About This Blog

Hello Lovelies,

I am writing this post to explain my reasons for starting this blog and also to cover the name I chose for it. Enjoy!

Why blog about infertility?

Why in the world would someone start a blog? Well, for starters, it is actually a lot of fun. It is also an incredibly cathartic experience. The road through infertility has been a difficult and heartbreaking one and to be able to write it out has been like therapy for me. Also, I have always been an over-sharer and so this MASSIVE scale of over-sharing is very enjoyable for me, maybe I am a bit of an attention whore… call it what you want, dear reader, it doesn’t stop my enjoyment of the process.

As incredible an idea as writing a blog was, it wasn’t fully my idea. Aim your gratitude at my husband. While I am a writer, I just never really considered blogging. That was until I was having a particularly bad day dealing with infertility crap and my husband suggested I make my experiences into a book. I laughed it off and said something like “Oh sure… or a blog! HA!” and went on with my day.

But, like an ear worm, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. The idea kept coming back up, until it was pretty much impossible to ignore. A blog… hmmmm. I had been having a horrendous time trying to get knocked up and was starting to really lose my grip on it. Eventually, it got to the point where I would Google everything fertility related, especially the emotional ups and downs, trying to feel connected. To someone, ANYONE! My search for other blogs was helpful and it got me to thinking that I really should start my own. At this point, I still didn’t really know how to start a blog, so I decided to research it further. I really needed to feel a sense of community through this journey. And isn’t that what blogging is about? Sharing your experiences to bring laughter, solace and a sense of understanding to others? To create a kind of safe haven for people who are going through similar things?

The more I thought about it the more it resonated with me. Writing a blog is a lot like journaling, which I have done all my life, but for a public audience. Maybe I really would do this! Maybe my stories and anecdotes WOULD make for good reading material! Hopefully someone, somewhere, could take my experiences and find it helpful. You and I are going to find out together, reader! I hope they make you feel connected and understood. Know that you are never alone in this journey and that others understand and care about your sanity. Once I had convinced myself I had to go about bringing this blog to life!

What’s in a name?

To be honest, the name came pretty easily to me. As soon as my husband suggested I write about my journey the name “Unpregnant Chicken” just popped into my head. For one thing, I absolutely adore chickens… in my kitchen I used to have seven ceramic chickens , until it became clear that I was beginning to look crazy, now I have my best three on display and the other four morosely relegated to my laundry room… Chickens love their babies and are very broody by nature. This means that they waddle around all puffed up and protective of their brood and are very doting. I feel very broody and am lost without actual babies to brood over! It’s just another part of the infertility journey that sucks, you feel maternal before you get the bump and the baby to go with it.

It is also meant as a funny take, kind of a flip side, on an existing pregnancy blog. “Pregnant Chicken” is written by the hysterical and sarcastic Torontonian, Amy Morrison, and I love her! If your infertility mood swings can take it, and you won’t dissolve into tears because of all the pregnant bellies and baby posts, I highly recommend taking a trip over to her blog for some chuckles and solid pregnancy advice (maybe pass it along to your annoying, glowing, pregnant friends). => http://www.pregnantchicken.com/home/

To be clear this blog was not started because of “Pregnant Chicken” or in response to her site. No infringement is meant. But, I do think she really grasped something that was needed in pregnancy! Morrison called herself the “Pregnant Chicken” because she found pregnancy so overwhelming and scary that it made her into, well, a chicken! All of the information out there was just too much and she froze up. Luckily, for us in internet-land, she was able to laugh at herself and use these feelings to start her blog. The name just made sense for her. For me, I really wanted to bring you a witty and scathing report on infertility, like she does for pregnancy. There needs to be a more unapologetic voice out there on infertility. Someone funny and yet cutting and truthful to the extreme. I want to be that person! Infertility is just as overwhelming as pregnancy, if not more. Everyone at least EXPECTS to go through the trials and changes of pregnancy. No one expects this shit! And so…

The Unpregnant Chicken, I am!

So, if you ever find yourself chicken and overwhelmed by this shit journey… If you are looking for a place to unwind and laugh at the process, or just to lighten your mood… This is the place for you!

Welcome to any and all. I do hope it helps!

Love,
Unpregnant Chicken

P.S. I haven’t talked much about the design of the blog, but as soon as I had the idea to create it I knew how I wanted it to look. I even spent some time browsing different fonts on the Fontspace website. However, that’s about as far as I could get on my own! The banner design for the site 1.0 was illustrated by my incredibly talented friend Aynsley Graham and designed into the web friendly version you see by Taylor Jackson. The revamped blog 2.0 was pulled off with the help of the talented Chrissy Jackson Marquardt of Webspyred Media. Thanks go out to all for taking my idea and making it kick ass! You all rock!