Hi Grace<br><br>My heart goes out to you, I really hoped you'd have better news than this. I do know exactly what you are feeling, and I'm afraid there are no magic formulae that help you to get through it.<br><br>I am only a few days ahead of you in coming to terms with a childless life. So far we have had bad and good days - we try to take each day as it comes and survive it as best we can. Once we have, we remind ourselves how lucky we have been to have the opportunity to have tried to fulfil our dreams - so many don't have that chance.<br><br>We too feel numb, sad, angry and bitter. And we feel very scared to face the future - we do however have each other, and for this reason we know we will survive it, somehow. <br><br>In the short term, we are trying to put our lives back together, and have made some small steps in the right direction. I wanted to share them with you - they are all superficial things, but they help us to survive:<br><br>We drank wine together for the first time in ages, and enjoyed every drop<br>We booked a holiday, leaving a week on Friday<br>We stripped the old wallpaper off the bedroom that we had earmarked for a nursery, and went and bought some paint<br>We went shopping in Bluewater <br>We wrote a letter to our families, explaining our situation and telling them about our decision for a childfree future<br>I contacted
www.moretolife.co.uk to find a support group for those who have tried and failed<br><br>Although none of these are long term solutions, they have all in their own way helped us survive the last few days. We accept that the next few months/years will have their ups and downs and will be challenging, esp at Christmas and at events where children are the focus, but we have each other and with each other's support and that of our families and our friends, we will get through it. <br><br>As I think I have said before, we have chosen not to adopt. We also hold out no hope for a natural miracle - we cannot continue to live our lives as we have for the last 5 years, ie, with that 'what if' hanging over us. We will always long for our own child(ren) but we now have to learn to accept that it wasn't meant to be.<br><br>Grace, the only advice I have is take each day as it comes. Cry, cuddle your dh, get to the end of the day and face the next one...<br><br>If you need a shoulder, and a friend to go through this with, I'm here for you. <br><br>Love<br>Lucy<br>xxx<br>