A whole lot of (blog) lovin’ going on

I have to say, when I started this blog I never thought it’d get much traffic.  I shared the link with my core group of infertile friends in the computer, I shared it with my support group, and I shared it with a select few real life friends.  That was good enough.

Suddenly, I’m finding myself receiving e-mails at a rapid clip with some pretty startling bits of news, offers, questions, and surprises.  First, there was the nomination.  Then, the ever-amazing Jay (@the2weekwait) wrote to ask whether I’d like my blog to be featured as Fertility Authority’s Blog of the Week.  (And, of course, the answer was a resounding “YES!”  My blog will be featured in Fertility Authority’s Daily Shot newsletter next week.)  At the same time, many of you have used my contact form to reach out and ask for assistance – tips on managing thyroid disease and infertility, questions about how to successfully run a support group, wondering how they can help fundraise for RESOLVE or become more active as an advocate.  To all of this all I can say is I’m totally not worthy.  I just wanted a place to tippy type out my measly thoughts each day.  How did that act of extreme narcissism result in such a warm and fuzzy giving back feeling?  Blogging is truly incredible.

Aside from totally flooring me, all these offers and queries have made me realize something else.  Whether I planned it or not I suddenly have a (somewhat) powerful voice in this community.  Despite my accidental activism being the topic of my NIAW post this year, I never fully realized how the act of blogging would extend the reach of my influence.  And, that’s a pretty heady realization.

You see, in my “real life” I operate in a professional world in which you always back up your sources, you always do your research, and you eat, sleep, live, and breath your research area until after years and years of immersion in this academic milieu (or indentured servitude) you might slowly start to make your mark.  You may slowly start to have influence.  And, that’s if you’re lucky.

So color me surprised that after a few months of bantering about on the Internet about my lady bits, disdain for doctors and insurers, and the advocacy of others, I’m suddenly some sort of (minor) somebody.  That’s a lot of pressure!

So, I’m going to slowly start passing along a little some of this attention and the resources that come with it on to you.  Separate from my selection as Blog of the Week, I was contacted by another person at Fertility Authority asking the following:

Would you be interested in working together to direct those visitors looking for clinic information to our FertilityAuthority services? We have a toll-free phone support system for folks looking for clinic or treatment information. It’s free, and we leverage our relationships with clinics to get folks in faster, help step them through any cost questions, etc and help all parties throughout the process.

Now, I’ve never had much trouble getting appointments with REs, but that’s out of some sort of dumb luck, or my bad choices in picking sub-standard REs (quite likely), or because with my wonky months-long anovulatory cycles its not like I’d ever be able to plan a consult for a “good” time of my cycle.  I know that plenty of others do have trouble finding and getting quality medical care in a timely manner, and if Fertility Authority can help with that, totally more power to them!  I also bopped around a bit on their site this afternoon and was happy to see reproductive immunology, childfree living, and other topics very important to me represented on the site.  I don’t know how they monetize their services or how their business model works or any other such stuff, but I don’t really want or need to know.  That’s for potential clients to figure out (and if you are a client I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!).  What remains for me to do is simply to say that this service exists, it looks pretty exciting to me, and wish you all well.  If there’s one thing you can never have too much of in this IF battle, it’s support and information.  Fertility Authority offers both.  And, that’s pretty damn cool to little old me.