I met the married couple who write Married And Childless at Fertility Fest. Both myself and Steph at World Childless Week would have happily dragged Michael to the stage because he spoke so movingly about infertility from the man's point of view. His wife, Vickie is an extraordinarily astute woman who had all the right words in the two days we spent together. They hail from Australia so I think they must be the most well travelled in the audience and I hope that we'll remain friends for a long time. I felt like I had known them for years.
I really do urge you to read their site especially if you're a bloke as Michael authors a lot of the content. I speak to Kenny, my husband about our infertilty a lot, but it's enlightening to us both to read Michael's perspective.
The mental health impact of infertility on men is a difficult area to quantify. It can be incredibly difficult for men to talk about this with their partner, family or friends. And the impact on a marriage, as Kenny and I have found, can test those vows. It's also evidenced in academic and medical studies as shown here.
“Infertility sometimes deniably can ruin the life of the people that would devastate their power and possibility of a fruitful life. Therefore, holding supportive consultation meetings and taking advantage of support of a psychologist or a counselor in the medical field would be so beneficial for reviewing psychological and emotional needs of the infertile people and reforming and changing their relations particularly relations between the spouses.
Lack of knowledge due to cause of this problem and the treatment process would lead to exacerbation the stress. Receiving comprehensive information about its cause, follow-up, treatment process and stages, probable side effects and high rate of medical expenses are the inalienable rights of the infertile couples. Appropriate informing and establish a greater intimacy between the medical staff and the infertile people is an effective step toward reducing their stress caused by infertility. In line with this, holding justification and briefing classes for the medical staff about the importance of improving this relationship and providing measures for reducing working pressure and stress of the health staff along with respecting the clients will be inevitable.
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So we all urge you to talk. Here's the link. Do please let Michael and Vickie know what you think about their site and if you're not ready to start blogging, then I welcome your story with your feet selfie on Walk In Our Shoes. Here's how to send yours in.