Infertility in Modern Media

As far as I have experienced, infertility has kind of been a dirty little secret.  Nobody talks about it openly, until recently.  I am seeing more and more coverage coming out in the media.  Not just celebrities who are ponying up to the fact that they struggled with conceiving, but actual sitcoms and reality TV shows covering this issue, if not being solely dedicated to it.  Here's some recent examples:


Guiliana and Bill - If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know I have talked about these folks before.  Here's one post.  Guiliana is on E! News and her husband, Bill Rancic, won the first Apprentice eons ago and is now very successful doing something in real estate.  They have been TTC for a while now and essentially their reality show is all about the process.  For friends of mine who read this for the sole reason that they love me and don't experience infertility first hand, watching Guiliana and Bill is a great way to understand a little bit.  They have done many of the things we have and still have had no success.  Their first show of the season is on October 11th on E! at 8 pm.  They also just published a book, which of course I bought.  Once I finish, I will let you know how it was.  Their show also feels less scripted than many others out there.  J and I watch it together and one of the things I love it, is he learns something.  He isn't reading the books, so if this is the way we educate him on this stuff, I'll take it!

Rules of Engagement - This is a HYSTERICAL show that J and I watch together (there are very few that we both like equally) that is a sitcom.  It's about a married couple (Jeff and Audrey), an engaged couple (Adam and Jenn) and a single guy (Russell) who is a "player" for lack of a better term and his very well-educated assistant, Timmy.  We had been watching this show for a couple years when all of the sudden Audrey and Jeff were starting to talk about having babies and fertility treatments.  They do it in a fun way, but they also don't do it without emotion.  They have done shots, they have had artificial insemination, they have even looked for a surrogate.  It's refreshing to watch a show that is scripted talk about an issue that I am dealing with.  The show is very funny and J and I are often laughing at the same time.  But it is also very refreshing to hear about what they "feel", especially Jeff, because J can be a little tight lipped sometimes.  So for some fun and some education, go watch.  They don't talk about it every episode, but maybe every other.  It's on Monday night at 8:30 pm on CBS.

90210 - I grew up on the original "Beverly Hills 90210" show.  I even remember watching it with my parents at times and discussing what happened because it was the first show that I recall talking about teen pregnancy, underage drinking, etc. that I wanted to watch.  Well, the original ended years ago (although I can still catch it on the Soap channel every so often), but the new one has gotten addictive as well.  I didn't expect what happened on Tuesday to happen though.  I was watching it and one of the girls (Annie) started to feel as though her boss (a woman) was hitting on her because she was complimenting her on how pretty she was and how easy it was for her to stay lean.  Then, the boss' husband came into the picture and started to agree, so now Annie thinks they are swingers.  They had invited her to a BBQ that weekend and she was trying to figure out how to politely decline.  When Annie goes to tell her boss this, the lady sits her down (and at this point I saw it coming - or what I thought was going to happen) and tells her that her and her husband have been trying to conceive for a long time, and would Annie be willing to donate her eggs to the couple.  I thought they were going to ask her to be their surrogate.  But still WOW and out of the blue.  I can't wait to see this pan out!  90210 is on the CW on Tuesday night at 7 pm.

The last two shows that have brought a lot of light to the subject of infertility are The View and The Doctors.  I've had friends tell me they watched that just because of me.  It's very refreshing!  And I feel very loved.  Someone I care about is watching something so they can better understand something happening to me, or at the very least, hope they can give me a tidbit that maybe I didn't know before.  The 2nd rarely happens, but the thought is sweet.  The shows don't air regularly, but when they do, it tends to take up the whole hour. 

To finish, I'm very glad that modern media is jumping on the bandwagon and finally bringing light to this subject.  Hopefully, it will become easier to fix, or at the very least be more well-known about so people aren't afraid to talk about it or don't make asses of themselves when they try to. 

Thanks folks and have a great week!