All About More Choices’ Infertility Journal
Infertility is something that can be incredibly difficult to talk about. It’s a topic that can be heavy and emotional, whether you’re dealing with it yourself or know someone who is. Infertility can bring up emotions you didn’t know you had, create uncomfortable situations with your partner, and much more. It’s important to remember that you’re not alone. There are resources and support available to help you navigate through this challenging time.
To help, More Choices, a subset of Marketing Choices, has published a guided journal about infertility. This journal details the steps to follow on your infertility journey and is made to help you through it. To learn more about this helpful journal, read on.
What is Infertility?
First, it’s important to address what infertility is and means to people. There are many issues that can be brought up with pregnancy and pregnancy planning. There are new and different things to consider, like timing, resources, learning enough before birth, trying to conceive, and more. Sometimes, infertility is a serious problem many people face. Infertility is a condition where a woman or man is unable to conceive a baby due to specific biological challenges. To some, it may not seem a big deal, but it is a serious issue that can be detrimental to many people, including those trying to get pregnant, their families, and their partners.
With infertility, there are many steps to be taken to try and have a child. Some people utilize resources like surrogacy, certain medical treatments, or adoption. For many, these options aren’t ideal or don’t work out, and those trying to be pregnant have to face the reality of a child-free life. These attempts at parenthood can do serious damage to a person’s emotions and feelings about themselves, so we made something to work through it. Our company has created a guided journal to help those facing infertility in an effort to change perspectives, educate the reader on different options, and ultimately accept the reality of infertility.
What’s Inside
Writing out your feelings can help people work through difficult moments in life. A plain journal can be intimidating as it is empty and blank, and you are left to write out anything and everything. The lack of prompts and mental exercises can deter you from writing out your thoughts and feelings. With our journal, Baby or Not Here We Grow…; there are prompts all throughout to guide your writing, including appointment and cycle tracking, inspirational quotes, information about fertility treatment, and more. To keep you on a schedule, there are daily reminders, spaces to write out the dates of entry, and daily habits to maintain each day. Each part of this journal was carefully designed with love and with keeping in mind helping you.
These different parts of the journal were made to check in on your emotions, including your fears and struggles. They were also made to help you with your options in the face of infertility, like considering adoption. The journal includes countless pages of inspiration, emotional development, relationship information, and more. You’ll be prompted to rank how you feel, have the chance to write out why you feel that way, and keep track of each day you use it all to keep track of your own health and self-view.
The overall layout of the book includes different stages of the infertility journey. It will brief you on infertility itself, then slowly work through the different options you can pursue. Finally, it wraps up to help you accept yourself as you are and to make peace with infertility.
How This Journal Can Help You
How you feel, how you’re handling your infertility, and what to do in this unique situation are the ultimate goals of this journal! It was made to help you out and aimed at the emotional struggles behind infertility. We want you to know your options but also maintain good mental health. We want you to have all the information you need but also to keep your emotions in check and not ignore how you feel. It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to process the situation you’re going through, learn more about it, and eventually. We hope you’re able to heal from it. You can learn from this difficult experience, and this can be the first, non-intimidating step to healing.
To learn more about yourself and your infertility, try out our journal. There is so much to learn about this journey and about yourself. You can purchase this journal on our website or now on Amazon!
Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor. Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam. Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field. Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001. Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families. Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.
Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 18 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.
Ms. Mackenzie has built a successful counseling career over the past 20 years, supporting mothers and families, people of all ages and genders, students, community professionals and fellow clinicians. Liv values a diverse professional focus, including the entrepreneurial life of a sole proprietor, the evaluative process of certifying foster/adoptive homes, the insightful and mindful one-on-one one work with enthusiastic clients, and serving as an advocate for underserved populations. Liv is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a BA in Pre-Law and Economics from American University, an MA in Counseling from Adams University and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. Away from work you will find Liv spending time in nature, biking to the farmer’s market and adventuring with her family.
Catherine A. Madsen, joined the Adoption Choices family as legal counsel in 2013. Catherine is responsible for providing legal guidance to the Agency, training and updating staff on developments in adoption law and legislation, and program development. Catherine
Virginia Frank is an adoption attorney accredited since 1991 with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Ms. Frank is a leader in the field of private adoption and has completed over 4,000 adoptions in her career. Ms. Frank has a law degree from Oklahoma City University and a BA in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Oklahoma.
Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!