““Don’t give up.” “It’ll happen for you.” “You’ll get there.”
How often have you been told this? Except not everyone does get there - so why is it somehow unacceptable to say this out loud? Our collective unwillingness to entertain the notion that not every journey ends with a baby makes it so much harder to deal with if it happens to us.
I’ll talk about why we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room, & how talking about the possibility of a childless future can help you cope with all different outcomes.”
I’m thrilled to take part in the 2nd Beat Infertility Virtual Summit: taking place 1-7 November 2020, it features over 90 talks covering a range of different topics relating to fertility & infertility - mine being part of the ‘Childless Not By Choice’ stream.
Unlike lots of the talks from all sorts of professionals, mine doesn't have advice about how to get or stay pregnant - but I hope it provided an honest perspective from a patient point of view to help anyone facing a difficult journey feel less alone.
Titled 'What Happens If It Doesn't Happen?', it’s a frank conversation about why & how we can support ourselves and each other by talking about ALL outcomes. "You'll get there" is true - but "there" might not look like how you thought it might.
"There" might not mean a baby, or a baby in the way you'd hoped - but you will get there, and you will be OK.