Episode 21 | Holiday Survival Series: Unexplained Infertility & Miscarriage | Guest: Emma Ago

What Nobody Tells Us

Welcome to the third installent of "What Nobody Tells Us: Holiday Survival Series." Today, we're focusing on Unexplained Infertility & Miscarriage, a common experience faced by millions of women yet one that remains unnecessarily shrouded in secrecy and shame.

The holidays can be intolerable for those currently experiencing unexplained infertility or miscarriage. Reminders and triggers of families and children are everywhere: Holiday cards featuring happy families, relentless social posts of siblings dressed in matching holiday PJs, photos of your friend's children visiting Santa, and holiday reunions with out-of-town family members or friends who're newly pregnant or introducing their new babies for the first time. The triggers are everywhere and it's hard not to feel overwhelmed with sadness and even resentment towards those for whom getting pregnant seems "easy."

My guest, Emma Ago, is a dear friend who for four years faced an unexplained infertility struggle and multiple miscarriages before successfully conceiving, carrying and delivering her now one year-old son, Max. Emma started her journey at 32 years old with no indication or family history that getting pregnant and having a baby would be difficult. However, after a year of trying left Emma "VERY not pregnant," her OB-GYN recommended a series of tests that yielded zero explanation. There was no indication that anything was preventing Emma from getting pregnant. Fast forward, multiple chemical pregnancies and miscarriages indicated a different story: Emma could get pregnant but couldn't stay pregnant. Again, with no explanation.

Eventually, after ungoing every medical procedure under the sun, taking hundreds of vitamins and supplements, changes to her exercise and diet, alternative medicine therapies, and multiple rounds of IUI and IVF, Emma successfully conceived and carried her son to term. Getting there is a story that she vulnerably recounts, bravely facing the unresolved emotions that surfaced as she revisited her journey. Emma is sharing her story now as she wishes she had known "What Nobody Tells Us" about unexplained infertility and miscarriage while she lived through it. Simply out, Emma says, "Knowledge is power."

I will be forever grateful to Emma for sharing her experience. Her stories, tips, and insights are inavluable to anyone going through unexplained infertility and miscarriage. To everyone struggling with fertility this holiday season, know that you are not alone.