Featured in the RNE Magazine, 2021 Volume 1
By Anne MacDonald
“How are you really doing?” asked the email. It could have been about anything, but this was about infertility and self-care during the holidays, from my friend Kristen Darcy. We had been infertility buddies back when we were both struggling to conceive, and with all the stress that comes with this territory, we were there for each other. Kristen is my occasional lifeline back to a time when I was desperately working to have a child, to the point where my health was deteriorating.
It’s been twenty years since my last fertility treatment. My everyday life has pushed my infertility journey away from my daily thoughts. However, with the holidays coming, the overwhelming feelings of children, family and loss were rising to the surface, and this email popping into my inbox triggered the mental list I keep tucked away. The list I run through when I check my feelings about how I came to be a non-mother, and my efforts to conceive a child, both naturally and with medical intervention.