• friends & family
• sharing experience
• support professionals
• self-help
• secondary infertility
• pregnancy loss

coping

Everyone deals with grief in their own way. One person talks a lot about it, another not at all; others seek out people in the same situation, while someone else may find it helps to express their feelings on paper. Men and women, in particular, frequently differ in the way that they cope with feelings.

Having to cope with reduced fertility is probably one of the most difficult experiences that a couple can experience. How you cope with the array of emotions depends greatly on your personality and your situation. Everyone is different and every fertility problem is unique. Furthermore, couples who are trying to deal with, for example, a failed pregnancy require different coping strategies than do couples embarking on their first cycle of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Coping with fertility problems requires finding the strength within yourself and your relationship. Knowledge - understanding what is happening - is very important. So too is recognising your feelings, and the possible differences between you and your partner. It also important to find out about available sources of help and ask for help if you need it.

Although a great deal has been written about the feelings of couples with fertility problems, every phase and every person is different. It is therefore impossible to provide standard guidelines on how to cope. Everyone will have to find this out for him- or herself. That said, many people have gone through what you're experiencing and their experiences can help. The important thing is to seek out ways and people with whom you feel most comfortable. The information on this website will hopefully help you in this search.

This section contains concise information about advice and support in coping with your situation (whether it is secondary infertility, loss of a pregnancy or fertility problems in general). You will read about how you can call on family, friends and support professionals, but also how to go about finding the inner strength to get yourself through this demanding period.