Greg Bales

Just Add Water

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

FWIW, I am still a little freaked out by the twins. That I was reading Everything Conceivable when I heard the news did not help. Mundy’s book, which I will get around to reviewing soon, gave me the fear of God about multiples. All the things that can go wrong often do, and the fact that doctors are not blameless in the increasing percentage of multiples does not help assuage my fears. She is a sturdy Midwesterner, but I nevertheless dread hearing that she will be put on bed rest for some reason, or that something else will go wrong.

And then there is the fact that it is really weird to think abstractly of instantly doubling the size of your family. What does one do with so many extra bodies???