236 Infer tility
Living with
Infertility
424
helping relationships,
support groups
Infertility can make a woman
or man feel sad, nervous,
alone, frustrated, or angry.
When this happens, it is
important to know you are
not alone. Try to talk with
people who love and care
about you. You may also be
able to find other couples
with the same problem and
learn to help each other.
The stories below describe
some ways that people have
coped with infertility:
I understand how
you feel. I also have
been unable to have
a child.
Adopting a child: Lina’s story
Lina was 25 years old and had been married 3 times. She was very unhappy
because each of her husbands divorced her when she did not become pregnant. In
the village, people spoke about her and blamed her, saying that she must have used
some magic to avoid pregnancy before she was married, and that it must have been
so strong it had made her infertile.
Her sisters all had children, and sometimes Lina cared for them. Her older sister
had tuberculosis (TB) and she was very ill when she gave birth to twins. Lina asked
if she might adopt one of the twins and her sister agreed. Lina went to the health
center and asked the health worker to help her find a way to feed the baby. The
health worker taught Lina how to feed the baby from a cup and arranged to have
the baby breastfed during the day by a healthy woman in the village with another
baby. At night Lina fed her baby from a cup, with breast milk that another sister
gave her each evening.
Lina’s friends and neighbors were not sure
that her baby would be healthy. But when they
saw the baby grow strong, they were pleased and
proud of Lina. In fact, Lina came to be seen as an
expert in raising adopted babies. When a village
mother died in childbirth, her baby was given to
Lina to care for.
The twins have grown up now, and people
often say that the one Lina adopted is taller and
stronger than the other. They credit this to Lina’s
loving care.
— Bundoora,Australia
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012