I feel like the media world is taunting me with pregnancy related shows and topics. A few examples:
1. I'm currently reading Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green. In the book, one of the main characters is desperate to have a baby with her husband but is going through infertility. Since he has two children from a previous marriage, he thinks they should be happy as things stand. The book describes this woman's longing for a child of her own. She finds happiness with her step-children, but is struggling with a void, a longing, that she feels can only be filled by a child of her own.
2. I watch a lot of FRIENDS reruns on TBS. They constantly cycle through seasons (I'm pretty sure they only have the rights to about 10 episodes per season and they start the whole loop over when they reach the finale). I'm always taken aback at the episode where Phoebe becomes a surrogate for her brother's children. She takes a pregnancy test the same day as the egg transfer. The same damn day and it shows up positive! Seriously, who edited that episode?
3. On a recent episode of Grey's Anatomy, Meredith felt her baby move (even though in the previous episode she had just reached second tri...but we'll let that go). In the same episode, which was supposedly later the same day, Derick was able to feel the baby move too. I could be wrong, but I was sure it took several weeks past when the mom feels the baby kick to when anyone from the outside can feel the baby kick.
I know I'm more tuned into pregnancy related topics since TTC, but these stood out to me. The first because the details given the book so closely mirror my own. Based on the details she gave, I assume the author has, as some point, has had trouble trying to conceive. The second two stand out to me as reasons why there are so many misconceptions floating around out there related to TTC and pregnancy.
Wow that book is my situation exactly, except my DH wants to have a child with me just as bad as I do, I will def check it out thanks!!
ReplyDeleteIt was a pretty good. The book later becomes more about her relationship with one of her step-daughters, but the beginning really struck a chord with me.
DeleteI agree with baby stuff being all.over.the.place. I've learned to accept it because otherwise it would drive me nuts. I mean, almost every show I watch has babies/kids this year. Modern Family, Grey's, HIMYM, Pretty Little Liars, Raising Hope, The Office, Walking Dead, Shameless, Justified, etc. The list just keeps going on.
ReplyDeleteThe Friends thing is SO rediculous. They used to show 8 episodes a night on TeenNick that I would watch when my insomnia flared. Everything about ALL of their baby storylines were rediculous. How on earth did Monica and Chandler's surrogacy agents not know that their surrogate was carrying twins. This is a pretty big deal and would have had to been disclosed in their contract. The timeline with Rachel getting KU was also all messed up, too.
As for Grey's - I'm pretty sure she hit 12 weeks earlier this season. Because of her previous loss, she wouldn't even let herself 'believe' she was KU until she hit 12 weeks. She didn't tell Christina until she was closer to 20 weeks, because she was constantly worried something would go wrong. She felt the baby kick after her 20 week anatomy scan (which Dr. Google says is normal).
Grey's is acutally pretty accurate most of the time (not all of the time) with it's medical stuff. They have nurses on set and they even have a portal on ABC's website that lets you learn about the cases from each episode, which can be fascinating. The thing Grey's SUCKS at is Timeline. The first three seasons were the first year of residency. They've sped up and slowed down so many times, I'm not sure what year they are in now. Sometimes one episode spans multiple weeks and other times there are 2-3 episodes dedicated to only a day or two in the hospital. Their floating timeline makes it hard to really pin down where they are at on the show. I'm still pretty sure Mer was closer to her second trimester when she even found out (she didn't test early because she wasn't even trying) and waited until after the a/s to tell Christina (who already knew because she was starting to show).
The bigger fertility issues I had with Grey's was 1) Sophia being a very small preemie (under 30 weeks, I believe), and yet has zero medical complications and was perfectly healthy the next episode while Callie was still recovering. 2) Meredith had an early miscarriage (I assume it was early - she just found out that day that she was KU, although it could have been 8-12 weeks, I guess), which is tragic. But after a few months of trying, they went running to the fertility doctor. They did one round of meds (straight to injections) and stopped because her eyesight was hindered. I had eyesight issues as well, but they were able to switch my meds, no problem. Her impatience infuriated me - just because she's a doctor doesn't mean she gets special VIP treatment, but she's a Grey, so she basically gets everything she wants. :P
I completely agree that poorly written shows and movies are what help perpetuate all the misconceptions out there about fertility and getting pregnant. Characters think they're infertile just because it has taken a few months. On shows that are not based around medicine, I can almost forgive this. If the writers didn't struggle with IF, they might not even KNOW that it is normal. They mess up other medical stuff all the time, but because we're TTC, we notice the fertility stuff more. Entertainment always glosses over and sugar coats storylines and I am often left wondering who is in charge of examining the script. On shows that do have nurses on staff, I find it lazy and annoying that certain things go through them, like fertility issues.
DeleteHopefully you can find some shows to watch that give you a reprive from constant baby drama. Sometimes we all need a few shows that let us zone out and NOT relate to it so much. Personally, I use 'Community' and 'Go On' as my go-tos when I need a baby break.
Love your blog! (P.S. This is BBG, if you couldn't tell :P)
Haha! I should have known. Who else can speak so eloquently? <3 you BBG!
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