In the middle of winter, when it’s still dark way too early and many parts of the country are feeling chilled to their bones, I always look for ways to connect with other people.
It’s so much harder to create those connections in winter, when we’re all hiding out in the warmth and comfort of our homes. So it seems like a good time to share with all of you some of the many amazing voices and creative outlets focused on infertility that I follow to inspire me and lift me up, and help me feel connected to a larger “whole” in those moments when I’m feeling a little isolated or alone.
Valentine’s Day is over, but we’re still feeling the love here at Circle+Bloom.
Everyone is drawn to or relates to different styles of content – different perspectives, voices, and forms. I’d love to help you – our Circle+Bloom community – find some new content that speaks to your needs and interests.
Whether you love reading a funny blog that can lift you up out of a funk, or an informative book with medical or scientific research, listening to music that really vibrates within your soul, looking at artwork that connects with the hurt and strength within you, or checking in to an online support group to chat with other like-minded people… I hope you’ll find something of value and interest in this list.
Instagram Follows
Emma Cannon @emmalcannon
Emma Cannon is a fertility and women’s health expert, registered acupuncturist, founder of the Emma Cannon Clinic, and a mentor and speaker. She takes a holistic approach to fertility and to healing.
How To Buy a Baby @howtobuyababy
Canadian Wendy Litner, ex lawyer turned writer (the one with the amazing crazy red curly hair) has endured multiple unsuccessful rounds of fertility treatments. Wendy is hilarious and so is her Instagram account. She posts on the astute and funny ways that infertility manages to slip into our everyday life and provides an uplifting and lighthearted account. This is coupled with ‘fertilifacts’ that provide raw hard truths about infertility that leave the reader nodding in agreement.
IVF Babble @IVFbabble
An online fertility magazine that’s full of news about what’s happening in the world of infertility and IVF, and a supportive community.
Infertility Illustrated @infertility_illustrated
A woman suffering with infertility and a fabulous ability to draw is able to capture the honest and raw emotions fertility struggles stir up inside of us and relay them onto paper in a visual form.
Fertile Girl @fertilegirl
Real life fertility stories. Inspirational quotes and factual info is tucked in around the main focus of this account – real life stories from real couples going through infertility. It is full of people just like you and me sharing their treatments, struggles, successes, highs and lows, bearing it all out in the open to help change the narrative around infertility.
90 Days to Better Eggs @_90days_
A mother trying for baby number 2 after 7 ICSI cycles spent 90 days improving her egg quality by focusing on her health and fertility. Tips for lifestyle changes. Full of things you’ll want to try, this account showcases meals, fertility books, smoothies, toxic free living and plenty more to inspire change and improve fertility.
Podcasts
Huffington Post IVFML Infertility Podcast
This is a 5-part podcast miniseries about infertility. HuffPost Senior Editor Anna Almendrala and her husband Simon Ganz want to be those oversharing friends who make the infertility treatment process easier. They don’t claim to know the secret to surviving infertility, but they do have their own hilarious, sad and absurd story to tell.
Beat Infertility Podcast
Heather interviews people dealing with infertility and experts in the field.
Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure: An IVF Journey
A funny, addictive podcast about Matt Mira and Doree Shafrir, who spent two and a half years (and 100 podcast episodes) trying to get pregnant through IVF.
How to Get Healthy and Get Pregnant
Adrienne Wei is an acupuncturist, practitioner of Chinese medicine, and integrative fertility coach. Her weekly podcast is centered on creating the healthiest environment for fertility.
The Fertility Warriors Podcast
Robyn Birkin knows the struggles many women with infertility face on a daily basis, and she understands how isolating infertility can be. Birkin hosts her podcast to help women living through the same experiences.
Circle + Bloom’s Podcast
Did you know that Circle + Bloom has a podcast? Check out some of our recent topics: “Make 2019 You Best Year Ever”; “Reset Your Fertility Mindset”; and “Ready to Build Your Fertility Dream Team?”.
Film
One More Shot
If you haven’t already heard of this film, it’s worth watching! Noah and Maya Moskin are both in their early 30’s and in good health, and had to begin a quest to build their family through alternative means and medical intervention. The documentary – which they produced and also star in – follows them from their first appointment with a Reproductive Endocrinologist through various medical interventions including laparoscopic surgeries, Intrauterine Insemination, and In-Vitro Fertilization, and third party reproduction.
“This is our story, a story of acceptance, survival, love, determination and family. It’s a heartwarming, often gut-wrenching, sometimes ridiculous documentary revealing the joys and pitfalls of the quest to become parents, even under the most adverse circumstances.”
You can purchase the movie and watch it on iTunes, Vimeo On Demand, Vudu, and Amazon.
Blogs We Love
Dreaming of Diapers
The author has been trying to have a child for five years. She had a son in 2016 with the help of a gestational carrier (her sister), and is continuing to take steps to grow her family.
“I didn’t understand how people could be depressed when they have a “good” or even seemingly “great” life?? And then infertility… It literally felt like a punch to the gut. Something so unexpected. But also, something I thought I might be able to control.”
INCONCEIVABLE!
Katherine chronicles her ongoing journey with Infertility, PCOS, IVF, miscarriage, PPROM and now preemie parenting.
“About a month after my PCOS diagnosis and before falling fully down the rabbit hole of infertility treatments, I ran a half-marathon. It was one of those “bucket list” kinds of things I’d begun training for in earnest shortly after we originally began trying to conceive in April because I knew deep down something felt “off” and didn’t want to face it…”
The Lewis Note
This beautiful site is authored by a mom who has battled secondary infertility, multiple early miscarriages, foster parenting, and adoption. She’s open and raw and real.
“My whole life, as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to have 4 kids, a house with a big kitchen, a big yard with a tree swing, a big dog (shhh don’t tell my husband), a front porch where all the neighbors gathered to eat cookies, drink lemonade, and chat. After struggling for a few years with infertility, I wasn’t sure that dream would become a reality…”
Miss. Conception
Chiemi Rajamahendran creates a community to help other women through infertility. Her blog takes a holistic approach: Mind + Body + Spirit.
“Thank god for the small unexpected things that remind us that joy is still there. That make us feel alive, even when our joy is buried so deep we think it’s gone forever. That on our darkest days, has the ability to reach down and find that sliver of light…”
Our Misconception
Written by a couple who have been through a lot of struggle to form their family. They are currently in the process of surrogacy. In their own words, “By sharing our stories and misconceptions about infertility from both a guy’s and girl’s perspective, we hope to help other couples on their journey towards parenthood.”
“Throughout our relationship, Candace and I have wished. We have wished for lottery winnings, wished for the air conditioner to keep working through the summer, wished for our car to make it home. No wish has been bigger, seemed less attainable, been as absolutely exhausting, and remained so compelling as our wish to have a family. After years of failed medical procedures, and an internal civil war in Candace’s lady bits, our Jellybean came into our lives thanks to the amazing, selfless act of being a gestational carrier undertaken by our Wonder Surro!…”
ArtWork
The Art of Infertility
The ART of Infertility is a national arts organization that curates innovative and emotionally provoking art exhibits to portray the realities, pains and joys of living with IF. They host exhibits around the country and globally, conduct workshops, and publish a blog.
Music
I have to admit that this great list of songs isn’t mine – it came from a post on the online publication The Mighty (a digital health community created to empower and connect people facing health challenges and disabilities). I just had to share it with you because sometimes, the only thing that really speaks to me is a song.
I listed my favorites below, but get the full list on The Mighty: “15 Songs That Offer Hope With Infertility”:
A Thousand Years by Christina Perri
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don’t be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more…
Stronger by Kelly Clarkson
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alone
What doesn’t kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn’t mean I’m over cause you’re gone
Fight Song by Rachel Platten
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I’m all right song
My power’s turned on
Starting right now I’ll be strong
I’ll play my fight song
And I don’t really care if nobody else believes
‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me
Help Me Find It by Sidewalk Prophets
If there’s a road I should walk
Help me find it
If I need to be still
Give me peace for the moment..
Wake Me Up by Avicii
Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can’t tell where the journey will end…
So wake me up when it’s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older
All this time I was finding myself
And I didn’t know I was lost…
The Climb by Miley Cyrus
The struggles I’m facing
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down,
But no, I’m not breaking…
I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz
I won’t give up on us, even if the skies get rough
I’m giving you all my love, I’m still looking up…
Books
Healing Mind, Healthy Woman
Alice D. Domar, Ph.D.
While this book isn’t entirely focused on infertility, it explores the basics of the mind-body connection and suggestions for how to improve women’s outlook and health – including personal stories from many women and a large section dedicated to infertility.
Navigating the Land of If: Understanding Infertility and Exploring Your Options
by Melissa Ford
Author of the extremely successful blog Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters, Melissa Ford presents readers with a guide for navigating the complex world of infertility. Ford helps readers understand the lingo of infertility, learn the details doctors tend to leave out, and keep their emotional sanity despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
How to Make Love to a Plastic Cup
by Greg Wolfe
For men dealing with infertility, this book offers comfort and useful information in a lighthearted way, with tips like why boxers are better than briefs, and whether you need to fill the entire plastic cup at the clinic.
Laughing IS Conceivable
by Lori Shandle-Fox
The author is a former stand-up comic, and wrote this quick and funny book while she was going through IUI and IVF treatments.
Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Fertility Doctors, An Oscar, An Atomic Bomb, A Romantic Night, and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother
by Peggy Orenstein
Very well-written, this memoir tells the author’s story of her 6+ year journey with infertility that ultimately ended with the birth of her daughter when Orenstein was almost 42.
I hope you found something in this list that speaks to you and connects with what you want or need in this moment. I’d love to hear what infertility voices you follow! Am I missing a great Insta profile or a blog, or is there a song that really speaks to you on this journey? Leave me a comment below and tell me about it!
With love and gratitude,
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