Greg Bales

A Good Effort

In 2008, after two years of failing to make a child organically, we learned the doom Kathy had already been feeling for more than a year was justified: I was diagnosed with male-factor infertility. Our only real chance to move forward would be in vitro fertilization. We couldn’t afford it; we couldn’t afford not to do it. One way we tried to work through that diagnosis, our anger, and our options was to start a secret infertility blog, “Less Than a Million.” This post and what comments from 2008 that are attached to it come from that blog.—gb

My dad, hardly the most sympathetic man in the world, after learning about the diagnosis:

Did any of the urologists recommend raising the foot of the bed by the height of about a concrete block or so? Theoretically it gives the seed a downhill fighting chance. Laugh if you want to but it worked for my sister. (It was funny because her husband had that regurgitative problem that gave him heartburn all the time and the Dr. recommended that he raise the HEAD of the bed to relieve that, effectively canceling out any benefit of raising the foot of the bed. We suggested the “seesaw” bed, that would rock back and forth.) Anyway, you never know, and apparently it’s not an old wives tale. (Like your grandmother’s fear that if you go swimming while you’re pregnant you’ll drown the baby!) Love, Dad