The Hollow Heart: The True Story of One Woman's Desire to Give Life and how it Almost Destroyed Her OwnIn three attempts at in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) Martin Devlin lost nine embryos. But she also lost her marriage and her dreams of becoming a mother. The Hollow Heart describes Devlin's bewilderment at being diagnosed as infertile, the physical and emotional demands of going through IVF and the shattering fall-out when it failed. She also describes how her despair eventually faded, and how she learned to take pleasure in her extended family of nieces and nephews and, as her mother always advised, to count her blessings. And in enumerating them I am struck by this. Their quantity. |
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Page 36
... body . I could hold off menstruation for a day or two , wishful thinking or sheer determination tricking my body into suspension , but sooner or later the blood trickled out . It left a stale smell , as though penned up too long in my body ...
... body . I could hold off menstruation for a day or two , wishful thinking or sheer determination tricking my body into suspension , but sooner or later the blood trickled out . It left a stale smell , as though penned up too long in my body ...
Page 67
... body parts . Really , I felt extraordinarily betrayed by them , as I fretted over these tubes taking up space in my body . A cul- de - sac for sperm , instead of the dual carriageway I needed . I studied a biology book diagram ...
... body parts . Really , I felt extraordinarily betrayed by them , as I fretted over these tubes taking up space in my body . A cul- de - sac for sperm , instead of the dual carriageway I needed . I studied a biology book diagram ...
Page 137
... body heaved its last sigh of fertility and became barren ? And I never knew it ? My body had been shutting down while I , unsuspecting , immersed myself in the minutiae of life , igno- rance protecting me . But not indefinitely . My ...
... body heaved its last sigh of fertility and became barren ? And I never knew it ? My body had been shutting down while I , unsuspecting , immersed myself in the minutiae of life , igno- rance protecting me . But not indefinitely . My ...
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The Hollow Heart: The True Story of How One Woman's Desire to Give Life and ... Martina Devlin No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
asked baby hunger banjaxed believed blood body Brendan chance child childless Christmas clinic couple Covent Garden doctor drugs Dublin ectopic ectopic pregnancy eggs embryos emotions eyes face failed failure fallopian tubes feel felt fertility treatment friends garden girl hand happened HARI unit heart hope hormone hospital husband imagined infertility inside Ireland Irish IVF attempt IVF cycle IVF treatment knew laparoscopy later lives London looked luck lucky marriage Martina Devlin meant ment months mother motherhood nasturtiums needed never night nurse O'Connell Street Omagh ovaries ovulation pain parenthood pregnant Ranelagh Ranelagh house Rathmines realized reassured remember Rotunda Hospital scar seemed sense sister smile sniffer someone sperm spoke stage started stomach There's third IVF thought tion told Tonia trying turned vitro fertilization waiting walk wanted watching wedding who'd wished woman women wondered