Going through infertility involves many struggles. First, there’s the trying-to-get-pregnant part. Ovulation kits, fertility clinics, and failed treatment after failed treatment... it’s easy to lose hope.

The second struggle is sometimes more complicated: dealing with the loneliness and feelings of isolation within the community. It often feels like everybody else has kids and no one else is going through this.

I first had the idea to write a book on my experience with infertility when I was sitting with a bunch of peers, and the conversation soon led to babies: car seats, sleeping schedules, diapers, and baby food. Sitting there, the only woman without a child, I just wanted to shrink until I disappeared.

My husband and I had been trying to conceive for some time, and we were just beginning to explore our options beyond natural remedies and at-home cures. It was fresh and the isolation stung. A thought popped in my head. “If I would write a book on infertility, I would write a page about this.” The next few months, every time I felt a disappointing thought, endure a pointed question, or got another negative pregnancy test, I jotted it down. I wanted to use my collected ideas to help others in a similar situation, to break the taboo, to relieve the loneliness, and to raise sensitivity among those not going through the struggle.

I hope that my husband and I are close to the end of our struggle with infertility. I also hope that the book I worked on can be a powerful resource to Jewish communities in supporting those who are going through infertility and giving insight to the struggle to promote sensitivity and awareness to those who aren’t.

Below are a few of the pages highlighting my not-a-parent thoughts.

Click here to purchase your copy of My Not a Parent Thoughts

Yesh Tikva provides psychosocial resources and tools to those struggling with infertility and to raise awareness and sensitivity on the subject throughout the Jewish community. Yesh Tikva was established to end the silence and create a Jewish community of support for all Jewish people facing infertility. To learn more, visit us at www.YeshTikva.org.