First comes love, then comes marriage, then come a gazillion pregnancy announcements all over your Facebook and Insta feeds. But not all couples get that chance, even if they’ve been trying for years to conceive. In fact, one in eight women struggle to get knocked up or carry a pregnancy to term, according to The National Infertility Association.
That's why 23-year-old Macy Rodeffer wanted to shed light on the fertility issues so many women and their partners face. So, she took to Instagram to post her pregnancy announcement a month ago. The pic, which is going viral now, included a heart made of the syringes and pill bottles she used throughout her in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.
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To put things in perspective, the heart holds the contents of just one round of IVF, which fortunately, is all Macy and her husband, Tyler, needed. During IVF, an egg and sperm are manually combined. Then, that fertilized embryo is transferred to the woman’s uterus. It costs a whopping $8,158 on average (and that's before factoring in any additional medications that may be needed), according to The National Infertility Association.
The financial burden is obviously steep. And the additional emotional toll of waiting and waiting, amidst frequent doctor appointments and daily injections, makes a lot of people ask, “Why don’t you just adopt?” Macy also confronts that question, explaining that adoption costs are similar to those of IVF, and that some waiting lists are up to seven years long.
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Above all, Macy wants people to understand that, for many couples, there is no easy way to have a child. She also wants other women and couples who are TTC to know they’re not alone. “The bottom line is that we don't know every detail of someone's story,” she tells Bustle. “You never know when someone tried to adopt and couldn't or has to save for years before it's even feasible.” (Like this pair, who documented their infertility struggle through a series of hilarious social posts.)
