Jason and Linda have been waiting all year for summer to begin. Unlike most of us, who are bursting with plans for vacation fun in the sun with family and friends, Jason and Linda are preparing for quite a different type of adventure: another round of IVF treatment.
Why summer? Well aside from actually getting a parking spot, which is no small feat these days, fewer people around means a little more privacy for this young couple who remain childless after four years of marriage. That may not seem like a long time to you or me, but for some couples it feels like an eternity. Aside from the way too often “So nu?” from family members who feel they have the responsibility and immediate birthright of intimate intrusion, there is the unspoken pressure of friends and peers fully engaged in the paramount urgency of family building.
In any Jewish home, so very much revolves around the family and children. June means graduation, camp plans and juggling work and child care. For a couple like Jason and Linda, the pressure is intense,and it’s hard not to feel on the outside
looking in, until they too can bring children into their lives.
So with strong resolve, smiles of determination and hope, they brace themselves as a unified front for yet another intrusion into their very private lives, facing the daunting rigors of fertility treatment in the quiet of summer. And Puah is right there
beside them, yet again, helping them with their questions, sourcing and guiding them through the process in what all hope will bring about a successful outcome.
Have a healthy and wonderful summer— and please be sensitive and keep in your prayers all couples struggling to have a child.
Experts in the world of Jewish fertility, Puah is devoted to providing excellent advice about fertility, genetics and intimacy, with halachic and medical expertise. Puah also provides supervision, research and education worldwide. For help call 718-336-
0603 or visit www.puahonline.org.
Batya Israel is a freelance journalist whose focus is on women, health and family issues.
