Even though fertility challenges have been in existence since Old Testament Bible days, and the first IVF child was born one year after I was, in 1978, there has STILL been a stigma with admitting the difficulty in following the typical progression through the life cycle. There are still people who don't know where to turn for support, encouragement, and most of all empathy when they face the heartbreaking obstacles to build the family they long for.
In 2014 I began a support group so that I could walk alongside women who were in the pregnant pause, a place to offer that support, encouragement and empathy, but also a place for women to just share freely with other women who would get it, without having to censor their struggle or worry about it falling on ignorant ears. However, there was only a very few women who attended, there was still a barrier to feeling it was ok to identify as struggling with fertility. So in 2015 I created a private online support group, hoping that a bit of anonymity would help, but even then, the group was slow to grow.
I knew I needed to try and breakdown that barrier by showing the many faces of fertility, and in late 2015 I shared with my online group a series of interviews with just a few of the women, whom I knew personally, each with their own very different and difficult journey, but all hanging their hope on the same thing, becoming a mother. Today, 3 years later, the sharing of these types of stories are still rare, and some still shared with a cloak of secrecy, like in this article of stories where one woman still wants to stay anonymous. Because this idea of not being able to safely share this struggle is still so prevalent,
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I knew I needed to try and breakdown that barrier by showing the many faces of fertility, and in late 2015 I shared with my online group a series of interviews with just a few of the women, whom I knew personally, each with their own very different and difficult journey, but all hanging their hope on the same thing, becoming a mother. Today, 3 years later, the sharing of these types of stories are still rare, and some still shared with a cloak of secrecy, like in this article of stories where one woman still wants to stay anonymous. Because this idea of not being able to safely share this struggle is still so prevalent,
I am sharing these interviews again with the hopes they will help end the silence in suffering and start conversations to end the loneliness we can feel. We are not alone.
Lori (Me) - trying since 2006, ended TTC journey childless
Liz - trying since 2008, trying through IVF
Rolanda - with help of medication has 5 children
Kristy - has three children through adoption, and has fostered
Lori (Me) - trying since 2006, ended TTC journey childless
Liz - trying since 2008, trying through IVF
Rolanda - with help of medication has 5 children
Kristy - has three children through adoption, and has fostered
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