One add one doesn't always equal two

For as long I can remember, I ha r always been taught that one add one equals two. This has come from many sources. Who remembers this rhyme we used to sing as children...

"Insert boy name and girl name sitting in a tree,

K I S S I N G,

First comes love,

Second comes marriage,

Then comes a baby in the baby carriage."

All those sex education lessons about safe sex and unwanted pregnancies, like one touch would make you pregnant.

Personally one thing I believe must change is education. Yes young people need to be safe. Yes there is more than an unwanted pregnancy that can occur from unprotected sex. However this notion that once trying to conceive it will happen instantly, needs to stop. One in eight couples struggle with infertility. If you think about an average class size of 30 young people, the ratio of 1 in 8 would potentially mean that 4 young people could suffer in the future. We are now beginning to think about the whole person and teaching strategies and methods to combat mental health, stress, work/life balance etc. But infertility to be barely spoken about is wrong!

If we begin to teach about things like this, as we do about all sensitive topics around RSE, then I think the future generations will go into their TTC journeys with their eyes open and seek help sooner. They will seek help sooner when they see abnormalities with their cycle. Then they will go through less trauma. Less trauma than often comes with months and months, or years and years of trying to conceive.

Here is an interesting fact about infertility

"Women undergoing infertility treatment experience the same level of stress, anxiety and depression as women who have cancer, HIV or heart disease.

Now I'm not saying infertility is a life or death situation like some of those conditions could be. But the levels of stress that this quote talks about is shocking to me.

Nobody dreams of going through IVF, nobody wants to be one of the 1 in 8, but unfortunately many, many couples are. Infertility treatment is not a choice - it's what many people NEED to begin that much wanted, much waited for family.

One quote I read on Instagram recently about infertility:

"Infertility is paying for the family that many other people get for free."

One add one doesn't always equal two, sometimes three, sometimes two but all sometimes zero!