Clean Slate

Since we have moved into this new apartment, a pigeon couple has chosen the safety and refuge of a small window sill in the bathroom, where they have raised many pigeon babies, from egg to full-sized flying birds.  Their last two eggs were less successful, one of the hatchlings died at birth and one of them died after two days.

The mother pigeon simply abandoned the nest, leaving a small rotting corpse behind.

Today I vacated the nest and scrubbed down the window sill.  For whatever reason, this place became toxic to the young birds, and this gives them the opportunity to try again with a clean slate, literally and figuratively.

Last night my best friend told me that her almost 12 week old fetus was not going to survive the pregnancy, and that her doctors had already initiated the procedure for a "natural miscarriage."  Her first child, a daughter the same age as Raphaela and one of Raphaela's closest friends, was conceived via IVF, as was this second baby.  My friend had been told by many doctors that as unlikely as it was for a first successful pregnancy, a second was even less likely.

I understand their sadness and their anger and their frustration, and I admire their commitment to trying again, once her body has recovered.  I can remember my own feelings when I had a particularly nasty natural miscarriage right before Yom Kippur, during my year of fertility treatments; something I would not wish upon any woman.

Here's the scariest part:  apparently 17 other woman who all received IVF treatments around the same time, they all experienced a sudden and unexplained end to their pregnancy.

My friend and her family will be moving down the street into our neighborhood next week, into a new clean apartment and with a clean slate, ready to try again.