When you’re experiencing infertility, it may seem as if nobody understands what you’re going through. And while friends and even family may be very sympathetic and supportive, it can sometimes feel very lonely.
It’s incredibly important to build a strong support network around you of family and friends, even if they don’t quite understand it. At the same time, you can also find support groups in Chicago of similar women experiencing infertility. Given the size of this town, it’s not uncommon to meet other women who may be seeing a fertility specialist in Chicago or the suburbs (like at an IVF clinic in Naperville, for example) and receiving fertility treatments, possibly even at the same fertility clinic.
Infertility and undergoing fertility treatments can be exhausting, which is why finding entertainment is another good way to make yourself feel better. This list of books and movies are a great way to escape your own infertility briefly, and also relate well to the characters who may be experiencing the same thing as you.
Fiction novels about infertility
Where I Lost Her – by T. Greenwood. A New York power couple’s marriage is left fraught after years of failed infertility treatments and failed adoption, and the wife begins to find ways to mend her broken heart through the search for a lost girl in Vermont.
The Snow Child – by Eowyn Ivey. A childless older couple in Alaska happen upon a girl in the woods, seemingly made from snow, and changes their lives.
Then Came You – by Jennifer Weiner. Four separate women, two who donate eggs, one experiencing infertility who receives the eggs, and a fourth who is a stepdaughter, are thrown together in a scenario that examines what being a mother is about.
Movies about infertility
Private Life, starring Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn. A stark, poignant look at what infertility means to a middle-aged couple.
What to Expect when you’re Expecting, starring Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Banks and Jennifer Lopez. Women experience different types of fertility struggles: miscarriage, difficulty, adoption.
Maybe Baby, starring Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson. A perfect London couple’s perfect marriage erupts when infertility enters the picture and display to what extent normally rational people would do to have a baby.
One More Shot, documentary by Maya Grobel Moskin and Noah Moskin. This film follows the husband-and-wife documentary team as they face the challenges in overcoming their infertility.
Vegas Baby, documentary by Amanda Micheli. She follows several aspiring parents with fertility problems who enter a contest from a Las Vegas doctor. The winner gets a free round of IVF treatment.