“Only the Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent.”

This blog is pretty obviously an anonymous one and for good reason. No picture of me up for all to see…. And only initials for hubby and I anywhere on here. I’ve chosen to make this blog anonymous (rather than password protecting my entries) because I’d rather be able to connect while all of you other folks out there who have “been there, done that” while keeping the news of our plans and progress away from disapproving friends and family…. Namely, my mother in law.

I do love the woman. She produced and raised my wonderful husband (and two other equally wonderful boys) under tough circumstances. She’s a creative soul and rather outdoorsy- hiking the White Mountain Range in New Hampshire each summer with her own siblings. She is also an extremely conservative and vocal Roman Catholic. I was also raised Catholic with twelve years of Parochial schooling under my belt as proof. That’s about where the similarities in beliefs end. She’s a staunch Republican, and I’m a Democrat/ bordering Green Party-supporter. She actively and regularly protests outside of her local Planned Parenthood with her fellow church members. I would not. Given her history of beliefs and the idea that the church frowns upon most if not all ART procedures we are pretty sure she would not react well to the idea of science giving her a grandchild. (I honestly haven’t read up on this beyond the Pope claiming MFI is due entirely to pollution from chemical birth control residue, so what is cool and what is not is beyond me…. I consider myself Catholic on paper- Catholic enough to give my husband the church wedding he wanted while keeping my distance from what I don’t agree with.)

Religious babble aside, hubby and I are 100% certain that his mother would be critical at best of any grandchildren produced through artificial means, as would my only living grandmother (also a very conservative Catholic.) I hate having to sneak around… most of my friends and coworkers are aware of what hubby and I are going through. My own parents and siblings know (as does one of hubby’s brothers.) MIL is net savy and has a Facebook account. We don’t speak of our IF struggles there and have begged our friends and my family not to mention it there. I also have a Livejournal blog where nothing of our IF struggles are mentioned due to people I cannot trust. It seems at times like our IF struggles and triumphs are one big secret operative mission at times. Well wishes before appointments, blood work, and HSGs through text messages and private emails rather than through Facebook wall posts. I suppose as long as we get our baby in the end and most people aren’t aware of how he/she got here…. No harm, no foul, right?