It’s the end of National Infertility Awareness Week 2017 and I wanted to post a few stories to share with those of you going through it, so you know you aren’t alone. The first two are friends of mine who’ve shared their stories. S,P. (using her initials) has graciously and courageously volunteered to write her story with me. Sarah Lenti is a friend of mine from the White House who wrote a beautiful article this week about her infertility journey. The others are people I don’t personally know but their blogs have helped me and may help you. Granted, we all are on different journeys with this and what I wanted to do was share some of those different perspectives, that are each very personal and different, just like us. I know it doesn’t come close to sharing all of them. There are so many, some not even written. So, here you go….

Here is S.P.’s

“My Search for the Golden Egg”

I married at 35 years old. Which today, honestly isn’t that old. But while I was busy enjoying my twenties and early thirties, my ovarian reserve was diminishing. I didn’t know that at the time, nor did I learn that until I was 36 sitting in a fertility doctors office. Ovarian reserve, poor egg quality, FSH levels and terms I have never heard of were being thrown at me; I was a deer in headlights. I will spare the details of each round of IVF, but two were failures that yielded the same results. Those results were given to me the day my implants were suppose to place, “I’m sorry, but there we are unable to do your transfer because of all of your embryos arrested.” Cue the tears and heartache. Something that I always found interesting about the whole process of IVF, is when you get the bad news, your body is so jacked up with hormones that who knows how you will take the news. And on top of that, the doctors tell you stop taking the drugs. Spiral into a hot mess! As I sat in the doctors office and felt like it was Groundhogs Day, I thought to myself, I am very blessed in many ways and there is a silver lining. My first and foremost blessing is my husband, he is beyond supportive. Second, I was blessed to being sitting in front of one of the best doctors in the country and finally I needed to give our last round of IVF my all. That all I was talking about was becoming the healthiest person from the inside both physically and mentally as I could. I researched endless hours on the internet and consulted with homeopathic specialists for a few months on what were possible causes for me having fertility issues. I learned a lot of environmental issues are a big reason for the increase of infertility in women of all ages, not just “geriatric” women. I took my research and cleaned up my diet (organic, non-gmo, no aura, white flour or soy$, started to really exercise and told myself, we will have a family. I also prayed to St. Anne, carried her prayer card in my wallet and wore her pendant around my neck. As I entered the doctors to get all of my blood work done to start what my husband and I said would be our last IVF, I went in there with the best mentality. Long story short, my blood work and all of test were off the charts. My doctor was amazed at how I transformed my body. I truly had a skip in my walk. But that skip wasn’t because I thought to myself this time it’s going to work, it’s because I was mentally and physically in such a healthy place. I always remembered my doctor saying, “I will get you pregnant”. Those words resonated with me as well as knowing I had my husband, St. Anne and God on my side. I was prepared for any outcome. In the end my, the search for my own golden egg failed. Of course I was sad, there is not enough green juice to have helped make that pain go away, but I remembered my doctor saying he would get me pregnant and I knew god had a path for my husband and me. We sat down and looked at our options that would lead us to have a family we so wanted. My eggs weren’t the golden eggs, my golden eggs were the eggs of an amazing selfless egg donor. We searched for the perfect donor, the donor that would provide us with the most amazing gift. We will ever get to thank her in person and that is okay and the way we want, but today I sit here and look at my twins and know the path we took to have our family was the path meant for us. I couldn’t imagine my life without them. I carried them almost to full term, they heard my voice in my womb everyday, they are my husband and me and besides chasing them around and sleeping when I can, I follow the research of epigenetics. What you may believe is the path you are meant to take, may not be the one you are intended to take. The journey to motherhood challenged me in many ways and now I am in a healthy place with myself, that I know I can be the best mom I can to my twins. S.P.
Here is Sarah Lenti’s
Single, Childless, and Nearing 40, I saw One real option 

Here is a Facebook post from a friend’s daughter going through it:
Sandi Martino Di BariApril 28 at 12:34pm · 

In support of National Infertility Week Awareness, I ask for your prayers for all those individuals who are walking this difficult journey. As this awareness touches closely to our family, I share with you our daughter’s recent Facebook post, and ask for your loving support and prayers for Briana and Neil Schachter.

Bri Di Bari Schachter
12 hrs · 
The fact that I struggled tremendously with whether to publish this post underscores the importance of this message and the need to generate further awareness. The past two and a half years have been marked by a quiet struggle; one requiring a great deal of courage and faith and one replete with challenges, pain, and, unfortunately for us, disappointment.
I’m one in eight women struggling with infertility–holding hope through six rounds of IVF, a staggering number of injections, and depleted insurance coverage. I am so fortunate to have a community of family and dear friends who listen to my struggle, advocate by my side, and help me to navigate this prolonged journey with strength and grace. For those confronted with a similar battle, particularly those facing it alone, I extend my sincerest support and I feel inspired to share this message.
#nationalinfertilityawarenessweek #niaw #1in8 #haveaheart #listenup

National Infertility Awareness Week: A Chance To Support Those Facing Infertility

Here is one that I found a few months ago and shared with my “fertile friend” who has walked the journey with me. Her response, “Wow…just read it. I think this is a must read for all women in our age group.” So here’s the link. 
“An Open Letter to My Fertile Friends“, posted by Infertile Midnight Baker
Another Blog I found: Waiting for Baby Bird, and her most recent post, “Diary of an infertile {Uncut and Raw}. Obviously she shows the very real side of this journey.
Here is resolve.org, the National Infertility Awareness Association. They also have a support community. 

For those of you who are looking to do this naturally, I recommend you check out the Creighton Method. Mike and I were a year into this and someone recommended this. What we learned about my cycle was invaluable. Not only that, we were able to get to the root of one thing that might be preventing a pregnancy and that was having laparoscopic surgery last November to take out Stage 2 Endometriosis and address a tied fallopian tube. It was with the help of NaProTECHnology.  I recommend this for any and everyone who has bad cramps or can’t figure out what might be wrong with your cycle. Conception or not, it’s a powerful resource and these doctors can get to the bottom of things that you’ve never seen a general gynecologist address.
Finally, in my video  I mentioned the power of being a spiritual mother. This is the book I mentioned, “Spiritual Mentoring: The Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women,” by Susan Hunt. 

Here is the story  I mentioned in the Bible from Luke 1 about Mary and Elizabeth titled, “I Childless Couple Conceives.” 
As far as my video, it was too long to download. 22 minutes! But if you’d like you can go to my Author Facebook page and watch it. Here’s the link. If you can’t find it that way, just go to the Facebook Page here and go to videos. 
Lastly, here are 5 Verses for the Woman Wanting a Child

​​SMLXL

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