The Story of Women’s Fertility

Maybe you grew up thinking like me: if a woman wants to, at some point, she can have kids, or not, and it’s that simple. Just wanting something, having sex, and there you go. My family was really open about how conception happened, how a baby grew & birthed, and it seemed all very straightforward. My mom never experienced a miscarriage nor her mom, nor anyone close to us who talked about it. I was clueless about the  sweeping arc of the journey of a woman’s fertility despite understanding the biological process.

Even as a young adult, I really didn’t know that many people who lost a baby, or couples who struggled conceiving and carrying to term. I heard lots of “oh, a miscarriage is God’s way of taking care of a baby who would have had problems anyway” or “that couple must be waiting to have kids until they’re more financially stable or out of school.” It wasn’t until law school, when I first met peers who actually were married and had families, that I started to hear the stories.

Stories about loss. Stories about trying and hoping and waiting for the pregnancy test to be positive. Stories about unexpected pregnancies when they already had a passel of kids and it looked “like too many” to outsiders. Stories about longing for a partner to have kids with, or the hardship of solo parenting. Stories about people who actually used natural family planning, or the fertility awareness method. New stories for me.

I have helped write another Scripture Study with Laura & Nancy called “Waiting in the Word: A Couple’s Journey.” It’s available for pre-order now at $2 off. It launches October 3! Link here.

We’ve been talking about this topic of a couple’s journey and fertility and all the challenging parts that come with it. Sex, adoption, foster care, infant loss, NFP and how it’s hard, infertility and the heartache of everyone around you swimming in kids, hyper fertility and the physical and emotional difficulties of little ones close together. We just weren’t sure how to approach all of it, talk about all of it, not limited to our own experiences.

So we’ve teamed up with a super group of writers we know and love. They’re STILL SECRET! I will tell you when it’s closer to release!! Trust me, these women and their stories will blow your socks off.

I’ve found more empathy and sympathy and simple understanding the more stories I hear and listen to, and the more I share about our own journey of family. I hope you get the same widened perspective when you partake in our study. It’s four weeks long with five scripture verses a week, includes our husband’s perspectives, the secret team of amazing other writers, and even dessert recipes for weekly checkins with your spouse to discuss our questions.

If we keep the conversation going, if we keep talking and sharing, surely we will be able to love more fully. And that’s our mission here, right?

All of our studies, including the Marriage Vows one with Jenna Guizar, Blessed is She founder as guest contributor, are available on our site: Waiting in the Word!