How did I miss the memo about my fertility timeline?

39% of women over 35 said they would have tried to get pregnant sooner if they had better understood age-related fertility decline. 

I was one of those women.

Sitting in a fertility doctor’s office at 40, I learned the hard realities of reproductive timelines.

It made me wonder…

How are intelligent, educated, ambitious women missing this message?

So I started doing research. It didn’t take long for the puzzle pieces to fall into place.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟭: 𝗪𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.

97-98% of students receive sex education by middle school. It’s focused on abstinence and pregnancy prevention.

We’re sent into adulthood worried that we’ll get pregnant the first time we have unprotected sex.

And yet, there’s no predictable time or place when women are taught about reproductive timelines. 

We’re left to figure this out on our own, and often wait until our options are limited..

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟮: 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲

Feminism opened boundless opportunities for career growth and financial independence.

We were encouraged to pursue education.
Build careers.
Become financially independent.
Travel.
Find ourselves.

Most of us want families…someday.

But without knowing the facts, our culture happily fills in the blanks.

Celebrity culture and fertility technology often create the illusion that motherhood can simply be postponed indefinitely.

What we don’t see are:
the IVF cycles,
the miscarriages,
the donor eggs,
the surrogates,
the grief,
and the staggering financial costs to create a family.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟯: 𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆-𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

7 out of 10 women don’t speak with their doctor about their fertility.

And fewer than 3% of women freeze their eggs

Sometimes we don’t ask because life gets busy, especially our careers.
Sometimes, we don’t ask because we’re afraid of the answer.
Sometimes we don’t ask because we can’t afford the solution (the average cost for a single egg retrieval cycle is $12,000-$20,000 in the U.S.)

I spoke with Leslie Lopez about these realities on her Mother In Arms podcast.

This is why I started Cheri’s Choice— to help women proactively think about motherhood before panic, infertility, or heartbreak enter the picture.

From a place of empowerment, not fear.

We owe it to ourselves and our future families.

If you want to proactively plan your path to motherhood rather than leave it to chance, I would love to walk alongside you.

#knowyourfertility
#cherischoice
#missionmotherhood