Pregnant on a Schedule

People who have not experienced infertility treatment may think it is so nice to have a planned pregnancy on a schedule. I have heard comments like Wow, how convenient is it that you don't have to do the work of sex and you can actually schedule the day of conception. From the outside looking in, I can see how it might present that way. The idea that its a controlled process, on a specific date with extra help from medical professionals, but convenience and schedules are the last words I would use to describe my infertility treatment. Setting aside the cost of infertility treatment, the treatment itself is, in my opinion, inconvenient. It is solely based on how much I want it so I make it work. I take medication that alters my body, my feelings, my emotions and my thinking. Though this medication lasts only one week, the effects for me are felt about 3 weeks. I follow that with days of tests until one day I get a smiley face and have the privilege of being inseminated the next day! Well wait?? Next day, what if I have to work? Or have a test at school? I can't plan for my smiley face but would never give it up, so what do you do? Once I start pills I have a blood test during my cycle to confirm they are working. It is also on a specific day that cannot be any other day no matter what. So I have spent my lunch break going to the clinic to get my blood drawn. I do not have the luxury of just going home after work and having sex with my husband to eventually result in pregnancy. I cannot, in my leisure time or on the weekends, just plan an entire day of sex and get pregnant. Each month I have new tests, new appointments that I am unaware of until I get my period or until I get a smiley face. My life is not even close to convenient. It is dictated by my cycle, my pills and smiley faces on sticks.
I do not complain about any part of this process no matter how inconvenient because this is the way that will lead me to a baby. But please don't minimize me in my process and everything I give up each day to make it work. Having a baby my life changes as well, things come up, plans change, I understand that. That is why I don't complain about my process and I make it look so easy. I know the process changes my life, and once I have my baby my life will still be changed. In this case, change is a good thing and inconvenience is irrelevant. So I deal with the inconvenience, the hormones, the headaches and the nausea, so I can forever alter my life. Alter my life with the one thing I have been waiting forever for, a beautiful, healthy baby.