First Test Results - January 2024

 

The clinic rang me early the next day. As the phone vibrated my stomach dropped several inches and I felt blood swiftly vacating my head. Up until this moment I had felt perfectly relaxed. After all, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to have a baby, and this was just a routine test to see if it was even possible, but now, in this moment, it became clear that I’d been suppressing the truth of how significant this was. The course of my life was potentially going to be permanently altered by whatever the person on the other end of the line had to say.

“Mr Greenwood? Is this a good time to speak?”

“Hi, yes, yes it is”.

Over the next 30 seconds he confirmed that my results were perfectly healthy and normal, in fact, I had slightly above average results. At the risk of sounding smug, my sperm count and their performance levels were putting many of my peers to shame. I knew my motivational words to the sample pot would do the trick. The man on the phone rattled through the results so quickly I had no time to write anything down before the call ended, but I had the answer that mattered: physiologically, I COULD have children. 

I was surprised by the intense relief I suddenly felt. It revealed how much this really meant to me. Underneath all this self-reassurance that I could give or take being a parent, I actually really did care. I knew that if the results had been the other way I would have been devastated. A wave of emotion washed over me and I choked up. I sent a couple of messages to the friends who were aware of the test, and also to Helen, the friend who I was potentially going to co-parent with. She said she was glad that I was relieved.

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