Go Figure

I really don't want my blog to turn into a page that chronicles one women's struggle with fertility so I've refrained from posting anything further about the subject since my original post back in December. However, this is worth sharing as it just might make you laugh and brighten a rather dreary (but unusually warm!) day.

Since finding out about PCOS in September I've done a lot of research online and joined many a TTC (trying to conceive) forum where I could get all my questions answered without pestering my doctors with daily phone calls. One of the suggestions I've heard time and again was to purchase the book: "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler. People in the forums often refer to it as the "TTC Bible" (I chose my battles) and it's praises are sung often as one of the best ways to learn about your body- whether you are TTCing or not.

So last week Friday I was headed to Barnes and Noble to buy "Eclipse" for my good friend Kim as part of her very late Christmas present and decided it would be worth it to bite the bullet and purchase the $25 text-book looking book. (Rachel later saw it on my coffee table and called it a Manual...heehee like an operations manual? :))

So I started out in the health section of the used book area- always trying to be frugal-and had no luck (though I did find a book called "The Southern Woman's Guide to the Newlywed Years" for $7 that I carried around for awhile because the first few pages were hilarious but I later put that back). Then I looked around for a health section in the new books section and didn't see it. The only other section I could think of, as I walked past a table covered in books of baby names, was the pregnancy and baby section but I really didn't want to go over there.

My heart started to race as I realized that was exactly where I was headed so I stopped, paced back and forth a few times, sighed, got momentarily really angry that B&N would put a book about fertility next to "What to Expect When You're Expecting," considered complaining if indeed I did find it there, then took a deep breath, clenched my teeth and entered the baby section covered with light pink and blue tomes. Quickly scanning the shelves I tried not to look at the covers or read any of the titles that had the words "baby" or "pregnancy" on them, and confirmed that in fact, reading all those books had made someone at B&N smart and they had not put the book in this section. I breathed a sigh of relief and started walking idly back towards the front of the store, out of ideas and no closer to finding the book.

I went to the help desk and found two people ready and wiling to help - a 40 year old man, and an 18 year old boy.

I opted for the 40 year old man and bounced around impatiently while trying desperately NOT to look at the 18 year old boy.

"Can I help you find something?" said the boy.

"Shoot" I thought.

But there was no avoiding it, I walked up to the boy- looked him in the face with all the confidence in the world- or that I could muster... and said "Yes, the book is called: Taking Charge of Your Fertility!" perhaps a little louder than was necessary and flushed purple.

Thank goodness he didn't even flinch. He led me over to the diseases section- go figure -pulled out the book, handed it to me and walked away. When I looked at the price tag I had a momentary lapse in resolve but decided I'd gone through too much to walk out of the dang store without the stupid book and headed straight for the registers.

In the end, I'm happy with my purchase- I would advise any woman who has yet to go through menopause (it even touches on that subject) to read it. It has reiterated for me the fact that 6th grade "sex ed" just did not do justice to explaining fertility and most of us are sorely uneducated about our own bodies. But next time (Thank you Bradi) I think I'll go to amazon.com!