Highlighting IF

Anybody else watch “Without A Trace” last night? It was interesting episode about a missing wife. Of course the first person they suspected was the husband. Apparently neighbors had mentioned to the investigators that the husband and wife were fighting often.

So when they went to question the husband, he tells them the reason they’ve been arguing lately. When they first got married, they immediately started trying to start their family. In his words, he said he wasn’t so worried at first; that things would happen in time. But after a year of trying, they still weren’t pregnant.

In the next scene, they show the husband coming into their bedroom all geared up and “ready to go” (if you catch my drift). Except the wife is getting ready for work instead. “Did I get my signals mixed?,” he asks and then rattles off that he thought her temp had spiked, the LH was up and the fertility monitor said that all systems were go. When the wife turns to him, she has this incredibly sad look on her face and basically tells him that she has too much to do and so many deadlines to meet at work … except that doesn’t look like the reason she appears despondent. And of course the husband sits down next to her and hugs her; tells her that one of the things that they talked about was controlling and reducing their stress.

And before I had the chance to get all pissed off about the whole “Just Relax” bit, the husband redeemed himself by saying to the investigators, “No one ever tells you how hard it is when you have problems making a baby.” (Or something like that, anyway.)

Well, the rest of the story was irrelevant (to me, anyway). We later find out that the wife was pregnant and had a baby in her teenage years. And that apparently she developed an infection in her ovaries that have now made her incapable of getting pregnant. Really, I was just incredibly surprised of the less than 2 minute period spotlighting infertility. And how “real” a condition this show made this couple’s infertility.

While I think they could have focused on the infertility aspect a little more … I’m just happy that they did. Because I think it’s important that there be more media attention on infertility and how it affects every aspect of a couple’s life.

What about you? Have you encountered any other shows or newspaper/magazine articles or movies that have approached the subject of infertility? And did you think they portrayed it in an appropriate way?