Dear Prudence: our advice column addiction
Oh, guys, this whole TTC journey is just so ridiculous, it’s a shame that it would be wildly inappropriate to share our funniest stories with people who know my husband and me in person. But thanks to internet anonymity, I can tell you about the hilarious interaction that my husband and I had today.
We were sitting down to eat a delicious dinner freshly prepared by my wonderful live-in chef (i.e., my husband — we do approximately equal shares of cooking, and he’s really good at it!). As we always do, we started telling each other about our days. When I was done with my recital he said,
“Are you sure that’s all you have to tell me?”
“Um… yes?”
“Promise?”
“… Yes … ????”
Then he told me about his day. At the end, he said that he’d been reading Dear Prudence (a Slate advice column that we’re both addicted to) and had found today’s column particularly interesting. I said that I hadn’t read it yet, but would check it out tonight.
“Oh, really. Are you SURE you haven’t read it?”
“Um… yes?”
“Promise?”
“I swear it on my life!”
He made me promise six more times that I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I really didn’t! I swear it to you now, and I swore it to him over and over again!
Then he told me about one of the stories in today’s column (the first letter on Page 2). He spent the whole day convinced that I was the author!!! It’s pretty funny, because it really does sound like it could have been written by me, and it describes our recent situation almost perfectly. I’d even been contemplating how to bring up the possibility of discussing his ED with a doctor, and had been scheming to gently bring it up before our RE appointment in May. Not that it’s been a huge issue for us — we’ve managed just fine in the end, thanks — but I know it’s been causing him stress (which is a familiar downward spiral to many infertility patients) and I thought it might take some of the pressure off to fill a prescription and have it around, just in case.
As ultimately positive as it was to have this discussion (it was a really lighthearted way to talk about something that is clearly a sensitive subject), I have to say that I’m relieved he took it so well. He was clearly just amused by the whole thing, instead of upset because he though I’d aired our problem on a national news site that thousands of people read every day (my mom included — we’ve passed on our obsession to her!). As we were laughing about it, we agreed that it was a shame that this wasn’t the kind of funny story we could tell to anyone we knew — but then I realized that I could tell it here!
So, that’s our absurd escapade on the TTC journey today. Despite this new wrinkle, we timed things very well again this month and are now just sitting out the two week wait. I’ve recovered from last week’s daycare setback after a wonderful weekend of visiting family and friends leading up to a lovely Easter celebration with my family, and am feeling more like my old buoyant self these days. I hope you’re all enjoying some springtime sun wherever you are!
The Pregnant Physicist 
It’s funny little moments like this that make this entire TTC journey almost comical. Glad you guys had a good laugh!
Thank you! It’s so easy to cry about things, but much better when you get a chance to laugh. 🙂
I’m with you on this after my kitchen bath incident earlier!!! There are some truly ridiculous moments along this journey aren’t there?! I’m glad your husband saw the funny side, you have to laugh don’t you?! Xx
Definitely. 🙂 It’s good to find some things to laugh about in all of this! It was fun to read your story today, and to imagine your husband fending off the plumber!
Ha! I could have written that about my husband last month. He got some “stage fright” as I called it. We laugh about it now, but I was in tears when it happened. This is all just so stressful sometimes!
Oh, yes, I hear you! We were laughing about it this month, but last month when he had trouble the night of the positive OPK I burst into tears. It was fine in the end — we just tried again in the morning, and it worked out. But it is SO stressful to think that you might waste a month! And he’s just as stressed about it as I am, which is part of the problem!
The commenters on the article keep suggesting that the wife just not tell the husband when she’s ovulating… ha. I’ve been regular enough this time around that my husband knows the timing almost as well as I do. (It’s not hard to count two weeks from my period…) It’s the kind of thing that you just can’t understand until you’ve been there — both the stressful side and the funny side!