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Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter odds & ends

  • I know, it's been quiet around here lately... the muse just hasn't been with me.
  • It's Easter. Dh & I have been spending a quiet day at home alone -- as usual (see Easter 2008 20092010 and 2013)(unless you can count Aunt Flo as company :p ). As I said in my comment to Mel, I always start out thinking this year will be different and that Easter isn't going to bother me -- but then people start talking about their plans for the long weekend and what they're going to have for dinner and what they're doing for the kids, and then the photos of egg colouring sessions and candy hunts and Easter finery start flooding my Facebook feed....
  • It's also dh's cousin's son's 16th birthday. He's 6-7 months older than Katie would have been;  I was newly pregnant at his mom's baby shower. It was bittersweet to type out happy birthday wishes for him on his Facebook wall this morning.
  • Today's show on "The Vinyl CafĂ©" this morning on CBC Radio was spring-themed -- and after the story (which usually gets me sniffling at the best of times), they played the Beatles'  "Here Comes the Sun."  Hearing those words, "Little darlin', it's been a long cold lonely winter..." I started sobbing. It HAS been a long, long, dreary, grey, cold winter, and at times it felt like spring would never get here.
  • Work has been a real slog lately. More & more changes to deal with. Part of me feels I am really way too young to be thinking about retirement, and part of me just keeps repeating, like a mantra, "22 months... 22 months..." 
  • (This probably deserves its own post, but for now, this will have to do.)  The government of Ontario recently announced plans to fund one cycle of IVF with single-egg transfer -- something like five years after a blue-ribbon panel on family building issues recommended full funding of three IVF cycles (among other measures). Reaction has been mixed:  IVF advocates are disappointed that the government didn't go further, since just one single-egg transfer cycle will be funded (although I guess even that is progress). Others, of course, argue that IVF coverage is a "frill" that we can't afford in this economically constrained environment.  In fact, the health minister herself was saying not too long ago that the numbers just didn't add up;  suddenly, she's gushing about how she can't imagine life without her family and how the government wants to help more people realize that dream, etc. etc.  Of course, it's all still just a "plan" -- specific details TBA. And of course, there's an election in the offing -- which the government may very likely not win = a promise they won't have to deliver on. Call me cynical, but I'll believe it when I see it. 
  • ETA: I completely forgot to add that Pg Coworker wound up going back for the cerclage. She was off all last week but should be back next week. Everyone at work, of course, assumes that everything will be sunshine & roses from now on... fingers crossed that that is indeed the case...

4 comments:

  1. That darned muse does like to go AWOL from time to time - I can relate! Anything you write is worth waiting for though.

    I'm sorry that Easter is tough for you. It usually isn't at all for us - but I will admit to having a moment when my SIL sent all these photos of her and her family at the beach, doing lots of fun things. Even though we saw them all at Christmas with nary a twinge, it was the photo of them all on the quad bikes that got me. So sending hugs.

    IVF funding really isn't a big deal here. It isn't overly generous (unlike in Australia), but the change from funding one cycle to two cycles (providing there is a single-egg transfer) got little publicity, and certainly wouldn't be seen as an election issue. It is always interesting to see how things are dealt with in other countries.

    Fingers crossed for you and Pg Coworker. I can understand your concern, I think. I know so much more now about everything that can go wrong, that I cringe when I hear people assuming everything will be, as you say, "sunshine and roses."

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  2. Yes, I know, Easter is tough. Because people with kids always have so many projects for long weekend.
    Mine was quite, as always. Time for long walks and planning time for my vegetable garden and reading books. And reading blogs.

    Here comes the sun... I know.

    Hugs from Europe.

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  3. I saw this post and wanted to share it with you--I love A Cup of Jo blog. A couple months ago, she featured a post about stillbirth and today's post was about being childless not by choice. She has a pretty big following, and while she hasn't experienced either stillbirth or infertility, she puts stories like ours out there, which I think is so great.

    http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2014/04/motherhood-mondays-what-if-you-cant.html

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  4. @Brooke -- thanks, that was a great post! I've added both blogs to my reader.

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