Joanna Pendergrass joins us to discuss her battle with multiple losses due to chromosomal egg abnormalities and unsuccessful IVF cycles. Joanna's journey is unlike many we hear about in the fertility community because she once held uncertainty about motherhood and how that would affect the career she worked arduously to achieve.

We explore the expectations society forces onto women to bare children after marriage, the grief of miscarriage, and planning a nursery. Joanna is a veterinarian and freelance medical writer in Atlanta, GA. In her writing, she focuses on pet owner education and human health journalism. JoAnna is passionate about providing patients and pet owners with the medical information they need to make informed health decisions for themselves and their pets. In her spare time, JoAnna enjoys baking, exercising, and playing the viola in a local community orchestra. She and her husband have been married for seven years. Join us as we break down societal structures and heal the silent-sufferer within.

Episode Highlights:

02:50- Hesitant to have kids

05:33- I don't want kids

07:55- Societal structures and expectations

12:58- I'm ready now

16:58- Understanding grief

20:58- 1st IVF round and COVID

24:25- Fertility treatment is not elective

29:48- Baby room planning

33:50- Finding community on Instagram 

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