Friday 24 April 2015

#AtoZChallenge: U is for Underwear

This is the twenty-first of a series of posts that I’m posting during the A to Z Challenge; that’s a blogging challenge where you aim to post a blog post for each letter of the alphabet throughout the month of April (with Sundays off for good behaviour). During my first A to Z Challenge I wrote about infertility, which I’m sort of revisiting during A to Z Challenge 2015.

My theme this year is IVF/ICSI, a process we’re starting at the moment and today it’s U for Underwear.


I think that this is probably one of those things that all women will at some point or another. When I go in for a routine smear test, or for that matter, any kind of test that requires you to remove your underwear I carefully hide my underwear beneath all of my other clothes.

I have no idea why this is, I mean it’s not like the nurse doing the procedure really cares that much about my underwear. I’m sure most of the time she has way more interesting things to be thinking about. Plus, it’s not even like she gets much of an opportunity to see them.

When you’re having IVF treatment you’ll get used to the routine fairly early on. In both of the hospitals I’ve been in for treatment the set up is the same. You’ll have an exam room with the bed, the funky stirrups and scanning gear, and off of that will be a little room with a toilet in it. In that room will be a basket for used linen or gowns and stuff for cleaning up after examinations.

You head into the toilet, strip from the waist down, hide your pants in your jeans, put on the gown/wrap yourself in the fabric you’ve been given, and then head out ready to expose yourself to the waiting nurse. I actually got so conditioned into this routine that I kind of reached the point where whenever I walked into a room with a medical professional I was ready to strip from the waist down and stick my feet in the nearest pair of stirrups.

The point I’m getting at with all this is that you have to be prepared to give up a certain degree of dignity when you go through any kind of fertility treatment. People are going to be prodding and poking you in some places which normally very few people are allowed access to; IVF kind of makes that whole region of your body into a bit of a free for all. And you’re going to get very, very used to taking your underwear off. So you might want to treat yourself to something a little bit special in that department, so that at least when you’re putting them back on after another uncomfortable scan you’ll have something to make you smile.


Now if you’ve got a friend or family member going through treatment I’m not suggesting that you buy them fancy underwear. That would be weird. Unless you’ve got the sort of relationship where you can get away with that sort of thing. But just remember that the person going through treatment will be revealing way more of themselves at appointments than they would usually like to; offer some sympathy, you’ve probably had some equally embarrassing or uncomfortable appointments yourself and may understand more than you think.

18 comments:

  1. I think all women can partially relate to this if they go for regular smear tests. And once you hit 50 you have the joy of mammograms too.
    Anabel's Travel Blog
    Adventures of a retired librarian

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    1. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the joys of mammograms when the time comes, you can tell those scanning machines were invented by someone without breasts! ;-)

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  2. J here, stopping by from the #atozchallenge 2015!
    Great post. I'm following you on your listed social media sites. Congratulations on making it past the first half.
    @JLenniDorner

    This is the upside to boxers.

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    1. Thank you and thanks for following me. I've added you on Twitter.

      And yes, do men hide their boxers in the same way?

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  3. But if you have a good friend who's going through IVF, it would be kind of funny to splurge on a birthday gift of frillies or such. I can see all sorts of fun one could have with that...

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    1. I would actually love that. Luckily my colleagues got me a gift voucher for my birthday, but I can see that being the sort of thing they would do. ;-)

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  4. Another great post on a pretty sensitive subject - keeping it informative but with a wry chuckle :)

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  5. I too, think all women can relate to this even for your yearly exam. Good idea to go out and buy yourself some pretty undies...maybe one of these visits you can hang them on the door knob. That ought to break the serious ice!
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal
    AtoZ 2015 Challenge
    Minion for AJ's wHooligans

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    1. Hehe, I've never thought of hanging them out on display. I'll have to try that some time. ;-)

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. I've seen funny meme's about women hiding their underwear in their clothes during exams. I guess we all do it.

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    1. I always thought it was just me, until I started having conversations with other women and discovered it's a pretty universal thing!

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  7. I still wonder why ladies tend to hide their undies between clothes, whether they've been worn or not; whether they are alone in their bedroom or in a public place. I guess it's just a reflex action of protecting the only piece of clothing allowed to get that close to such a sensitive area.

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    1. I think you've maybe hit the nail on the head. It's an item of clothing that is the last barrier between a private area which you've got to put on display. It's you're one last way of protecting yourself. :-)

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  8. I always hide my underwear-I just don't want them to see it cos it is granny pants. I could see buying some "funny" underwear that would make my friend smile and then throw them at me:)

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    1. I always make sure I'm wearing my best underwear for appointments like these, even though they're never actually going to see it, just in case. ;-)

      I have friends who would do that sort of thing with the 'funny' underwear. It would be funny, hehe.

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  9. That would be quite the present to get someone. I definitely wouldn't know how to respond to panties as a present but it gave me a little chuckle. That is funny about hiding our panties too. Huh!

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    1. It would definitely be amusing (or weird, depending on your relationship with the person making the gift, hehe). It seems to be a universal think with women and their underwear!

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Let me know what you think. :-)