My Morning in the IVF Waiting Room
I spent this morning at Hadassah Hospital with one of my kids who needed to undergo a minor medical procedure, and found myself surrounded in the shared Pediatrics-OBGYN waiting area by couples undergoing IVF.
Two of the couples clearly were not having an easy time. One wife stormed around the waiting area with her husband following far behind her, and wouldn’t even look at or say a word to him. Another went to the other extreme, talking to her husband non-stop, but repeatedly lashing out at him with scathing criticisms.
Seeing these couples reminded me how much strain and stress infertility places on a married couple. How easily it can tear a person and a couple apart.
But there were also moments that inspired awe in me during this IVF morning.
The couples who seemed to be going through this test together–not only (of course) physically, but emotionally as well. Somehow managing to support each other as allies rather than enemies, despite the immense pressure upon them.
The woman who approached a couple in the waiting room at 8 AM who looked like a savta from Meah Shearim, but yet was wearing a blue lab jacket. She turned out to be a Machon Puah volunteer supervising the IVF process to ensure there would be no mix-ups during the IVF of this couple’s (please God!) first-born child. I was blown away by her dedication, coming so early in the morning to spend the entire day supervising this procedure for a couple in need–whom she had never even met and were from a very different community than her own.
The leading gynecological surgeon, who, instead of earning thousands of dollars per operation in the private sector, has chosen to dedicate 3 days a week to working in a public hospital, providing top medical care for women like these, free of charge. .
The nurses who work day in, day out, who manage (as far as I saw) to treat every single patient with patience, dignity and a smile.
It’s difficult to see how much suffering so many people need to go through to become parents. But inspiring, as well, to see all the people who have chosen to dedicate themselves to making the bumpy journey to parenthood easier, and please God, shorter as well.
Thank you for sharing this with us. May all the couple’s that need a yeshoua be filled with smachot.
amen! I was davening for them