I created this blog in September 2005. A. and I were embarking on our TTC process, after having had a failed jump start the previous fall. I found myself reading TTC blogs, and blogs in general for the first time. A. was in India at a conference and I had a lot of time on my hands, so I created this blog.
I did share the URL with my two best friends, but I don’t think they read it with any frequency. So I began writing with the idea that no one I knew in real life was reading. I am not really sure if I would’ve done it any different. But I do think some of my earlier posts were incredibly raw at times.
Last spring I told a good friend and co-worker about the blog. He was the only one at work who knew I was TTC and would often help cover me when I was on-call and needed to go in for midwife appointments. We were drinking buddies and talked about a lot of stuff. Eventually I emailed him the link to my blog. It was kind of weird but felt totally cool. And when I found out I was pregnant, he was the first one at work to know…I told him in person before he read it on the blog.
Then a few months later my cousin found me on Fertility Friend. My blog is linked in my FF signature. Again, it was no big deal that she found me because really I’d been tempted to share it with her, but only held back because I was not ready to cross the line and have family know about it. I was glad when she found it.
My cousin then started her own blog, let me introduce you to her. Her sister, also my cousin, found my blog through her blog. She was kind enough to email and ask if it was okay for her to read/comment, and of course it was. But they are probably the ONLY two family members that I’d ever want reading this. (So why do I publish it for ANYONE to access? Good question.)
Since becoming pregnant my two best friends mentioned above seem to be reading more often.
I do think I am a little more thoughtful in what I write knowing that people I know read, but I don’t think I’ve censored myself. I still bitch and rant, and share too much information, and sometimes write with no attention to form.
So who do you know in IRL -that you didn’t meet through your blog- who reads your blog?
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August 5, 2007 at 11:09 am
Kim
I’ve only told 3 IRL friends of ours about the blog. 1-my best friend at work(who is too busy in the police academy to comment), 2-a friend of mine in NC(who I think continues to read but has only posted once….when we lost our flower) and 3-a friend in TN(who I’m not even sure has read it). How crazy is it that I feel closer to some of our new online friends than I do some of our IRL ones? Weird.
August 5, 2007 at 12:24 pm
ohchicken
i originally created bananie.com for family and friends, so i’m guessing it’s probably a 50/50 split these days.
the ttc blog, however, was created as a place to explore this new world out loud, without the anti gay flamewars that seem to flare up a lot more frequently at bananie. i wanted a little more anonymity. i wanted to be able to throw around words like ‘cervical mucus’ and not feel like i was offering tmi to people who’d rather not know.
slowly, IRL friends are being introduced to the ttc blog, with a disclaimer that there’s a lot of talk about my bodily fluids.
August 6, 2007 at 8:39 am
Kieron
This was a hard question – a lot of people I know who read my blog I met before livejournal was even a possibility – but I met them through the internets…..And most of those people know Jude and therefore know lots about our TTC journey since she wrote much more than I and was on FF as well….
So most everyone I know I met through the internets – even Jax who went to the same college as me and was in the same school! Heh…
I do have one friend on LJ who actually was my fraternity brother and therefore we met in person before LJ…and there are people I have met through people online in person who then read….
and…stopping now. I already proved that I am a big internet geek. I really have friends who I met in real life first….it doesn’t mean anything that I can only name one off hand;)
August 6, 2007 at 11:04 am
Holly
Not too many of my IRL friends read it. I know my sister in law reads it and (a) since she always lets things slip to my mother and (b) she can be a little sensitive, I do withhold some things that I would like to write.
When I created my blog, I always thought it would be a total of about 5 people reading it.
August 6, 2007 at 4:49 pm
byrdlady
Well, when i first started my old blog, a LOT of folks had the link–family and friends…
However, i’ve never written much about my family, and started thinking i might want to delve into that a bit. Plus, i didn’t want all of my RL friends knowing that i was pregnant right away. i wanted to tell them at our own pace, as opposed to shouting it out excitedly like i want to do to our blog friends!
At this point, only 2 friends that i was friends with before have the link.