Danielle Faith always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. Whenever she was asked, Faith would always say, “a teacher.” But if she was being honest, the answer would be, “a mother.” As a little girl, Faith had a room full of baby dolls that she’d play with, practicing for the day when she’d nurture and care for a kiddo all her own.
But all of that practice caring for her dolls didn’t prepare her for the fact that simply becoming a mother would be the hard part. After receiving an endometriosis diagnosis in 2015, Faith knew that she’d have to jumpstart her plan to become a parent. But even that wasn’t straightforward—it would take more than five years of trying, multiple fertility treatments, six embryo transfers, and two miscarriages before her daughter, Makayla, was born in August 2021.
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Although she and her husband were successful in the end, Faith will never forget how painful, draining, and lonely the process was. With National Infertility Awareness Week coming up the week of April 24–30, Faith wants to share her experience with other women in St. Louis—and beyond—so that they know what to expect and, most importantly, that they’re not alone.
“If we don’t talk about it,” Faith says, “people will feel like no one else is going through it. It’s already a very lonely process.”
According to Resolve, a nonprofit advocacy group for women facing infertility, one in eight couples struggle to get pregnant or sustain a pregnancy. And yet, conversations focused on supporting women going through fertility treatments and navigating other pregnancy roadblocks aren’t so common. That’s among the reasons why Faith started a Facebook group for women who have undergone treatments such as in vitro fertilization. For next week’s National Infertility Awareness Week, the group is writing supportive notes for women going through embryo transfers and other procedures.
“I’ll be taking the cards to a local fertility clinic just as a little reminder for women that we understand what you’re going through, you are seen, and we’re here for you,” Faith says. “IVF is a very, very lonely, painful, sad, exciting, but very draining thing to go through with all of the shots, medications, and hormones. It’s a hard journey.”
Because of her experience dealing with the uncertainty of infertility, grieving miscarriages, and fighting through endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and ovulatory dysfunction, Faith wants to be a voice for other women. She’s created a series of journals, planners, and notebooks catered to women navigating the infertility process, and she’s also hopeful that she can work with local lawmakers to pass legislation that would make it mandatory for insurance to cover fertility treatments in Missouri.
Even after her daughter’s birth last year, Faith says her journey is far from over.
“When it comes to infertility, everything that you go through will always be with you,” she says. “Going through it for such a long time made me who I am, and I want other people to know that you’re not alone.”
