6 Ways Infertility Sucks That Nobody Ever Warned Me About

Every day of your IVF cycle is monitored and planned, including the pregnancy test after your embryo transfer. It may not seem like much to some, but knowing that you'll never even have the option of surprising your partner with a positive pregnancy test can leave you feeling robbed of one of life's simple joys.

If you're one of the really lucky ones, meaning you have completed your family and have healthy embryos to spare, you're then faced with a seemingly impossible choice as to what you're going to do with those remaining embryos. You can donate them to science or another couple or discard them. Those options all seem reasonable until your children are born, and you can put a face to those tiny snowflakes. Of course, you can keep them frozen indefinitely, but that option comes with a hefty price tag.

When you're desperate to start a family, the fine print on the information pamphlets accompanying some of your medications warning that you may be at a higher risk for certain types of cancers won't faze you. But when you're done with your treatments and you think about how you've taken that cocktail of medications almost half a dozen times, every strange ache, pain, or cramp could leave you wondering if it's something more sinister.

If your treatments were successful, you'll feel like you're on top of the world each and every time you look at your child(ren). But every once in a while, someone else's surprise pregnancy announcement or the lingering aftermath of the financial hit you had to take may dredge up those ugly feelings that come along with knowing just how unfair an infertility diagnosis is.