Pregnancy and Parenting After Infertility Group: With Experience Sharing (PAIGES)

Pregnancy and Parenting After Infertility Group: Sharing and Experiences (PAIGES)

TRIGGER ALERT: I rarely blog about the unique struggles one experiences when they become pregnant and/or deliver a baby. However, I feel today's post is relevant to many people who follow The In-Fertility Advocate. Please DO NOT read this post if you are concerned about its contents.

In January of 2021, I created my Pregnancy and Parenting After Infertility Group with Experience Sharing (PAIGES) because I know that once a woman becomes pregnant after a long, arduous battle with infertility, she still needs support. Believe it or not, in many cases, the newly expectant woman feels like she is entering the scariest time of journey. She has struggled for so long and is so afraid that something could go wrong with her pregnancy. At nearly every turn in her painful journey, many things haven't gone her way. What's her to think that a pregnancy would be any different? Many women have suffered miscarriages and fear that she will lose this baby too. Getting pregnant after infertility can take her anxiety to a new level. I often say that every assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment and every pregnancy can evoke PTSD.

Parenting After Infertility has its own unique issues too. As most people understand, delivering a baby and becoming a new parent is hard. The transition to parenthood can be an extremely challenging time. Mother is recovering from labor and delivery and the baby is learning to live outside the womb. However, if one is a new parent after infertility, lots of people expect her to be so happy that she finally delivered a child that they aren't compassionate when she needs help or feels overwhelmed. She feels that she can't express her feelings or ask for help. She doesn't feel like she fits into the world of women who just get pregnant and the drop of a hat. In addition, she feels like she no longer belongs in her general infertility support group either. It can also be an isolating time.

Infertility can rob women of the normal feelings she might have had if she fell pregnant and delivered a child without having to endure such a long, difficult struggle.

This is why I formed my PAIGES group, which meets on the first Monday of every new month from 7:30 PM EST to 8:30 PM EST. This group is a bridge for those who need support at as they transition to the other side of their journey. It is also a perfect group for those who are considering opening the ART doors again to try to expand her family. Secondary infertility may re-open wounds as well as so many anxious feelings. She hates the thoughts of going through treatment all over again. The bottom line, she needs support, and that is what my PAIGES group is all about.

If you or anyone you know would like to hop on my Zoom support group, please me and I will make sure to text you the Zoom link for our next meeting.

Sending ALL of my Positive Energy YOUR way! You are NOT alone!

In-Fertility & Friendship,
Sue