Deep breath...

After receiving a lot of support and encouragement from people here, on the Twitter and on Facebook - along with an incredibly sweet card from an amazing friend and fellow IFer - I've decided to reveal my tattoo and what it means. Dan helped me with the concept - he paid for it as a gift to me, so this is something meaningful to both of us. Our wonderfully supportive friend and artist did the work.

Sparrow tattoos have a long history in tattoos and have many meanings depending on depiction, placement and angle. For us, though, the sparrows represent me and Dan. They mate for life and travel great distances, always to return home, and that's a profoundly strong symbol for us - we're in this together, no matter what. They're also a symbol of hope and renewal, and they stand for our hope for a fulfilling and happy life. The ribbon held by the birds is an infertility awareness ribbon in the colors pink and blue (it also symbolizes miscarriage and baby loss, which you would find more predominantly in a google search). We carry it together symbolically and literally.

This piece is different than most of my others in style. It's darker, and there's more chaos. One girl who saw it said she could see the pain. Many times, sparrows are depicted in a traditional American stylized fashion. Mine are more realistic (in style, not necessarily color), and I like that they demonstrate the reality of our situation - all too often, people dealing with infertility are told to relax, stop thinking about it, go on vacation, get drunk and "do it." In doing so, it often makes us feel as though our struggle is minimized, our concern falsified. Dan and I are real people with real diagnoses and had to make real (tough) decisions. My Our sparrows depict that.

Thanks for your love and support, friends <3