[blparent] Challenges with Getting Pregnant?

[Allison H.]

    Hi All,

I've been reading this list for a while, I think it's fabulous. Thank you.

I'm tecnically not a parent yet, but I hope it's okay that I post this 
question because it feels related.

My boyfriend and I have been trying to get pregnant and not having success. 
We don't have any obvious health reasons for this and we've not been trying 
long enough to think seriously about medical intervention. My OBGYN 
suggested an ovulation test kit to determine when I'm ovulating. This seems 
iportant because my period is random and though I track my cycle, I haven't 
found a pattern to it. I've read books and websites that recommend tracking 
basil temperature, and that is also a possibility. That said, neither the 
ovulation kit nor the basil thermometer is likely to be nonvisually 
accessible in any way. My bf and I are both blind enough that reading any of 
these materials with our eyes is not an option. I wonder if any of you have 
experienced a situation like this before? What did you do?

I assume there are nonvisual ways to determine ovulation, but what might 
they be? I've never noticed anything like cervical changes, and I hear 
that's something some women have.

I've thought up a couple of possible options for detecting ovulation but 
they all seem fairly impractical. For example, we do have a sighted reader 
who we've hired to do many things in the past like fill out forms and run 
erands, but reading an ovulation kit would maybe be a whole new level of 
personal intimacy that I'm not sure I'm up for. I have a sighted friend who 
I could maybe do Facetime with on my iPhone, but doesn't that also sound 
just a little bizarre? Is the camera even technically good enough for that? 
And before I start reinventing the wheel here and imagining crazier and 
crazier scenarios for alternative techniques I could use, I thought I'd put 
this topic out on the list to see if anyone else has encountered this 
situation before. I'd much rather learn from the experience of others then 
randomly start making up possible solutions.

As a blind couple, I realize that this inaccessible ovulation kit issue is 
far from the most complicated challenge we'll encounter in our lives. And if 
we become parents, it will be far from the last. I feel ready for that. Even 
so, while I know many blind parents, I don't happen to know anyone blind who 
I could ask this particular question of, so I thought I'd bring it to this 
list.

Thanks in advance for suggestions.

Best,
Allison