Since this is a blog about fertility and adoption, what would be better than to discuss the finer points of beer. All wine drinkers out there, bear with me, I’m going somewhere with this. For many beers, the name somehow embodies the beer you are getting ready to enjoy. For the true beer-enthusiast, the name will guide you when searching for the perfect pale ale or stout to start your weekend of mischief. For Candace though, a wine drinker by the way, the names of the beer were a tool to tell a story and make the burden of infertility a little lighter for me. I know, she is sweet, blah blah blah, “Chris you are so lucky to have such a perfect wife!” yada yada, I know. Why do you think I put a ring on it?
Let me tell you the story. Candace and I on this round decided DAMNIT! We are going all out on this one! It is our last shot, we are giving it everything we have and then some. That comes with the unintended result that Candace will be taking a ton of medications. A hormone cocktail if you will. Here is the list: progestrone, dexamethasone, estrace,estradiol, heparin, intralipids, a prenatal vitamin, DHA, vitamin D, baby aspirin, and her lovoxyl. Count it up… I’ll wait…11! Since I cannot partake in any of the awesomeness that is having your entire hormonal balance being thrown out the window, I decided that would be the nurse. That means, every day I make sure she took one medication first thing, along with a heparin shot prepared by yours truly. After work, she took the remaining medications for the day including a heparin and progesterone shot. Also, I kept track of which day she needed to switch out her estrace patches. It was a lot to keep up with but nothing in comparison to the impact it had on Candace. I was glad I could in some way give her 1 less thing to worry about. She had enough.
How do the beers in the picture above play into all this? One day, Candace wanted to thank me for taking on the role of nurse. Instead of wearing a French maid costume (kind of can’t in the throes of an IVF transfer round), she did the next best thing, got me a 6-pack of hand-picked beer. Only these were selected to tell a message. Let me see if I get this correct. Candace’s message reads left to right in the beer bottle picture:
On our MISSION to have a baby, you may think that I am a RAGING BITCH at times. All of the medications have turned me GONZO and made me a RAGING BITCH. Just know that in our quest for the HOLY GRAIL of starting a family, I LOVE you and thank you for all you have done.
Sweet right? I told you I knew I had to put a ring on that right away! Anyway, I thought it was awesome that Candace got me this gift to thank me for being her nurse and I am reluctant to admit that none of these beers survived much longer than 2 weeks. I can say that most of them were awesome. If you can get over the name, the Raging Bitch IPA was really good. Terrible picture on the label though. So, to all those out there in the battle, look to the labels to bring you some peace. I know it made me feel better.
Candace’s thoughts:
I AM SOOO HORMONAL RIGHT NOW!!!… Angry, Weepy, Borderline Crazy, Tired, and my butt really hurts. What are we talking about again? Oh! My apology beers I gave to Chris. Let’s just say he has been a real trooper. I have no control over my actions or the profanities and angry tirades that fly out of my mouth right now. Please pray for him.
Angelica Astry says
I just saw this post, so cute!! What a cute idea Candace, you are so clever!