One of the greatest challenges a couple can face is infertility.
That struggle of trying to conceive can be so overwhelming that you feel you’re the only one who’s going through it.
That’s why a Michigan couple has come out with a book that shares ten different couples’ experiences with infertility, including their own.
It’s a big dose of encouragement for those who think they’re alone in their infertility struggles.
Sue Johnston and Bob Johnston, co-authors of Detours: Unexpected Journeys of Hope Conceived from Infertility, joined Stateside today.
In the book, they tell us one in eight couples struggles with infertility issues.
Sue said that rate has gone up in recent years largely because more and more people now seek higher education.
“So they’re delaying their attempts at pregnancy,” she said.
Eggs, she said, can only be fertilized for a certain number of years.
Sue was 28 when she and Bob started trying to build their family. She got pregnant for the first time after seven years of trying.
The couple tried for another three years after that, without success.
“It was ten years of surgeries, shots, high technology, infertility meds,” Sue said. “It was ongoing – a nightmare.”
Throughout their struggle, Sue and Bob joined the Resolve National Infertility Support Association of Greater San Diego. There, they met nine others who all became “lifelines for each other.”
While others in the support group became pregnant, Sue said the ten core women remained. They struggled for the longest. But as their book details, all was not lost.
“Eventually, one after the other, in different years, in different ways, we all reached our resolution,” she said.
Today, Sue and Bob are in Washington D.C. at Resolve's Advocacy Day.
For the full conversation, listen above.
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