Interesting...

(Took these photos this morning... been stormy around here but nice to spot some signs of spring! These are flowers of our nectarine tree...)

(See the little buds!)

This past weekend, including Friday, I attended a 3-day course and it was really good- just got really physically tired by the end of it. Out of just nine women there, there was one who was pregnant (of course!) and at first I didn't notice, so it caught me a bit by surprise (surprise #1).

However later on when we were all chatting, she openly mentioned that the baby she was expecting was an egg-donor baby (surprise #2)! That was the first time I'd ever met someone who'd gone down that route.

For her, the major reason was her age- she is 48 (surprise #3)! (She looks like she's 40.) And even though she's had two kid previously, her husband felt very strongly about having another child and that's why they are...

They even spent a fortune and went all the way to the U.S. to get the egg-donor (surprise #4)! Crazy huh...

Now I am not here to unpack all the ethical and moral issues with having a child when you are older and also having an egg-donor, I know there's a lot that could be discussed, but it was definitely interesting.

I think I'm noticing that infertility has made me a lot less quick to judge about this kind of situation. The 'pre-IF' me would be more immediately critical about it and yet now I've learnt that there is a lot to this desire to have children and it is hard to know when to keep trying and when to stop. Also, as I'm a Christian, there is a certain framework from which I may make decisions about these things, but for others, it is not quite so distinct.

Anyway. Not quite sure if this makes sense and why I brought that up but it was quite fascinating for me...

Maybe despite the complicated issue that it is, it simply just represented hope for those still waiting? (Even though I'm definitely not considering trying at 48!)