I didn't give up, I let go. How I came to terms with not ...

What’s Happening

Alright so After a decade of trying for a baby, Caroline and her husband decided they needed to build a different future.

I didnt give up, I let go. How I came to terms with not having children 5 hours ago Save Lucy Hooker Save Caroline Stafford Try hard enough, we are often told, and at some point youll get what you want. (wild, right?)

But sometimes the hardest - and bravest - thing to do, is to stop trying.

The Details

After years of hoping to start a family, including the painful rollercoaster of fertility treatment and a devastating miscarriage on Christmas day, Caroline Stafford, found the only way to find some kind of peace again was to accept it was not going to happen and to build a different future. But that meant overcoming what she calls the “dont give up” narrative.

Like many people, Caroline and her husband Gareth, who she met at school, took it almost for granted they would have children in due course. “We spend all our lives trying not to get pregnant.

Why This Matters

I just assumed as soon as I wasnt trying not to, I would,” she says. Caroline Stafford Caroline and Gareth met at school in Nottinghamshire Nearly one in five women in the UK do not have children. That can be for a variety of reasons, including personal choice.

Medical professionals are taking note of this development.

Key Takeaways

But some simply find that the family life they had imagined, does not happen.
After a year of failing to conceive Caroline and Gareth went to see the GP.
A round of IVF in the UK was followed abroad - a process of anxious appointments, medications and injections.
At the same time she watched as her friends fell pregnant and had babies of their own.