life are no longer discussed, if some become significantly more common (hello, you're having a baby!!!!) or if the posts all of a sudden stop altogether. Blogging is a weird, weird thing and I don't think any of us know how to stop doing it.
I can relate to many things you write about – fertility being the way that I found you, but realized when you are working through your other issues, they are similar to those that I have too. It's a great blog really, you've helped me tremendously. I love that you are pregnant, it gives me so much hope and I love to hear the things to look forward to (or what will suck, like heartburn :).We used to do whirlpools in our "pool" too, except it was a cow trough. 🙂
I've thought about all of these things too, it's a tough decision. But I love reading your blog and I'm glad you've made it to pregnancy!!
Sounds like we are at a similar place right now, but I agree with all the comments above, and what people told me on my blog. Write exactly how you feel. It's going to be so cool to go back and read these posts 20 years from now. You'll want to remember how YOU were feeling.I used to make whirlpools in my parents pool with my brothers..until our pool collapsed!
I love pics of you and your sisters. Did I ever tell you that I have a friend that is the lost Volstad sister? I do, I'll show you her pic sometime. Crossroads or not, we love you. Keep on keeping on, you'll figure out what this space is supposed to be.
Yay for family! Yours is beautiful. Judging from the comments above, you have a lot of support. You have my support too! Do what feels right.
You made me cry with your stupid whirlpool JOSEY. I thought my family was the only one that did that silly stuff! Le Sigh.
What a beautiful family 🙂 I really like following fellow IFers who've "crossed over" into pregnancy! It gives me hope and there's something extra special about it, knowing that they've been in my "shoes."
I had the same issue… two blogs – one for every day stuff, one for TTC, IF, pregnancy and pretty much left the old blog. I think you should meld the two. The people here following you care about YOU the person (who happened to have IF issues). 🙂
Your post is not the first post I have read all these concerns for us expecting mothers. This is how I look at my blog, it started out the same for me, a place for family and friends to go to read about our IF journey so I didnt have to repeat myself but it has become so much more. Followers may go up and down but you just remember that this is YOUR blog and its YOURS to look back on and if you want to post about your family or what you had to eat that day, then do it! If it offends anyone, then they will move on….Soon, this will be all about your baby and parenthood. That is what blogs are, they grow with you. I hate when people go private because they are hard to follow BUT if you have that concern, go for it. I know this probably didnt help answer what you want to do but hope it helped you understand you are not doing anything wrong by posting what you want when you want, its blogging! PS…my sisters and I love to do the whirlpool too…so fuN!
I'm just going to throw this in there on top of all the support that I completely agree with. When you were going through the unbelievably not-so-fun parts of the first trimester, it gave me so much strength to see another infertile dealing with those struggles right along with me. I felt really alone and didn't know what to do, how to talk about it, where to turn. I would check your blog EVERY day (even though I couldn't do much typing or posting at that point) in anticipation of seeing how you were doing and what you were saying about that misery we went through. You gave me a voice. We were (are) both SO grateful for this amazing journey, but holy hell that was brutal. And there's plenty more that will be brutal about pregnancy and even parenthood. Thank you for giving me someone to relate to, and know that what you're feeling/writing could really help someone else out there who's feeling the same and possibly like there's no one else who could understand.
You are so cute. In every way. We get that you get it and that's what makes you special. I got a separate blog for my FET so that my family and friends would not know about it. It works better that way. Hope you come to a decision you feel good about. I love seeing your family and your life unfold. Can you set your privacy settings to be just your followers? On blogger at google, you can say you don't want to be found on the Internet. All the best!
It's your blog. You've got to write about what is going on with you. Whether someone is struggling to get pregnant or not, they've been following your journey and want the best for you. Can I just tell you that I watched that video about 5 times and laughed every time!?!? What a great video! I love it!
Hey I somehow lost your email address even though I know I have emailed you… weird. The password is FordFocus, feel free to read it, I am really fine with my normal readers reading it, but I was being a tad paranoid of some random stragners finding it…. if that makes any sense. I think it is great you are close with your family and that you are joyful and honest about your pregnancy, I admit I sometimes don't read ebcause of wherever I'm in at my mental health place, but I always come back and I don't begrudge you posting whatever you want to post, this is definitely your space! Every time I see a picture of you on here smiling I find myself smiling contagiously too!
Hi Josey – I found your blog through Mama M's blog one day…just stumbled upon it. We are one week apart in pregnancies…to the day. I am 20 weeks on Thursday. I thought that was so neat and have enjoyed reading your pregnancy posts and the different things you experienced on a daily basis. I'm 36, so concerned with how my age affects the pregnancy..it has been really nice to read your thoughts and symptoms. You obviously have every right to post what you want on your blog and also to make it private – but I wanted you to know I have enjoyed and related to many of the things you have posted. Thank you!